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APPENDIX I. 



WHAT IS DRY -FARMING ? 



By William Macdojstald, Sc.D., Dry-land Agronomist. 



It is rather surprising that although much has been written about dry- 

 farming during the past few years no clear explanation has yet been 

 given of this term and, consequently, a good deal of mystery still exists 

 as to the nature and scope of this type of farming. At the outset it may 

 be said that dry-farming differs very little from the ordinary farm practice 

 which has been followed by the best and most successful farmers in all 

 parts of the world since time immemorial, save that special stress is laid 

 upon the conservation of soil-moisture and the growth of drought-resistant 

 crops. But although the principles of dry-farming have been known and 

 practised for many centuries, it is only lately that it has aroused a wide- 

 spread interest amongst all sections of the agricultural community. It is 

 sometimes supposed that the success of dry-farming depends upon a 

 particular sort of soil. This "is not so. For in the United States dry- 

 farming has proved profitable on the deep clay loams of Utah, on the 

 shallow sandy soils of the Panhandle of Texas, as well as on the heavy 

 gumbo soils of the Missouri Valley. Of course, on deep rich loams larger 

 yields will naturally be expected. Again, some farmers seem to think 

 that this new practice depends on the possession of special agricultural 

 machines. But this is not the case ; the four essential implements being 

 the plough, harrow, cultivator, and drill. Naturally, with more machinery, 

 and especially harrows, the farmer will be better able to pulverise the 

 soil and secure a good seed bed, which is most important. The only new 

 implement specially devised for dry-farming is the " Packer." But this 

 is not essential and a disc harrow will do instead. It will thus be seen 

 that the equipment for dry-farming is well within the means of the 

 majority of farmers. 



The term dry-farming originated in Western America, and may be 

 defined as the conservation of soil moisture during long 'periods of dry 

 weather by means of tillage, together with the growth of drought-resistant plmts. 

 It is not, of course, farming without moisture, for that would be plainly 

 impossible. The phrase is now widely and loosely applied to farming in 

 all places where the normal rainfall ranges from 10 to 25 inches per 

 annum. In the words of the American Dry-farming Congress dry-farming 

 is farming where " irrigation i$ impracticable or impossible." In selecting 

 land for dry-farming the most important point is the depth of the soil. 

 This can easily be found out by digging pits five to ten feet in depth, or 

 by looking at cuttings, wells, and embankments. In a new country it is 

 well to take careful note of the growth and root system of native trees, 

 shrubs, grasses, pod-bearing plants, etc. In South Africa mimosa trees 

 and antheaps are usually safe guides to a good deep soil. The reason why 

 a field of deep uniform soil generally produces a far better crop than a 

 shallow soil is that it is possible to store a much larger amount of water 

 in the former, and, further, the soil moisture rises much more freely 

 from great depths to the root system of the growing crop. Given a good 

 soil, therefore, the dry-farmer has simply to prepare his ground to receive 

 all the rain which falls upon it, and, secondly, to prevent the loss of soil 

 water through evaporation. 



