Dry Farming In Colorado 
i 7 
weeds by plowing or other form of cultivation to permit the ac¬ 
cumulation of water. Sometimes the soil can he sufficiently mois¬ 
tened, when such clean cultivation is followed, in one season to 
permit perfect safety in tree planting. Sometimes two seasons 
must elapse, and in extreme seasons as many as three. The ground 
should he ready and have sufficient moisture before trees are 
put out. 
The planting of trees will make it possible to have some shade 
about the home. In addition to this, trees will break the dreary 
monotony of the plains, a monotony which is very real to all those 
not born and bred plainsmen. The women folks of the family are 
especially susceptible to this loneliness because of the isolation 
and 'difficulty of social relations with the neighbors. 
The dry farmer should make provision for a garden some¬ 
where near his well. If a good well is present for domestic water 
supply, it can be used, especially if a little storage is possible, to 
insure a g'ood small garden if the water is properly applied at the 
right time. 
The dry farmer should by all means plan his cropping sys¬ 
tem so as to grow feed for at least a few chickens and pigs, so 
that the family living will be insured. The type of other live¬ 
stock which he chooses to grow will depend a good deal upon his 
location, as either dairy or meat animals can be made profitable. 
There will be seasons when an abundance of feed will be pro¬ 
duced. There will be other seasons when the amount of feed pro¬ 
duced must be very carefully husbanded in order to permit exis¬ 
tence; consequently, sooner or later the dry farmer should come 
to the proposition of saving all of his feed, and in extra good 
crop years to store up excess feed to tide him over the lean years 
which are bound to follow one season or another. 
The wide use of the silo is sure to come as a part of this de¬ 
velopment, because it permits all, or practically all, the feed 
grown to be stored in available succulent condition for future 
feeding. In 1912 the Experimental Substation at Cheyenne Wells 
produced feed enough to have carried the herd on the land at thal 
time for a period of two years. The silo capacity was limited to 
two pit silos at that time. They were filled to capacity, but they 
were only capable of carrying the herd thru the winter and the 
following early summer. In 1913 by saving every bit of feed that 
it was possible to save, and putting it into the silo, it was not pos¬ 
sible to quite fill even these two silos. In 1914 two more silos 
were put down so that now we have capacity enough to carry the 
normal regular herd thru a period of two years if extreme condi¬ 
tions should appear. 
