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DRY FARMING CONGRESS. 



lutely necessary that the land be thoroughly prepared before the crop 

 is planted. I do not believe that a person can make a success of arid farm- 

 ing who is not in the habit of thoroughly preparing his land before his 

 crop is sown. In fact, I believe that if the land is not thoroughly pre- 

 pared over one half of the profits which could be derived from that land 

 is practically lost. I believe, further, that the fall plowing of the land 

 has a tendency to be more successful for arid farming than has the 

 plowing of land at any other period of the year. In fact, in preparing the 

 land, it is absolutely, necessary that there be sufficient moisture in the 

 soil to sprout the plants quickly and to keep them growing. If there is 

 only sufficient moisture in the soil to sprout the plants and then to let them 

 die out, I believe that the chance for success in arid farming under that 

 condition is very sparse. I believe that it is the check that the growing 

 plants receive that determines very largely the low yield of the crop. 

 If the plants are allowed to grow without those checks the chances for 

 success are very much greater. There is another reason why I believe 

 the land ought to be plowed in the fall, and plowed deeply too. One rea- 

 son has already been given here, and that is that if the land is plowed in 

 the fall all of the moisture which falls during the fall and winter and spring 

 sinks into that soil, and if the land is properly cultivated in the spring it 

 remains in that soil until it is needed by the crop and is taken out of the 

 soil only as the crop needs it. There is another consideration to be taken 

 into account, and that is that where the land is plowed in the fall there is 

 a great deal more surface exposed to the action of the snow, exposed to 

 the action of the freezing and thawing of winter. And it is my opinion that 

 these — the action of thawing and freezing of winter — have the effect of 

 making a great deal more of that unavailable plant food which is in the 

 soil available to the plant, so that the plants of the next season will be 

 able to get a great deal more food for their development and growth than 

 they would have been able to get had the land not been plowed until 

 spring. 



Now, it is true that wheat is the principal arid farm crop and will be at 

 least for a number of years to come. One gentleman said yesterday or 

 the day before that it would not be many years until wheat would become 

 a secondary crop on the arid farm. I believe we will have to wait 

 until that time comes before we can discard wheat. If wheat is the prin- 

 cipal arid farm crop, then the advantage of growing a variety which is 

 particularly suited to our conditions is obvious. If one variety of wheat 

 withstands drouth better than another, if it produces more wheat per 

 acre, if it is of as good or better quality, if it is the kind that finds a ready 

 market, if it demands the highest possible market price, if it resists dis-v 

 eases better than another, if a greater variety of products of as good or 

 better quality can be made from it, that is the variety we ought to grow 

 upon our arid farms. If a variety can be secured that will, on an aver- 

 age, yield even one more bushel per acre it will mean much to the arid 

 farmers of the west as well as to the wealth of the nation. In the experi- 

 ments that have been carried on by the experiment station for a number 



