Show dust bowl looms as proving ground for enlightened C american agri agriculture 0 cult twe scientific farming ta rain combine to cut south bests blow area next Stun summer mer by JOSEPH W labine the sun is beginning to shine through americas southwestern dust clouds where five years ago there was drouth and desolation encouraged farmers now prick up their ears to hear rain pound on windows that were once pock marked by sandstorms sand storms this is taking place in the dust bowl region comprising western kansas eastern colorado the oklahoma panhandle and northwest texas but it extends northward too through desolate wastes of worth north and south dakota where a scant few years ago farmers fed their cattle russian thistle because nothing else would grow rain has been partly responsible for this new optimism fo for the depressing dr dry cycle of the ap pears to be ending ahding this years rains have been the heaviest since 1932 and like a great piece of wool the dust bowl seems to shrink when it gets wet but behind the dust bowls shrinkage is something far ar more fundamental than rain it is a definite change in americas treatment of her no I 1 industry agriculture new century new problems Old timers recall how 50 years ago each midwestern homestead was an independent kingdom on which the farmer lived without concern for high neighbors well being T the he land was new and good no i 0 omaha 0 nom platte grand land lincoln denver C J N 0 topeka sa 10 puebla ir wichita bartlesville Bart lesville 0 e Olila borna city 4 que 1 31 xa okd afe 6 0 WO tv jmj X 4 AS dallas ML how ac I 1 the he dust bowl has been shrinking and a fairly accurate pred prediction 0 o n of next years trouble center contour farming and other efforts to anchor re the soil are responsible problem was bigger than the homestead itself but since free land disappeared since year after year cultivation began loosening the soil from its anchors problems have sprung up that are not localized it all boils down to the problem of preserving our land this is far more important than the matter of agricultural prices I 1 and surplus when land begins eroding and blowing away it spreads like a cancerous disease americas cancer lies in an area that from 1928 was the breadbasket of the nation producing some bushels of wheat a year from 1932 to 1936 production dropped to bushels the cancer is still spreading mostly to the northeast into kansas corn belt but the encouraging factor is that man can now the original dust bowl and is at last learning how this precious farm land should be handled farmer admits the good ea earth r th h has as b been een misused through a half c century of boom era farming 1 its resources were drained and no attempt was made to restore them years ago there was no such thing as crop rotation nor did a washed out hillside cause much concern but eventually the good earth got plain mad dried up and blew agricultures Agri cultures proving ground the dust bowl offers agricultures agri cultures best example of what must be done throughout the midwest and what will result in this acres of wasted land once highly productive farm territory operation cooperation co fostered by the united states department part ment of agriculture is winning a painstaking battle it was not enough that farmers learned to leave a good ground cover ur during d arin 9 winter months nor was it enough to learn that terracing will prevent erosion from both causes washouts wa shouts and blowing it took money to c carry arry out these plans security administration offered loans to farmers who would handle their land scientifically making further loans if they wished to lease adjacent neglected blow land and anchor it down though dust bowl farms have leen been placed under good management this way and although the jones bankhead act permits government to purchase remaining idle blow land the new spirit of cooperative attack att ack is best illustrated by still another method the soil conservation district given U S assistance this is a a simple plan farmers in a certain area can form an association to lease abandoned land thereby qualifying for a special payment from L the agricultural adjustment administration the government provides machinery to remove buried fence posts level hummocks and put the abandoned land in shape funds for additional treatment come from the farm security administration and this loan is repaid when AAA allotments are made to the district operative cooperative co work has been going on unnoticed in the dust bowl and other drouth areas and this autumn the amazing results were brought to the publics attention for the first time there is a popular misconception that the dust bowl is is a n new ew great american desert but farm experts are quick to point out that it is a potentially productive region of generally good soils most of the land is level and can be ba operated with modern farm machinery it has produced bumper crops in the past and can again department of agriculture officials confidently predict that a relatively small percentage of the land operated this past summer will be subject to blowing next winter and spring the latest figures on dust bowl progress gress look good its or original ginal acres are now reduced to an expected acres for next year which means the proving ground has succeeded and that similar technique can be applied to drouth ridden farms throughout th the midwest 0 western newspaper union el |