OCR Text |
Show DRY FARMING IS WIDESPREAD Now an International Institution and Report of Last Meeting Widely Circulated. Tho dry farming congress is now an international Institution. At its late session, representatives wero present from tho United States, Canada, Can-ada, Eurc-no, Australia nnd South America, wys Orange Judd Farmer. The report of this meeting is of especial es-pecial value. Portions of it have recently re-cently been printed in the Russian language and distributed among the Russian farmers. Tho representative representa-tive from Brazil Is preparing to translate trans-late the report into Portuguese for distribution in the parts of South America where tho Portuguese language lan-guage Is spoken. A French edition will soon bo printed for tho dry farmers farm-ers of Hayti. Other European countries coun-tries uro planning to distribute this Important literature very extensively. At tho next session of this congress In Billings, Mont., the coming October, the ' foreign representation will be I much more complete than ever be- i land which, under like conditions-would conditions-would be as productlvo as tho lands reclaimed. Such lands havo hereto-foro hereto-foro boon, and aro now, chlofly used for tho grazing of livestock. This Is not unimportant, but tho function thus performed is not a tltho of that which may bo performed undor different conditions. "Tho limit of production will bo renched at no distant dnto it cultivation cultiva-tion is confined to lnnds watorod by irrigation ir-rigation or natural rnjn fall. Tho thinking mind of man, spurred on no doubt by anticipated necosslty, hns discovered a means whereby theno grazing lands may bo mado to produce pro-duce in greater quantities than undor natural conditions. It has been demonstrated dem-onstrated that tho Boll, when properly prepared and cultivated will absorb and hold moisturo. Tho preparation and cultivation of tho soli bo that It will gathor and retain sufficient rain fall to produco crops, Is dry farming, or more properly designated, scion-title scion-title farming. In other words, the soil is convortcd into a storage reservoir reser-voir for tho .moisturo which supports plant life during tho Benson when precipitation Is not sufllclont. "Dry fnrming is not a theory; It is an-accomplished fact. There is a vnst area of arablo land which cannot bo reclaimed, nnd Bltuntcd whoro tho rain fall Is not sufllcient to mnko productlvo. pro-ductlvo. Consider for a moment whnt tho cultivation of this land will moan to future production. "From experiments conducted, act-ual act-ual cultivation carried on and observations observa-tions mado in many sections of tho stato, it is confidently bcllovcd thnt this area of 20,000,000 acres can bo successfully dry fnrmod. If ono-half of that acreage woro cultivated each year to wheat and produced 20 biiBhols an acre, an nggrcgato of 200,000,000 bushels would bo tho result. An estimate es-timate of 20 buBhols nn ncro scorns conservative when note Is taken of tho fact than an nvorago of 30 bushels an ncro has boon obtnlncd from tho lands hcrotoforo dry farmed. "Montana possosses less than one-tenth one-tenth of the lnnds sltuntod In tho semi-arid west, which can bo cultivated culti-vated successfully by dry farming methods. Tho nlno-tcnths of tho arua situated in other states, will, on the nverngo, produco as. abundantly as tho one-tenth In Montana." |