DRY-FARMING CONGRESS, WICHITA, 1914 



143 



Canada field peas can probably be grown successfully anywhere in the 

 dry-land region where wheat is a success. In the Northern states they 

 must be sown in early spring, but from central Texas southward they can 

 be grown successfully by sowing in the fall. Canada peas have not been as 

 * much used in dry-land agriculture as I think they will be when the im- 

 portance of livestock in dry-land agriculture is more generally recognized. 

 They furnish first of all, a legume crop for rotations; second, they furnish 

 a valuable feed crop which, however, in the main will have to be pastured 

 by animals in order to be profitable. 



In the southern part of the Great Plains Area there are a number of 

 other legumes which succeed well under dry-land conditions. The most 

 important of these is the cowpea, but its increased culture will likewise 

 depend largely upon its being utilized by livestock. 



You will note that the forage plants which I have mentioned in con- 

 nection with dry-land agriculture are all annuals. It must be admitted 

 that all of the crops I have mentioned, even if we allow a reasonable 

 degree of improvement by the methods of breeding, and also improved 

 methods of culture, are not in themselves likely to result in the profitable 

 cultivation of all of the dry lands east of the Rocky Mountains. 



There is a deep-seated belief in the human mind that somewhere there 

 grows a plant of value to man adapted to every condition. The history 

 of the past gives some basis for this faith. If such a plant exists it is, 

 of course, most likely to be some grass or legume — some forage plant, in 

 short. As I pointed out before, all of the human food plants are of very 

 ancient culture, and the likelihood of finding a new crop of this sort is 

 very small. 



Among the 10,000 existing species of legumes and the 4,000 existing 

 species of grasses, however, there are still unexplored possibilities. In 

 the hope that we can find grasses and legumes adapted to all the arid con- 

 ditions of western America, the department has been very active for many 

 years in introducing grasses and legumes from all parts of the world. With 

 few exceptions, however, these have not proved to be of value, or at least, 

 not as good as things which we have already. There yet remains, how- 

 ever, a vast amount of work to be done in this direction, and it is quite 

 possible that we shall yet find the plants we desire. 



It is a striking fact that all the forage crops grown in America which 

 are planted broadcast are of Old World origin. Many years ago the de- 

 partment did a great amount of work in the endeavor to domesticate many 

 of the wild grasses in the West in the hopes that under cultivation these 

 would give valuable crops. Today there is only one native American grass 

 that is at all cultivated, and that only in a limited area; namely, slender 

 wheat grass. All of the others are of Old World origin. Why this is the 

 case I shall not stop here to discuss, but it has led us in our endeavors 

 to find better drought-resistant grasses and legumes to look mainly to 

 the Old World, and particularly to Asia and Africa. 



The culture of grasses and legumes for forage is admittedly a pro- 



