1G4 



DRY FARMING CONGRESS. 



been touched, is the living side, or a study of the bacteria of the soil which, 

 under favorable conditions, may either make or destroy in a very short 

 time vast quantities of plant food. 



It has been determined by actual tests that the grain grown upon arid 

 lands is of a better qualit}- than that grown under irrigation — that it 

 has a higher protein contents than the wheat grown under irrigation or 

 oats grown in a humid climate. If this is the case then I believe we 

 can look forward with certainty to the time when the arid lands will be- 

 come the granaries of the world — when the flour (the staff of life) will 

 be grown almost entirely upon the arid lands. 



The Utah Experiment Station is co-operating with the United States 

 Department of Agriculture in determining the wheats that are adapted to 

 this particular section of the Great Basin. We at present have under con- 

 sideration about sixty different varieties of wheat that we are adapting 

 to this section, that we are examining yearly as to their manner of growth, 

 as to their contents, as to their disease-resisting qualities, as to their fitness 

 to be grown in this section; and it is hoped that from these or from others 

 we shall take up later on. we will be able to get a wheat extremely drouth- 

 resistant, that will give us a high yield, that will have a high protein con- 

 tents — in fact, a wheat that has all of the good qualities — if that might be — 

 and none of those bad qualities. When that has been accomplished and 

 the regions that are adapted to arid farming in the .west have been fully 

 determined, then the arid region may well smile, because then beautiful 

 fields of golden grain will cover the face of the land, happy, prosperous 

 and contented families will multiply in numbers and new evidences of 

 thrift and prosperity will be seen on every hand. 



I thank you. (Applause.) 



CHAIRMAN BURRELL: The next number on the program is "The 

 Size of a Dry Farm," by Mr. I. H. Grace, of Nephi, Utah. 



The Executive Committee desires to have the Chair announce that they 

 will hold a meeting in this room here at four o'clock for the purpose of de- 

 termining the place of holding the next meeting. 



MR. BOWAIAN (Idaho): And that the committee will report to this 

 Congress the result of its deliberations at 2:30 p. m. tomorrow. 



CHAIRMAN BURRELL: I have the pleasure of introducing Mr. 

 Grace, of Nephi. (Applause.) 



THE SIZE OF A DRY FARM. 



(I. H. Grace, Nephi, Utah.) 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: My only excuse for appearing 

 before this grand audience is because of the invitation I received from the 

 committee to speak to you. The subject that has been assigned to me 

 was not of my own choosing, but I will endeavor to say something upon 

 it, and give you the benefit of my experience along that line. I had 

 nothing in my mind to sa}" when I first came up, but when I had heard 

 so much of different ideas upon farming, methods and tillage,^ etc., I am 



