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DRY FARMING CONGRESS. 



that when the men change from one implement to the other the men 

 and horses have all they can handle. We find in breaking the crust that 

 the 24-foot harrow can get along better and faster and just as good as we 

 can with a 16-foot harrow that is much heavier. We find when we come 

 to prepare it in the fall it is practicalh' ready, and we have only to go 

 over it once, if at all, before we come onto it with the drill. 



Now, as stated, 100 acres, I believe, is all one man can handle and 

 handle to the best advantage. I know it will be said that one man with 

 four horses can plow 80 or 100 acres in perhaps 35 days. That is true. 

 But there is not more than 35 days in the spring of the year to cultivate. 

 There are not that many days to cultivate in the spring of the year. There 

 are not half that many at the very best time to cultivate. A gentleman 

 made the remark here yesterda}^ that there was a difference of from eight 

 to ten bushels per acre in three days difference in plowing in the fall of 

 the 3^ear. I think that was a little bit of a stretcher, but there is truth in 

 it just the same. I know there is a vast difference in the time of plowing. 

 As I stated in the beginning, I like to plow in the right time, I like to 

 cultivate in the right time, and I like to seed in the right time, and the 

 further we get from the right time the less the good results. 



To illustrate. Of course when we went into dry farming we got the 

 very best information we could get at that tim'e by writing to the gentlemen 

 who had been in the business for a number of years and who gave us some 

 good advice, and we have followed it and are following it today. And I 

 follow the advice of the professors. Everything they can tell me that I can 

 absorb I use and reduce it to practice. That is, advice we can follow. 

 I sometimes think I need summer fallowing myself so some of these sug- 

 gestions will soak in. (Laughter.) I believe many of us need to do the 

 same thing. 



Now, as stated, there is not a very long time in 3.ny of these periods 

 in which to do our work to the best advantage, but if we do it at the right 

 time the better the results. 



As I was going to say, I told my brother at one time that we needed 

 another drill. We had been using a press drill, and we could plant eighty 

 acres a week with four horses — one man with four horses, and in three 

 weeks we could plant our crops. Several 3^ears ago I told him, says I, 

 "Let's get another drill." He says, "What do you want of another drill; 

 we can plant all of our grain with one." Says I, "Yes, that is true. We 

 can do it, but I believe there will be an advantage in planting it sooner, 

 when the proper conditions come, and I believe' it will more than justify 

 us in getting another drill, because two weeks' difference in the time of 

 plowing, when conditions are ripe, makes all the difference in the world 

 in the crop." Any way, we come to the conclusion not to get another drill, 

 and this was the result: We planted eighty acres along. I think it was, 

 the last of September or the fore part of October. There was a beautiful 

 rain came and our land was in excellent condition — I believe as nice as we 

 ever got. In the spring we put the drill to work. I started the harrows, 

 preparing the ground and we followed right up with the drill, a^id planted 



