134 



THIRD ANNUAL SESSIONS 



Soil Renovation. 



the soil needs tillage and a renovation whicli will promote chemical and 

 bacterial action and at the same time aid in the introduction and cir- 

 culation of a-r. The permanent meadows of the irrigator can he ma- 

 terially improved through the exercise of cultivation methods. 



Irrigationist Should Study. 



"The irrigationist has been prone to look upon the dry farmer with 

 derision and pity. The fact that the irrigation farmer has at his com- 

 mand the one element, water does not prove that he has mastered all of 

 the demands of a growing crop when he supplies this single element 

 and depends upon nature without the exercise of intelligence to supply 

 what else is needed. The providing of the best physical condition for 

 the growing crop, the supplying of air and warmth and sunlight, are 

 matters which demand the attention of everyone who cultivates the 

 land. 



Fertilization and Rotation. 



"The farmer in the humid regions realizes this fact, and exhausts 

 every possible means of maintaining his fertility through the appli- 

 cation in the best possible manner of all the stable manures produced 

 on the farm, by practicing the rotation of crops, whereby the lagumes 

 may be grown and advantage taken of their ability to assimilate atmo- 

 spheric nitrogen, and by practicing systems of cultivation to insure the 

 greatest amount of good from the supply of water at hand, provide a 

 constantly renewed supply of air, and take advantage of all the forces 

 of nature to insure warmth and sunlight for his crops. There can be 

 nothing in these principles which the irr'gation farmer has any "reason 

 to overlook, and they are the foundation principles of dry land farming." 



WYOMING. 



Dr. V. T. Cooke, state director of dry farming experiments, of 

 Wyoming, addressed the Congress as follows: 



"Our Chairman made a remark yesterday that he thought we ought 

 to confine ourselves to facts, and in my address I want to assure you 

 that all the things I may say are absolute facts, and you do not have 

 to believe, but you can have my talk verified at any and all times. 



"Dry Farming" Is Misnomer. 



"We are unfortunate, at least I begin to think so, in our term, or 

 use of the words, 'dry farming.' They are very misleading and cer- 

 tainly give many the wrong impression, because some people get the 

 idea that we can raise grasses and grains without or almost without 

 that vital necessity to all vegetation, moisture. On the other hand, if 

 we use the term 'arid agriculture,' the word arid, is misleading too. 

 because aridity conveys the idea of desert. It is more than likely that 

 the words 'dry farming' will stay with us and we hope through such 

 educational movements as this Congress we will secure a better under- 



