giS 



Dry Farming. 



[FEB., 



increase is confined to " other sorts" (not specified), but may 

 not improbably have been soy-bean cake. 



Perhaps the most interesting item in the export trade, from 

 an agricultural point of view, is that which shows the sales 

 of breeding animals to the Colonies and foreign countries. 

 In the table on p. 917 the particulars are given for the past 

 two years, but it should be noted that the figures for 1909 

 include some animals exported for use as food, the 

 number and value of which are not ascertainable. In the 

 case of cattle, for example, the animals exported to the 

 Channel Islands would come chiefly under this heading. 



The export of cattle, if those sent to the Channel Islands 

 are excluded, showed a marked increase, chiefly to the United 

 States. The export of sheep was also somewhat larger, the 

 number sent to the United States having doubled, while the 

 Canadian demand showed some growth. On the other hand, 

 there was a substantial diminution in the export to 

 Argentina. 



Horses, however, represent the largest item in this export 

 trade, and the total value in the past year is the largest yet 

 recorded. 



The recently issued Bulletin of the Dry Farming Congress 

 in America will be perused with interest by agriculturists in 



this country. It gives an interesting 

 Dry Farming. glimpse into transatlantic ideas and 



methods. The expression "Dry Farm- 

 ing" is intended to be descriptive of the systems of farming 

 best suited to semi-arid regions. The phrase is, however, 

 loosely applied to successful systems of farming followed in 

 places with an annual rainfall of less than thirty inches, and 

 where, consequently, the fundamental problem is how to 

 conserve the soil moisture to a degree sufficient to enable 

 cereals to be grown with success. In Western America, and 

 Canada, there are many thousand square miles of land in 

 regard to which this problem arises, and is now being success- 

 fully solved. 



The solution does not involve any new principle : it 

 depends simply on the well-known efficacy of a surface 

 mulch, or fine division of the soil, in preventing evapora- 

 tion. Thus, the fundamental principles of dry farming 



