i9i i] 



Dry Farming. 



919 



are stated to be deep initial preparation of the ground, and 

 constant after-cultivation. Where the annual rainfall is less 

 than fifteen inches, this mulching process is kept up during 

 a "summer fallow," and it is alleged that in this way the 

 rainfall of two seasons may be conserved for the purposes of 

 one crop. 



Whatever the true explanation of its success may be, it 

 cannot be doubted that the system of summer fallowing with 

 repeated surface tillage has made it possible to obtain good 

 crops of cereals in spots which a few years ago were marked 

 on the maps as " desert." The credit of this discovery, or 

 rather of this application of well-known principles to the arid 

 regions in America, is largely due to a pioneer farmer, Mr. 

 Campbell, of Dakota, who not only successfully applied the 

 method to his own lands, but also by his unremitting mis- 

 sionary efforts has largely contributed to the spread of the new 

 knowledge in the Western States of America and Canada. 



The enthusiasm to which this discovery gave rise is charac- 

 teristically American, and affords an object-lesson of the 

 greater keenness with which new knowledge is followed by 

 our transatlantic cousins. The new cult, as it may appro- 

 priately be called, gave birth in time to an International Dry- 

 Farming Congress, of which the fifth meeting was held in 

 October last at Spokane, Washington. The objects of this 

 Congress are thus defined in the "Constitution": — "To 

 encourage a better understanding of the methods by which 

 dry-land farming can be successfully conducted; to create a 

 great co-operative educational propaganda on behalf of agri- 

 cultural development ; to encourage the teaching of the basic 

 principles of the science of farming in public schools; to 

 push the dry-farming propaganda into every district of the 

 world, in order that the millions of now unoccupied acres of 

 arable land may be utilised as homes for the landless . . . &c." 



The Congress meets annually and occupies three days. At 

 the last meeting, the members were addressed by upwards of 

 fifty speakers, including State Governors, Professors of agri- 

 culture, and farmers, the subject in every case being some 

 practical aspect of farming. 



In reading these addresses one cannot fail to be struck by 

 the enthusiasm and eagerness to learn shown by the 



