4 
COLORADO EXPERIMENT STATION 
Dry Land Farming In Ea^ern Colorado 
BY H. M. COTTRELL. 
Dry land farming is a continual fight against relentless, unfavo?- 
able conditions. Succr ss depends upon the man; his courage, his 
knowledge and judgment, and his persistence. Physical strength 
and endurance of both men and women is a large factor in this 
struggle. V\hth the best seeds and methods of tillage there will be 
some years of total failure and many others of short crops. It is 
safest to lay plans that will furnish a living with an average of two 
failures each five years. There have been three consecutive years 
of no crops followed by as many years of good crops. 
Conditions are much more favorable than they were twenty or 
even ten years ago. There has been no increase in the rainfall, but 
the methods of storing and holding moisture in the soil are better 
understood. Today there are dry land plants that will produce crops 
with limited rainfall and seeds of these crops that have been selected 
and bred under arid conditions. 
Thousands of failures have occurred on the Plains that have 
been due to other than climatic causes. Men came and used seeds 
and methods adapted only to humid regions and persisted in the face 
of continuous failures until they lost their all. Men came without 
the capital absolutely necessary to carry them over poor years, and 
their first seasons were ones of severe drought. Men arrived with 
families, and after paying the freight on their few household goods 
had no money loft. They had not been thrifty enough to save any¬ 
thing in a humid country, where they had been familiar with profit¬ 
able methods from childhood. They started in an arid climate, 
penniless, without any knowledge of the methods needed, and with 
seed, feed and family supplies to be purchased for from six months 
to two years before any revenue could be expected. Men came with 
little money to raise grain exclusively. The surest income in eastern 
Colorado is made from dairying and poultry. 
A man unfamiliar with dry land farming should not settle on the 
Plains unless he has sufficient capital to erect the buildings that are 
absolutely necessary, to buy the needed teams and implements, and 
after making these expenditures, have sufficient money left to pay 
for seed, feed and living expenses for two years. 
Men have taken claims in eastern Colorado who had little or 
