336 



THIRD ANNUAL SESSIONS 



All of our dry farmers are not good dry farmers by any means. In 

 fact some of them are very poor dry farmers, yet they have in the main 

 been quite successful and those who farm the best have been very 

 successful. 



During all my service in congress I have been on the irrigation com- 

 mittee and for a number of years was chairman, so I have taken a lively 

 interest in all that pertains to irrigation, but at the same time I have 

 realized that, as not to exceed ten per cent, of the area of the arid states 

 could be irrigated, any considerable development along agricultural lines 

 must depend quite largely upon the possibility of the growing of crops 

 with scant rainfall. Therefore I have studied the possibilities of such, de- 

 velopment as religiously as I have studied irrigation in all parts of the 

 western states I have visited. 



The result of my investigation of the subject has been a surprise at 

 the extent to which the growing of crops with scant rainfall has been 

 carried on throughout the arid and semi-arid region and the limited knowl- 

 ledge that one such region has had of what was being done in all others. 

 In California it has been necessary' to discourage rather than encourage 

 dry farming in some regions because irrigation was possible and therefore 

 ought to be practiced. 



In eastern Oregon and Washington the system of cropping the ground 

 only once in two years has been practiced on an extensive scale and with 

 great success, while in every state of the west farming is carried on more 

 or less here and there without irrigation and with scant rainfall. 



There are some general pmpositions which have come under my ob- 

 servation that may possibly be useful to you. The first of tbese is that the 

 successful growing of certain classes of crops on lands which do not con- 

 tain too great a percentage of clay, with a limited rainfall and without 

 artificial irrigation, has long since ceased to be an experiment. Second, 

 that so-called dry farming under reasonably favorable conditions and by 

 the use of proper methods is but a little less certain and satisfactory in 

 its results than ordinary farming in the average country of heavy rainfall, 

 and much more satisfacory than in many regions of heavy rainfall with 

 poor soil. My personal opinion is based on quite extensive observation 

 that the moiSt satisfactory results will be obtained in most regions having 

 less than eighteen or twenty inches of annual precipitation by biennial 

 cropping and summer tillage. I believe that in the running of the years 

 the farmer will get more dollars per acre per annum from his farm by 

 this method than by annual cropping and with less labor and expense. 

 The only exception I should make to this rule is in cases where a cul- 

 tivated crop like corn or particularly potatoes or other roots is followed 

 by a grain crop. ^ 



No one who has had any experience in dry farming needs to be ad- 

 vised that in every dry farming region adapted to the growth of wititer 

 grain such crops are the most certain and satisfactory, neither does any 

 experienced dry farmer need to be told that ground should be plowed in 

 the fall to produce the best results and that it must be plowed deep is 



