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DRY-FARMING CONGRESS, WICHITA, 1914 



duction of European civilization. To some extent, it is true , alfalfa was 

 grown in ancient Persia, but in the main, ancient European peoples have 

 depended for forage for their flocks either upon wild plants or upon the 

 waste of cultivated crops for human food. This is still essentially the case 

 in China and India, and India has more cattle than the United States. It 

 is even more true Of the less-developed peoples who have never grown 

 forage crops as such. Consequently the value in cultivation of the num- 

 erous grasses and legumes in Africa and Asia is but poorly known, and it 

 will be many years yet before the possibilities in this direction are fully 

 or even largely investigated. 



These facts give abundant hope that the faith of the man who be- 

 lieves that plants will yet be found to make the culture of our arid lands 

 profitable, may yet be realized. 



In addition to the dry-land crops I have already mentioned, there are 

 some other possibilities which results of recent investigations have re- 

 vealed. I doubt very much whether a more drought-resistant perennial 

 forage plant than alfalfa is likely to be discovered. A great deal of in- 

 terest was excited over the yellow-flowered alfalfas introduced from 

 Siberia, but the result of investigations thus far clearly indicates that 

 this is not likely to be of any value except for breeding purposes. The 

 hybrids of the yellow and purple-flowered alfalfas are very valuable, hav- 

 ing both increased cold-resistance and apparently some increased drought- 

 resistance. Any hope, however, that they would extend the culture of 

 alfalfa much farther on the dry lands is practically destroyed. 



The culture of alfalfa in rows has resulted in its successful utiliza- 

 tion where the rainfall is far too little to grow alfalfa broadcasted. Thus 

 far such culture of alfalfa has been primarily with a view of seed produc- 

 tion, but its possibilities in the way of hay production are also evident 

 whenever economic conditions will permit. Similar but limited experiments 

 with various perennial grasses indicate that they may be successfully 

 grown in the same manner, but as yet such growing, of course, is war- 

 ranted only on a basis of producing seed crops. 



In portions of the country the cultivation of the larger cacti, both 

 spineless and spiny, has created much interest. The culture of these large 

 cacti is limited practically to California, the southern half of Arizona, New 

 Mexico, and Texas. Thus far their culture has nowhere been attempted 

 on a large scale. The concensus of opinion seems to be that their culture 

 is desirable mainly from the standpoint of having a reserve supply of food 

 for an unfavorable season; in other words, a field of cactus is a sort of a 

 living silo. 



Another plant which has recently excited a lot of interest in connec- 

 tion with dry-farming is sweet clover for pasturage. The evidence at 

 present seems to indicate that sweet clover is much more drought-resistant 

 than alfalfa, and inasmuch as the plant has frequently proved itself of 

 high value for pasturage, there are possibilities in its use under existing 

 dry conditions which deserve much further investigation. 



In late years the fact has become more and more impressed upon the 



