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Show H mmmmmmmm&mmmmmmmmmmmnmmmmmmgmmmmmmmmaanmmmmM I USE FOR DRYlAND I Necessary to Develop Barren I Plains and Conserve Resources. With Advantages of Modern Anierl- can Machinery There la No I 'Reason Why Semi-Arid Por-I Por-I tlonof Country Cannot Be I Utilized. I (By MANLEY CHAMPLtN. South Dnso- ta Agricultural College.) I "Thero la nothing new under ihe nun." In the United Statos, In rocmit years there baa been ' much valuablo work done toward reclaiming or more properly toward oponlng for mixed farming purposes all that magnificent area of tho plains that lion betwi-un tho 100th merldlnn and tho Rocky mountains. This territory Include? tho western hair of tho Dakotns, Nebraska, Ne-braska, Kansas, Oklahoma nnd Texas, as well as tho eastern part of Montana, Mon-tana, Wyoming, Colorado, and Now Mexico. Then, too, thero are many fortilo valleys and tablo lands of the l Rocky mountain region that will lend themselves encouragingly to this ays-tern ays-tern or farming. Anyone who lives nlong the lines of railroad that load to the various registration regis-tration points and hua soen train after aft-er train of seven to nine coaches fllli'd with earnest hotnoseokers who are looking for a farm of their own in the nowly opened reservations will not l need to bo told that thero Is a need1 for dry farming. The population of the ontlro world has been Increasing I by leans and bounds during the oust J century slnco tho Improvement In I medical and surgical oclonco as well I as tho Improved conditions In life havo made It posiblo for a much high- t or per cent, of the children born to 1 roach maturity nnd old ago. Europe haa settled America, Australia, many Islands of tho sea and much of Africa Afri-ca during this brief hundred yenrs and still thero nro more than double tin.' people there than wore extant 100 y,ears ago. It hns become necessary y then to find now means of support, to develop hitherto barren lands, and to consorvo In every way the resources about us. Dry farming Is ono of those , developments. While It Is now In the United States, It has been practised for ageB In certain parts of the world and much has been done In tho way of . develonlnn drought resistant plants and In finding methods of tillage to hold tho scanty molBturo for tho use of crops. As quoted ut the boglnnlng thore Is nothing now under the Bun. v ,. and I, wish to say nt tho outsot that stT--- wheri-tho Algerians aro cultivating tho V sand dunus of the Sahara desert, when tho Arabs aro raising abundant crops of dates and grnpes and olives H, In tholr own rugged poninsuln, when H' tho Russians of the east aro supply- Ing a largo part of Europo with wheat K- ' and ryo from their soml-arld steppes, l when thousands of Americans are alii al-ii ready, at work upon their dry farms. II that with tho advantages of modern Ij American machinery at our disposal 1 thero Is no reason why tho semi-arid' 11 portion of tho great plains nren can-fill can-fill not bo utilized as a mixed farming M country M Moisture Is tho great nocd: moist- j uro conservation tho groat problem. In 'H a large part of this territory sufficient rain falls ovory year to ralso a crop R If it can bo saved from the sun and 11 wind. In an equally largo portion of j tho territory It has been found profit-H profit-H able to fallow the land ono year and H thus save molsturo for tho crop of the m following year. The rainfall to a very K largo extent comes In the form of loll lo-ll cal showers. Some townships will be n vlsted by abundant showers while II their neighbors on each sldo may be ' parched. |