Show some pointers on dry farming according to the local weather ob berver james jeff last year s rainfall nt Cast ledale was greater than during other season since he has had the station in charge at other points in the county the rainfall is slightly in ex cess of the local station this is true in respect to emery and it is also true n respect to buckhorn flat vi here lo 10 cal summer showers are more frequent than at Cast ledale at emery we are reliably informed the annual preci pita tion la somewhat some whit greater than it is here we give the local prec p tation foi the past four years acs mr jeff has measured them at the locel gov rn anent station 1907 inches 1906 16 1905 10 1904 8 the latter year was unusually dr mr jeff believes the annu 1 ra n fall has seldom fahjen below 12 inches and believes the average will reach 14 with a tendency to a greater ram fail each year however it is evident thit dry farming can be successfully carried on in this county if farmers will follow the instructions laid down by the agricultural college and read the bullet ina issued by that institution and the various government experimental stations prof walter W mclaughlin irnia tion engineer utah experiment sta tion U S department of culture lately contributed a very interesting article on dry farming in utah and montana we clip certain portions of his article the quest on is frequently asked why all this agitate on about dry farm ing the answer is because there are at least one hundred m 11 oi chicres of land in the western states where the soil and climatic conditions are such thit yields of gram may be had without ir negation equal to the average yield of the mississippi valley this land is now i burden instead of a source of revenue but the development of dry land farming by better method of so 1 culture and the introduction and breed ing of plants especially adapted to and within a very few beirs cause a mighty transformation in the no called american desert when all the water shall be used through canals or stored in elaborate reservoir systems and when the dunst shall have made the most ec ono mical use of the waters of the 1 west there will remain probably 80 or 90 per cent of our lands for which there will be no irrigation water of th s amount perhaps 60 per cent is mountain ous leaving one fifth to one chri of the area which must be recia med bv som method other than irrigation or left for the coyote and jack rabbit this is ohp condition which confronts the west to day and the sooner it is realized the sooner may we expect a solution of the problem in utah the development of arv farm methods and drouth crops his been going on for the past forty years until to day there are several sect ons in which profit ibis harvests of alfalfa alfalfa seed wheat corn aid other drouth res at ng crops are obtained with out the appi cat on of on we in utah like many others of tha human race prefer to make our 1 ving an expend ture of little labor and less money As a barly all of the easily available of state has been appropriated leaving on the alternative of and aing the flood waters by means 01 costia res and canals or undertake under taki g the development of our dry lands in view of this condition and inasmuch as the firms in a few sections were successful in maintaining themselves and in fact prospering by dry farmin the utah legislature of 1900 01 appropriated 1 sum of money for th est ibl and maintenance of six exo dry farms the succeeding legislature not only continued the appropriation but increased it by 20 per cent As a result of ahse exar mn s ther has been a great increase ani consequent cons quent exten inn of th s forai of gr culture in ad 1 tion to an in r is i a r ag of cheit ani an i other ran crops thare ads been dev lopel an new crop wh ch proved ver profitable ghitis a crop of one of oar southern utah farmers dainta ned in 1905 some I 1 turkeys these turkeys were fed some what from the dry farm crop nisei tho year bufore but after th time of harvest they all their food from the n which had hen shelled on the n harvesting the b r s were fat and fit for the market in the fill and it 25 cents per pound were certa aly preferable to the non sagebrush or the oc cas ional sheep that was trying to eke out its existence upon the mountain breezes one of th most biffi alt tasks con fronting the p onders of and faram is to gain the confidence of the people much remains for us to show bv demon th t it is possible to produce profitable profi tible crops upon at least a part of th sc ailed american D rt and that it is not an affa action of our br ins nor a q clestion of gainin no or lety but rather a matter of provid ng comps homps for the homeless and land for the lan llesi man successful and farming depends an mar y upon such an 1 hand ling of our fert ie soil will conserve the natural rainfall for the use of the plant and also upon the introduction and im of drouth resisting crops the exp duang the past few years have all tended toward one end that of de tarse methods of so 1 to ive store and reta n the run f 11 at all seasons of the year for plant s use dur ng th short per rd nee essary for its magurm further to store the water of one or two years for pro luct on ohp following year orta n pr n aples have resulted fron thase invest gittons A deep so 1 is in d to the b st water hold g capac tv of our average soils is about 41 aches that is 4 inch ra infill would b sufficient to bring to the po nt of saturate on a soil on foot n depth assumma the annual rai cfall to be 13 inches there is ruffic ent pre tit on each year to thoroughly w et the so 1 chrep feet deep if therefore we dee re to store the water of tw seasons bv the method of summer fal lowing s il six feet in depth is re quiren I 1 he results of some in eions on our utah dr farms show coi plus alv that the ordinary grain carps receive bv capillarity a port 01 of th r moisture from a dati of at last eithe feet that is the flints mav drav mo hiir from aa least the first e feet of soil in the case of ulalia it is pr bibla that the roots rna s cure moisture to a ipp h of fifteen twenty or fet t elo v the surface hane the ty of a deep so 1 has ban ind s ill is d escuss on PS to th VP merit of sand and 1 am 0 o 1 my experience teaches that all 1 ases may be used but a heava so 1 n preferable th s howver dupens so much up n the ha 1 that it is harl to fron the r lust what mi be from th if ferent 0 o 1 t ps the i leal condi tion is a um heavy 1 d b a clay 1 lo 10 m to ic PS a much and p ovie ri 1 f cli siri ace th th p of h rain b v n 1 hi rrb ch 0 th ron s this cl n sul so 1 aho ila be dt a 1 ath of 24 to 10 f et blo v the s ie upon the crop to be pro laced the farmer i consi ipong the question of dry farmin must always keep in mind the fact that mo sture and not plant food is dougi t the matter might n ans way frt get the in thi nil keep it there 1 enquired equi red f r plant use any cont aued on ath page POINTERS aulry FARMING continued from 1st page method or device which will aid n ac this is to be encouraged and nourished into universal use in utah after selecting a type of soil we prefer to plough under the land in the spring ind continue cultivation throughout the summer thereby cecur ina good seed bel if the land is to bp planted with fall prams we prefer to plough ani d sc well in th fall leaving the more or iss open all winter the open assists in catch ng the now and brov des opening for h nin and melted snow to enter the 1 n te d of ruin ng off the surface As sool as poss bl in the spring the s thoroughly dischi and bar rn to g cd urfa 0 ich the land is thin su nm r billel 0 s im mpr f 11 y nd in august or sn the all arii pu n a dr II 11 I 1 acs pr jiing s to plow eight or twelve me in d p h nd ul to a d ath of fiur to s x inches th best 1 chiv hiv been ec in ut h b pi tin f 11 grains summer r hi no ave or e cry secona f n the nit ral pr cip t 4 in I 1 ahre wish to m ke the folio ving observation in knect on teques tion of depth of ng our efforts must be to guard against failure daring the rather thin merely to mike the most out of the wot years let us in the time of for the time scarcity you of en hear of a me mil rilling anor p n hallow plough ng than upon deep but in such cases you will find that the season has been except favorable favo and that it wis not during th season of failures if there should be cop ous summer rains it is probable pro bible the shallow ploua hing would produce the best grain crops but dur ng a dry year the crop on the shallow sloughing ploughing hing would have to be a complete failure before the crop upon the deep sloughing ploughing hing was even seriously affected our staple arv firm crops are wheat corn oats alfalfa rye barley flax grasses and potatoes this list does not luciuse all put many of the more common in utah wheat and al falfa are by far the most important in some instances where the soil and subsoil conditions are favorable fruit trees are being grown successfully nothing can be more dreary or dis corrig ng thin the dry farmer s home II 11 mid ummer without trees without i garien or small fruit the dusty and lizele appearance of a landscape makes one think that he is truely upon a desert and is merely arving to make the best of a bad situation the fact that many of these farms are profitable does not remove the feeling shared by the family yes even by the farmer himself of temporary occupancy nor does it take the place of fresh fruit and garden stuff the dry farmer should attempt to se cure enough water to provide these things and to permit of a variety in the d et if only for the comfort of his family that the farmer may still support himself and not become discouraged during an exceptionally long or severe drouth should be sufficient inducement for it that the 1 m ts of settlement may be pushed even into the drnest corners of the west requests it and above all the tru home building with a contented family which is our ul mate it there are several burces which by the expenditure of a very few dollars will provide sufficient water with which to irrigate from one to ten acres our western empire which abounds so abundantly in natural resources pro vides in nearly every section one or more of these sources over a great port on of the country east of the rocky mountains there is found with in a reasonable reas onabe distance of the surface an abundance of underground water which may be raised to the surface at a very reasonable reason ible expense by pumping using as power w nd ors earn i in india more land is irrigated from wells than n irrigated in the un ted states from all sources combined the area irrigated from each well is feces anay restricted but we must keep in m nd that this irrigation is merely to supplement dry farm naf and not to be the of revenue to the farm er As the apt source of supple con co n the m 11 resen air s so na ol 01 the ra 1 kiy dpn es se n it pos ties hive constructed ich rs to provid water ng places for sock they m alp ilp in cons ruction and i heap to bull 3 suc a re is usually bu atac itac oss small ravine or gulley to catch an 1 retain the flood wat ers hinted for irrigation the area ir righted from this s birc is lar er tha that irrigated from wells an besides a garden and an orchord some of the ir r gated area mav be devote to raising fodder with which to supplement the pasture in feeding milk cows and work horses strictly speaking the question of supplement irr gation is not dry farm ing but it has to do w th the develop ment of our dry lands aid where tided would prevent discouragement and make the arv farmer s life more desirable it might be termed a form of insurance against fa inre our dry farming practiced practised in utah and montana has been to avail ourselves of all the talents which the alloise one has loaned us we have in utah overcome public prejudice and gained the sympathy and good will of the farmer there is pra no section in the state which has not been clamoring for on of our arv farm exar mental stations aej in each where we are operating the county commissioners have turn sh ed plowed and fenced the land wi hout cost to he in addition to the state appropriation there has been available in the several an additional fund sufficient to put the land in condition to receive its first crop there have ben organized within the last two years several birge stock companies for the purpose of en gaping in dry land farmin the stock holder of these compan es are corn posed of some of th foremost utra lists educators financiers an 1 pra farmers within the state in on county there has been within the past three ears more than 5 acres added to the cultivated dry f rm area dry farming has become part of the an culture of the state and of the sources of its wealth |