Dry-Farming : A System of Agriculture for Countries under a Low RainfallWidtsoe, John Andreas
Science
Dry-Farming : A System of Agriculture for Countries under a Low Rainfall
Widtsoe, John Andreas
Dry farming
Meanwhile, the crop problems of dry-farming demand that much careful
work be done in the immediate future by the agencies having such
work in charge. The best varieties of crops already in profitable
use need to be determined. More new plants from all parts of the
world need to be brought to this new dry-farm territory and tried
out. Many of the native plants need examination with a view to their
economic use. For instance, the sego lily bulbs, upon which the Utah
pioneers subsisted for several seasons of famine, may possibly be
made a cultivated crop. Finally, it remains to be said that it is
doubtful wisdom to attempt to grow the more intensive crops on
dry-farms. Irrigation and dry-farming will always go together. They
are supplementary systems of agriculture in arid and semiarid
regions. On the irrigated lands should be grown the crops that
require much labor per acre and that in return yield largely per
acre. New crops and varieties should besought for the irrigated
farms. On the dry-farms should be grown the crops that can be
handled in a large way and at a small cost per acre, and that yield
only moderate acre returns. By such cooperation between irrigation
and dry-farming will the regions of the world with a scanty rainfall
become the healthiest, wealthiest, happiest, and most populous on
earth.
CHAPTER XIII
THE COMPOSITION OF DRY-FARM CROPS
The acre-yields of crops on dry-farms, even under the most favorable
methods of culture, are likely to be much smaller than in humid
sections with fertile soils. The necessity for frequent fallowing or
resting periods over a large portion of the dry-farm territory
further decreases the average annual yield. It does not follow from
this condition that dry-farming is less profitable than humid-or
irrigation-farming, for it has been fully demonstrated that the
profit on the investment is as high under proper dry-farming as
under any other similar generally adopted system of farming in any
part of the world. Yet the practice of dry-farming would appear to
be, and indeed would be, much more desirable could the crop yield be
increased. The discovery of any condition which will offset the
small annual yields is, therefore, of the highest importance to the
advancement of dry-farming. The recognition of the superior quality
of practically all crops grown without irrigation under a limited
rainfall has done much to stimulate faith in the great
profitableness of dry-farming. As the varying nature of the
materials used by man for food, clothing, and shelter has become
more clearly understood, more attention has been given to the
valuation of commercial products on the basis of quality as well as
of quantity. Sugar beets, for instance, are bought by the sugar
factories under a guarantee of a minimum sugar content; and many
factories of Europe vary the price paid according to the sugar
contained by the beets. The millers, especially in certain parts of
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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