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Show fl m 111. m I I ARID FARMING H BEST YEAR ON RECORD FOR H UTAH DRY FARMS. Every County Reports Marked Ad- B vancc in This Method of Rc- claiming the Desert in the m Arid Regions. H Large Tracts Placed Under Cultiva- H lion, and Average Yield of 'Twch-, H ty Bushels of Wheat Per . B ' )crc ScQlircd. ,- Revolution is the only wordl'that H describes wtfat is going on among the H farmers of Utah. This refers espec- H inlly to dry farming. Not in all "tlic H yars that preceded was there as. much K progress mad'c in the solution of the m dry farming problem as was made in m the year now drawing to a close. It f may be in the past year that the state was but reaping the fruits from -seed B sown in other years, of experiments B running back through a scries of m years. Be this as it may, the fact re- H mains that in 1908 in Utah dry farm- H iug emerged from the realm of cx- H purimont nd took its place among H the well established industries of the H The fact that dry farming has como H to stay, and that it is winning its way H into the confidence of the progres-' m sivc farmers of the state, is demon- H stratcd by the fact that during 1908 B this method of crop raising was pro- K secuted in practically every county B in the state, and in many of them quite B extensively. fl Lewis A. Merrill of the Agricultural Agricultur-al College is playing an important B part in this important work. He has B charge of the government .experiment B stations throughout the state and, in H addition to this, he has gone into the H various counties during the year and B given the farmers the benefit of his B i. lvice and personal supervision in H opening their dry farm tracts. In H addition to this, he lias lxxn person-H person-H ally idantified with one of the big-H big-H gest and most successful dry farms H in the west, that in the Dog valley in H Juab county. Professor Merrill in-H in-H sists that the land should lie idle cv-H cv-H cry other year; that after crop has H been raised on a piece of land by dry H farming, the ground should -be sum-H sum-H mcr fallowed and re$t fdr thfe next year. On the Dog valley farm wheat was raised this year on 2,000 acres, which averaged eighteen bushels to the acre. Next year this land will lie idle so far as crop raising is concerned, con-cerned, but it will be carefully cultivated culti-vated just the same. Next year 1,200 acres of new ground will be broken up and put in -crop. Land Is Taken Up. . Every -acre" of land suitable for dry . - i farming in that section of Mhc slate has been tUkcn up, and much' of it has liurfn broken up and put untlcr cultivation. culti-vation. The influence of this is felt in, .the city of Ncphi'in a, marked degree. de-gree. New life-has been injected into that city. Improvements of all kinds are going forward, and thv. community has every appearance of feeing the center of a thriving industry. Great things arc anticipated there from dry farming. Record of Five Years. Fiv years ago Professor Merrill .established a government farm of for-,-ty acres lidar Enterprise, fn Washington Washing-ton county. On all sides was the absolute desert for many mile's. There was no way of getting a drop of water upon the land except by precipitation pre-cipitation from the clouds or hauling in tanks for many miles from the 'nearest settlement. No more unpromising un-promising spot could be found anywhere any-where in the state for the establishment establish-ment of a farm, except that the soil was good. Even in this respect the , criticism was made that the poorest soil in the neighborhood was selected select-ed for the experiment. On this little farm crops of from twenty-five to thirty-eight bushels of excellent wheat hnve been raised year after year for the past five years; and in this way wwy possible doubt has besn removed re-moved as to the success of farming without irrigation In that section of Utoh. Empire of Agricultural Wealth. The significant thing in connection with .this is, that around l" little ' experiment farm there arc millions of acres of the richest land in Utth still untouched. The land immediately immediate-ly adjoining this forty acres is still covered with the sagebrush that has decorated it since the beginning. This farm, in which Professor Merrill takos justifiable pride, is witliin plain view of the historic site of the Moun tain Meadow massacre. He expects to see .every acre of the whole territory terri-tory under cultivation and yielding good crops within a few years. This n year a tract of 2,000 acres is under Bdry farm cultivation within ten miles h of the experimental farm, and is yielding satisfactory returns. 9 Other Counties Active. San Juan county offers one of the I r best fields in the entire state for dry if farming. There in the vicinity of Monticcllo are tracts of thirty and f forty miles in extent that present the finest possible opportunities for dry farming. From all points in the state, from the extreme north to the south- iarn limits of Dixie, iconic reports of success where proper methods have been followed1. In Cache county, one man who canic from Scandinavia sixteen six-teen years ago, and borrowed $10 after getting here to get a start, is now the owner of 13,000 acres of good laud, and this year is marketing 50,000 bushels of good wheat raised by dry farming. Wheat is yielding the producers from 80 to 85 cents a bushel on the farms this year. Twenty Twen-ty bushels to the acre is considered a satisfactory yield, and as the ground is to be cropped but once in two years this would mean an average annual yield of ten bushels. At the prevailing prevail-ing price of 80 cents a bushel, this would mean a gross annual revenue of $8 per acre from dry farming. George L. Farrcll of Cache county, who' occupies an .unique positi6n in relation to dry farming in Utah, hav- j ing been one of the first to demonstrate demon-strate its wonderful possibilities, rc-lorts rc-lorts that he raised 600 acres of wheat ths year.. His crop totalled 14,000 bushels, or an average of twenty-three twenty-three bushels to the acre. He is of the opinion that 250 acres is the best size of a dry farm, and strongly recommends rec-ommends the raising of horses. Mr. Farrcll but represents what many oth: ers arc doing in Cache and Box Elder counties, although not on so large a scale. In most every instance where. . . , .'. the proper methods, were, used .suc- " '- , cess has attended the efforts of the dry farmers. Notes From Other Points. This is equally true of every other county. Davis and Salt Lake, counties coun-ties entered into the new industry extensively this year, and reports ot . satisfactory results iconic from.. all points in these counties. L. F. Becker of Sanpete county reports an average yield of twenty bushels per acre from 100 acres. Fcter S. Barscn qf Charleston, Char-leston, in Wasatch county, reports 10,000 acres in dry farm wheat in that . vicinity, and an average yield of .twenty-eight "bushels per acre. Dan Wit-beck Wit-beck of Sterling reports an average yield of twenty-three bushels, for the first crop on forty acres. J. Q. Adams fromi Logan, in Cache county, reports an average of twenty-five bushels on 130 acres. J. W. Paxman .of Ncphi reports a yield of 6,000 bushels on 330 acres, or an average yield of twenty bushels. These arc "but .samples .sam-ples of the reports 'coming in from all parts of the .state, ,. ,. .. .. -' These men do not agree as to the j. roper sixe of the d'ry farm; they do not agree as to the kind of wheat to raise; they do not agree as to whether steam power or horse power is the best; they do not agree on all points in relation' to the clutivation of the soil, but Ihcy are all enthusiastic students stu-dents of dry farming,' and have unlimited unlim-ited faith in its ultimate success. Favor Larger Homesteads. Naturally, great interest centers in the efforts of western representatives to secure the enactment of a law enlarging en-larging the government dry farm t. 320 acres) It is felt that this would give a wonderful stimulus to dry farming, Ssp-ccially that provision enabling en-abling a man to operate a dry farm without living upon it. Great interest also centers in the convention soon to be held in- Cheyenne; Wyoming. It seems to be the most progressive farmers of the state who arc turning their attention to dry farming, and they are all anxious for the latest nnt? best advices as ib how to proceed. It is. certain that -the scope -of'-dry. farming will be' wonderfully extended next year. Washington county i. taking a deep interest in the matter and promises to pass, in a short time, Cache and the other counties that have been, taking the lead in roecn't years. New Year's Salt Lake Herald, o |