174 



THIRD ANNUAL SESSIONS 



GOVERNMENT EXPERIMENTS OF WYOMING. 



Mr. O. W. Bryant, Irrigation Manager of the TJ. S. Reclamation Sta- 

 tions at Cheyenne and New Castle, made the following statement of 

 unpublished data: 



"In certain districts of the semi-arid portion of the United States, 

 so-called dry land farming has been notably successful during the past 

 few years. This has probably been due to the introduction of new drouth 

 resistant plants, scientific tillage of the soil, and rainfall above the 

 normal. 



Durum Wheat. 



"Of the drouth resistant plants probably Durum wheat has been 

 most successful and has made the greatest showing in the shortest 

 length of time. This wheat was introduced by the United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture from the plains of Russia and Africa in 1899 to 

 1902. It withstands the dry weather exceptionably well and has found 

 a suitable home west of the 99th meridian. In 1906, twenty million 

 bushels of Durum wheat were exported to Europe, while in 1907 the 

 total yield of the United States was forty-five million bushels. This was 

 practically all grown in the dry farmed belt and covered about three 

 million acres of land. 



Conservation of Moisture. 



"All advocates of dry land farming will advise conservation of mois- 

 ture in the soil. This is no doubt the most important factor entering 

 into scientific dry land farming. Some teachers show us one way to pre- 

 pare the soil for the retention of moisture while others discuss methods 

 slightly different, but they all come to the same conclusion, viz.: that 

 a blanket of fine soil mulch must cover the ground to prevent excessive 

 evaporation. 



Soil Treatment. 



"The truth of the efficiency of this soil mulch is nicely shown in 

 Bulletin 177, by Dr. Fortier of the Office of Experiment Stations, United 

 States Department of Agriculture. In one experiment water was applied 

 to a depth of 3-14 inches to several tanks of earth and varying dry soil 

 mulches were pla,ced over the wet earth. The tanks were then allowed to 

 stand fourteen days. At the end of this time the soil with no mulch lost 

 .72 of an inch; that with a four inch mulch lost .21 of an inch; that with 

 an eight inch mulch, .10 inch; and that with a ten inch mulch lost but 

 .03 inch. 



Evaporation 



"In another experiment where the soil was cultivated six inches deep 

 after a regular irrigation, 50 per cent, less moisture was lost than where 

 the soil was not cultivated at all. These experiments were carried on 

 for several years and the results show conclusively that a so'l mulch is 

 a potent factor in the material success of dry land farming as an 

 enterprise. 



