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THIRD ANNUAL SESSIONS 



"This is a farmer's immigration. They are after the treasures of 

 the soil, as the first settlers were after the treasures of the placer grav- 

 el and of the mineralized rock. It means the second step in the develop- 

 ment of the western states, and these states should use their best en- 

 deavors to bring this development to a successful issue, as with its fru- 

 ition will come the next step, when the unlimited resources of water 

 and coal and timber and mineral will be combined into immense manu- 

 facturing enterprises. 



Necessity for Study. 



"As I have studied on the ground this present movement of settlers, 

 as I have met and talked with these people, as I have seen their homes and 

 the circumstances by which they are surrounded, as I have read tJifcir 

 letters of inquiry, I have questioned seriously whether the agencies al- 

 ready at work were not fully ample to make known the oprportunities 

 and resources of the state to outside people and whether the state could 

 not, with the greatest advantage, give its money and the energies at its 

 command to working out the many problems these new settlers have to 

 face — problems which must be solved if they are to meet with success, 

 with the new kind of farming in this new country. For whether they set- 

 tle on the dry farm above or on the irrigated farm below the ditch, there 

 is here a new farm practice as compared to the humid districts of the 

 east. 



Causes of Failures. 



"The man who follows eastern methods, who does not handle his 

 soil and crop according to approved dry farm methods ,who does not un- 

 derstand fully the great importance of certain methods of practice and 

 carry them out fully, is doomed to fail on the dry farm, should a sue 

 cession of dry years come. 



Irrigation Farmer's Problem. 



"The new-comer on the irrigated farm has also a very serious prob- 

 lem, especially if his means are limited. To the man with limited capital 

 and no experience in irrigation, it is no small undertakng to work out 

 success on an irrigated farm, even under the government projects. With 

 an 80-acre farm he will have to raise from $200 to $320 in cash each year 

 top pay for the ditch. At the same time the land has to be broken and 

 fenced, house, barn and stables built, horses and machinery provided and 

 the family kept. At the same time the community needs have to be met; 

 roads and bridges built, schools, churches and the municipal building to 

 be provided. The man aad the community who can do all these things 

 and do them well, must crop all that 80 acre farm and get it to produce 

 a maximum return. 



Experiment Station. \ 



"On every irrigated project and in every dry farm community there 

 should be a demonstration and experimental farm established for a few 

 years; a place where the local crop problem should be studied; where 



