THE DRY FARMING CONGRESS. 



65 



erty, plenty into scarcity, a fair promise into failure. It affects the rich 

 and the poor, the farmer in the country, the laborer, and arfsan in the 

 city, and we do not know when its blighting hand may strike us. I do 

 not think any trouble too great, any cost too high, to remove the uncer- 

 tainty of our farm experience, and make the returns reasonably sure. 



"Our country is as fair as any in God's creation, mild, selubrious, 

 healthful, and we have a people as energetic as any. Show us how to 

 combat this foe and so take the gambling element out of agriculture, 

 for it is like betting on the clouds, and our prosperity will advance by 

 leaps and bounds. 



Area of Australia. 



"The area of oar country is about 1,900,000,000 acres, rather larger 

 than the United States without Alaska, or practically three thousand 



Precipitation. 



million square miles. Of this, one-th'rd is under a ten-inch rainfall. An- 

 other third has from ten to twenty inches, so you can see at once the 

 importance of this dry farm proposition to us. No organized or united 

 effort has been made in our country to improve our conditions in this 

 respect. 



Campbell and Cooke. 



"Here and there men who think deep and work hard have struck 

 on improved methods and these methods are near akin to those of Prof. 

 Campbell and Dr. Cooke. In iny travels around, and I do a great deal, I 

 fnd it is these men who have the best returns, are the most prosperous 

 farmers, the envy of their neighbors, who say 'Isn't So and So a lucky 

 beggar?' Ignoring the fact, that the success is due to energy, hard work 

 and brains. 



Australian Government. 



"The short notice I received to attend the conference did not enable 

 me to make many inquiries with regard to what the government was do- 

 ing in dry farming in Australia, but I did receive the following letter 

 from the Department of Agriculture in New South Wales, as to what 

 was doing at Collabah: 



"Department of Agriculture, Sydney, Jan. 12th, 1909. 

 "Sir: In reply to your letter of the 23rd ultimo, asking for the latest 

 information in regard to dry farming, I have the honor to inform you 

 that the results obtained at Collabah continue to be satisfactory. 



Precipitation. 



"Last year, with a rainfall during the growing period, of about six 

 inches, the return from all the plots of 55 acres was 85 tons of cured hay. 

 The returns from some of the plots was over two tons per acre. The rain- 

 fall in some cases was a little less than six inches, whilst the most that 

 fell on any plot was six inches and twenty points. 



