DRY FARMING CONGRESS. 



113 



object in selecting a variety of wheat should be to get one that will go 

 best into the market. Our wheat now is mostly blended with the Cali- 

 fornia wheat. They desire a high percentage of gluten to mix with their 

 softer wheat, so that they can make a greater quantity and better quality 

 of flour. For that reason we want to select a wheat that has a high per- 

 centage of gluten. The experiment stations have already taken this work 

 up and they have been surprised to find that the wheats that are most 

 popular in our state have proven to be highest in the amount of gluten 

 contents, and fortunately- for us one of the best wheats we have, as far 

 as gluten contents is concerned, is also proving itself to be, in our ex- 

 perimental farms, one of the best yielding varieties of wheat, and that is 

 especiall}' desirable. 



I know that the convention has been together a long time, and I 

 do not feel like I ought to prolong my remarks, but I do want to say that 

 the question of arid farming in Utah is based upon scientific principles, 

 worked out by our local people. We are very glad of that, and that the 

 state has come to our aid. and has given us the assistance it has, in en- 

 abling us to get the experience we have. Those of you who are not 

 familiar with the state aid will find a chart showing the proportion of 

 irrigated land in this state to that of unirrigated. and also showing where 

 the state has established demonstration farms. And I want to take this 

 opportunity to S3.y that there are in this state millions of acres of as 

 fertile land as has ever been put on the western market, and we have 

 an abundance of precipitation. In some of the localities where arid farm- 

 ing has been practiced we have a precipitation of 18 inches Down in 

 San Juan Count}- we have two million acres of land, and the state is 

 demonstrating down there that wheat can be produced which will go 

 forty to forty-five bushels per acre by following the plan of summer 

 fallowing every other 3-ear. 



We invite you to come to Utah. We invite you to come here and 

 help us to reclaim our deserts. W^e w-ant settlers. We w^ant this land 

 to be made productive of the very best kind of wheat that can be grown 

 without irrigation, and we believe that b}^ following the methods that have 

 been demonstrated to be a success in our state this can be done. 



In reference to tilling our crops, we believe in constant cultivation 

 of the crops. We believe in the winter time, after the wheat is up, it is 

 absolutely essential to go on with the harrow and harrow the wheat, 

 two, three, four or five times, in order to break up the crust and destroy 

 the crust so that the water will not come to the surface and evaporate. 

 We believe in plowing, harrowing, discing and in doing anything and 

 everything on the dry farm to keep the water that falls, the precipitation, 

 stored up there for the use of the plant. I thank you. (Applause.) 



PROF. JARDINE: I fear the speaker has misunderstood some of 

 the points the government men are trying to make here. If I intimated 

 in my paper that the farmers of Utah should discontinue summer fallowing 

 I certain!}- did not mean it. and I submit my paper did not say so. There 

 was no occasion, I believe, for the remarks in the beginning. I am also 



