186 



DRY-FARMING CONGRESS, WICHITA, 1914 



MR. MANTLE: 



The next country from which we will hear is the great island continent 

 of Australia. It is represented tonight by its Trade Commissioner to the 

 United States, Niel Nielsen. He is no stranger to the Congress, and needs 

 no words of introduction. This Congress has heard from Mr. Nielsen be- 

 fore during these sessions, but we will be glad to hear again any message 

 from Australia. 



Australia 



MR. NIELSEN: 



Mr. Chairman, when I had the privilege of addressing a few words to 

 you yesterday, I made a serious omission in so much as I forgot to convey 

 to this Congress the greetings of the Irrigation Congress held in Calgary, 

 and from whence I came. Before I left Calgary, Mr. Case, who is a Kansas 

 man, and President of the Congress, asked me to convey to the members of 

 your Congress the most kindly greetings from their Congress. I am very 

 pleased indeed to have the privilege of conveying those greetings, although 

 I failed to do so yesterday when I had the privilege of speaking. 



I regard it as a special privilege to attend this Dry-Farming Congress. 

 Two years ago I had the pleasure of attending the Congress held at Leth- 

 bridge, Canada, and I say what I honestly believe to be true, that I believe 

 this Congress has the greatest collection of men with good information in 

 regard to dry-farming that has ever gathered together in any part of the 

 world. The addresses that I had the privilege of listening to from thought- 

 ful men who have carefully studied their subjects, are worthy of any 

 gathering of scientific men, and ordinary farmers can have the privilege 

 and benefits of this enormous information which has been collected together 

 of how to extract from the land a little more than has been done formerly. 

 We of Australia are most vitally interested in the science of dry-farming. 

 We do not frighten the farmers by this phrase, scientific farming, for the 

 farmers of today to a very large extent, are scientific agriculturists. 

 They know that what we are attempting to do by having these meetings 

 such as we are having tonight, is to make them more scientific. 



Owing to the keen competition which extends now through all classes 

 of business, the farmer must run his business on up-to-date lines if he wants 

 to stand in the forefront of business. He must put into that business all 

 his energy, his muscular energy, and the whole of his brain energy; and I 

 might call* this Congress the brain center of the farming world. I believe 

 in doing this, I am not conferring upon it a title that it does not fully 

 deserve. 



We have in Australia rather more than a fair share of dry land as 

 compared with other parts of the world. Although we have the smallest of 

 continents, we have 3 million square miles of land contained in that. Out 

 of that we have a full third, over 1 million square miles, upon which the 

 rainfall is less than 10 inches per year. Another third received between 

 10 and 20 inches, leaving only one-third on which there is a rainfall of 

 more than 20 inches. 



I was in the state of New South Wales one very rainy day. I met a 



