348 



THIRD ANNUAL SESSIONS 



scenes 100 feet long. Your statist! ciaxL strongly urges the continuaition 

 of the Congress Exhibit — Crop, Machinery and Photo — at future sessions. 



It is an educational feature which corrects errors, molds public oipdn- 

 ion, and stimulates activaty in a way that is helpful and influential to 

 all interests associated in the dry farming movement. 



5. CONCLUSIONS TO BE DRAWN. 



Elsewhere, is given the full proceedings of the Congress. Here, your 

 Statistician would give a short review or epitome of what was accom- 

 plished at the Cheyenne meeting. 



He wishes to call special attention to the "Seven Essentials" given 

 below : 



The Third Dry Farming Congress demonsrated beyond the question 

 of a doubt that some farmers on the non-irrigated lands of the West, 

 with less than twenty inches of rainfall "made good" in 1908, our hard- 

 est crop year for more than a decade. The farmers explained their meth- 

 od of growing crops and had an exhibit of 1908 crops which was an un- 

 answerable argument of the truth of their assertions. Theorists might 

 theorize and tell how it should be done, but these farmers "delivered the 

 goods" and told the hundreds of visitors just how they succeeded, a most 

 helpful feature for every new settler of the West. This experience 

 meeting was a most helpful feature of the sessions of the Congress. 

 They told us that farming in the West calls for the highest class of 

 intelligence and that we need to discourage the settlers who cannot "mix 

 brains with the sod." 



From the mjost excellent addresises given and discussions heard, your 

 statistician gleaned the following as fundamentals which every new 

 settler should realize as essential and all important: 



First — Choose a soil adapted tO' farming, with a clay subsoil. Shun 

 a sandy subsoil, since it tends to leach moisture and makes it difficult to 

 maintain a soil reservoir, where, by capillary action, moisture reaches 

 the plant as it has need. A sandy surface soil needs different treatment 

 than a clayey, or clay loam surface soil. Hence, do not treat all soils 

 alike. 



Second — Have one cash money crop, but make the major portion of 

 the farm seed crop, which will give back to the soil at least 75 per cent 

 soil value of the crop fed, to keep up the fertility of the farm and main- 

 tain humus. 



Third — Therefore, keep livestock on the farm, the kind of livestock 

 to be determined by the farm environments, market conditions and farm 

 capital the owner can invest.. 



Fourth — Adoption of moisture conserving methods of tillage is vital 

 and all important. Deep plowing, in the average* soil, is a requisite of 

 prime importance. 



Fifth — Use acclimated seed of the most drouth resistant type which 

 can be made to fit into a pusposeful, practical rotation for the farm. 

 At least one legume should be grown in all rotations chosen. 



