216 



THIRD ANNUAL SESSIONS 



Acreage Yields. 



"We threshed 40 bushels and eight pounds per acre on the 224 

 acres. By this time the people began to see that I was growing grain 

 and they began to settle up around me and take up land, until today you 

 cannot get a foot of land in that country for love or money. For that 

 very 224 acres two years ago I was offered $75.00 per acre. I paid $4 for 

 it when I got it from the railroad. Now it is as I told you, 43 years since 

 I commenced and my neighbors from all over the country come to me 

 and ask questions about dry farming and what they shall do. I go to 

 the agricultural college and give lectures on dry farming. I go to the 

 Brigham Yoimg college and do the same. I go to different parts of the 

 country lecturing on dry farming whenever I am called on, and the 

 people who follow my advice prosper; they never fail. Now then many 

 questions have been asked here and my talk will explain and answer 

 those questions. 



Fall Plowing. 



"About fall plowing, the question has been asked, Is it best to plow 

 in the fall or the spring?' I say, plow in the fall every time. I don't 

 care how dry the ground is, it matters not; if rough, you have to break 

 up the lumps. It's all the better. 



Soil Treatment. 



"I leave the ground rough all winter and the snow and rarns come 

 and fertilize that soil and pulverize it, and as soon as the spring comes 

 I take a disc and harrow behind the disc and lap the disc and harrow 

 half way. We go lengthwise and as soon as that is done, turn crosswise 

 and do the same. In a short time you will see the little weeds coming 

 up, and when they come so you see them nicely I put the disc to work 

 again and the harrow. I sometimes harrow and disc it four or five times 

 in the season. We don't allow weeds to grow on the ground. We cul- 

 tivate the ground and from the 25th of August until the last of September, 

 just before we sew, we put the leveler to work and level it all over, so 

 that you can see to an inch where the drill has run and we don't miss 

 any of them; you cannot afford to miss, and we sew 35 pounds to the 

 acre, and if the ground is very rich we sew a little more. But I make 

 m.y tenants sign a contract in writing that they shall not sew more than 



Thin Seeding. 



40 pounds to the acre and if they sew over a bushel they have to pay 

 for the loss in crops, because it will not produce half as much as that 

 sewn thin. Because where you sew seed too thick on ground in dry 

 farming, it will draw sustenance out of the ground and it cannot mature 

 so as to get a crop. I will relate one circumstance to prove this to you. 

 I used to sew rye, and a Danishman moved into the neighborhood about 

 a mile away. He came to me and wanted to know if I had some rye to 

 sell for feed. I said: 'Yes, sir, plenty of it.' He said: 'I want to buy 15 

 bushels.' 'All right, sir, you can have it.' He said, 'Will you take work 



