90 



THIRD ANNUAL SESSIONS 



Dry Farming is Salvation. 



"The Dry Farming system, which has of late been practiced in the 

 Great Plains of our semi-arid West, had already attracted my attention 

 and we have begun trying those methods here. Of course we are only 

 in the beginning and without large experience and doubtless will make 

 many mistakes, but we are believers in the kind of culture thus used 

 and already have begun to see that they are really practicable here. Wo 

 feel greatly encouraged about the possibility of raising good crops of 

 wheat, barley and oats here, but we feel more doubtful as to our succcess 

 in fruit growing, but are determined to make the trial. 



Mulberry Trees. 



"We have about five acres of mulberry trees for silk culture grow- 

 ing, and some of them are in excellent shape and promise well We are 

 now the possessors of a disc harrow and with it we hope to be able to 

 conserve the moisture in these groves and are inclined also to try other 

 fruits. 



Grapes. 



"Not only can wheat, barley and oats be raised here, but the region 

 largely abounds in vineyards and grapes of a very fine quality are raised. 

 It is what I have found here among our village vinedressers which T 

 wish especially to report to the Congress. These villagers are the finest 

 vinedressers that I have ever com.e across. While they seem to me to be 

 very indifferent farmers in other respects, they seem from the'r fathers 

 before them to have by experience hit upon what I call the dry-farming 

 methods, with reference to their vineyards, and they have little by little 

 turned almost all their attention to grape growing, which has thus become 

 by all odds their most profitable industry. 



Soil Treatment. 



"Their method is to take a field and by hand dig it up to the depth 

 of about two feet with an instrument which they call a "dexil" — the form 

 which I roughly indicate here. A couch grass, or wire-grass as I some- 

 times call it is most persistent here, and no drouth ever seems to kill 

 it out, but by this digging up the grouund foot by foot with this instru- 

 ment, they not only open up a deep soil for the roots of the vines, but 

 eradicate the couch grass by throwing out every piece upon the surface 

 of the ground where it is allowed to dry up. After the vines are set out, 

 they are continuallj' digging over the ground with the same instrument 

 by hand labor, and especially after every rain. 



Kill the Weeds. 



"Not a weed is tolerated and the endeavor is to keep the ground 

 always mellow and dug over. The vines are cut back to the stub near 

 the ground every year, and are not trained upon trellises. I ^ish the 

 members of the Congress could visit us during the grape ripening sea- 

 son. These vineyards, extending almost as far as the eye reaches, load- 

 ed with luscious fruit, are indeed a pleasant sight. So far as the gov- 



