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DRY FARMING CONGRESS. 



made that I can't take in, and there are others, many others, that I can 

 take in. When I am vitally interested in any particular line, and a sugges- 

 tion comes from any of the speakers, I have got it and it is mine. A thou- 

 sand and one things have been said here today that nine-tenths of us will 

 lose entirely. Therefore, I say, "read and study." I scarcely have time 

 to read the books of my religion for wanting to keep up with the times of 

 dry farming (laughter) and other lines. And I have come to the conclu- 

 sion that the best thing for me to do, whatever I read, is to understand, 

 and not take a thousand and one journals, but take a few and read them 

 and make them my own. If you will do this you will get the benefit of them. 

 I have gone into the poultry business a little, and I sent off for some 

 pamphlets to read, in order to inform myself on the poultry business. I 

 sent off for a little pamphlet written on "The 200-egg hen a year," and read 

 it and re-read it, and felt a little like the fellow who was figuring on going 

 into the chicken business I was telling you about. But after I had had one 

 year's experience I came to the conclusion I hadn't read the book at all, 

 then I started and read it over, and I could see new facts in it. In fact I 

 began to think I hadn't seen any of the facts in it before. And I re-read 

 it, as I stated, and it was worth reading the second time, because I had 

 proven by my experience different things that were suggested in it. The 

 only way I can make anything of benefit to me is to make it my own, and 

 then use it. I read the bulletins that are issued from the experiment sta- 

 tions and those different sources of information we have for the dry farm- 

 ers. If the dry farmers will read them and try to understand them, and 

 practice them in their farm methods I want to tell you that we will have 

 better results even than we are having now. But I claim this: that the 

 proper method is to study the time of cultivation in the way I have sug- 

 gested, and it is just as easy to prepare our land for a crop that will yield 

 35 bushels to the acre as it is to prepare one that will yield 20 bushels to 

 the acre, and we have got this advantage, if a favorable season comes and 

 the rainfall is plentiful we will raise a 35-bushel-to-the-acre crop, and if we 

 have an unfavorable season I believe we will be pretty sure of 20 or 25 

 bushels. But, on the other hand, if we prepare our land for a 20-bushel 

 crop we may get it, if we have a favorable season, and if it is unfavorable 

 we will fail, and we don't want to do that. So that I claim, gentlemen, 

 you that have good ability can handle 100 acres a year, or a total of 200 

 acres of land, letting half of it be summer fallowed one year and the 

 other half in crops, and I believe it will be more profitable to you than it 

 will to take a greater amount and have a less yield. Of course there are 

 many conditions I would have liked to have heard discussed here today, 

 but I believe it is best for a man to take 100 acres, if he can till his land 

 right, and use the best means in his reach, and he will be able to make a 

 comfortable living and will be perfectly satisfied with his condition in 

 life, more so than to try to spread out all over creation, and he will be 

 more successful if he will concentrate his efforts, and let him keep his 

 horses under control, and let him drive his own horses and not let his 

 horses drive him. (Applause.) ^ 



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