266 



THIRD ANNUAL SESSIONS 



Conservation of Moisture. 



of moisture, never leaches, and a cultivated field acts as a permanent 

 reservoir for all water that falls upon it if the farmer is careful to pre- 

 vent evaporation. The intelligent farmer is able to raise many kinds 



Diversified Cropping. 



of crops successfully, a few of the main and most successful crops 

 being winter wheat, winter rye, corn, alfalfa, potatoes, sugar beets, 

 oats, barley and speltz. I am interested in a cattle company that has 

 imder cultivation 100 acres of land three miles south of the Cheyenne 

 river on one of the table lands above mentioned, where we have suc- 

 cessfully raised crops for the past seven years, fully one half of said 

 years being dry ones. The first four years did not bring as good re- 

 sults as the last three for the reason that the principles of dry farm- 

 ing were not know to us then. During part of the same time my 

 partner and myself have been cultivating a small farm near Fort 

 Pierre, on the eastern edge of Stanley county, with success. We find 



Root Crops. 



the gumbo soil raises unusually large root products of all kinds and is 

 especially adapted to the growth of sugar beets and alfalfa. Our 

 potatoes have proven extra fine in quality and size, producing 125 to 

 :150 bushels per acre. We are usually able to plant potatoes in April 

 sc. that they mature about the middle of July. 



Gumbo Soil. 



"In certain parts of our county we have a very heavy gumbo soil 

 which would seem to require more careful handling than the soils 

 of the table lands on the river bottoms. This heavy soil has not been 

 farmed scientifically up to the present time so as to be able to report 

 results. In our gumbo soil we have all of the most valuable elements 

 needed to sustain plant life, these soils being very rich in phosphates 

 and nitrates. On the ridges we find in many places shale close to the 

 surface. These shales, however, as soon as exposed to the air and 

 sunlight quickly slack, very much the same as quick lime. We have 

 underneath our county some of the largest and deepest beds of shale 

 known in the world, these beds being from 1,000 to 1,200 feet deep. 



Precipitation. 



"The report of tlie United States weather bureau at Pierre shows 

 an average rainfall of over seventeen inches each year for the past 

 thirty years, which is sufficient for nearly all purposes. Trees can 

 be successfully grown if set in rows and the soil well cultivated. The 

 cultivation should be thorough in the dry periods. 



During the past years 1907 and 1908 four banks in Stanley county 

 distributed free something like 1,500 of the Campbell Soil Culture 

 Manuals and other matter treating on this subject. The newspapers 

 have also published much matter, all of which has assisted in intro- 



