Therefore, from the very
beginning dry-farmers must look towards the conservation of the
fertility of their soils.
The first and most rational method of maintaining the fertility of
the soil indefinitely is to return to the soil everything that is
taken from it. In practice this can be done only by feeding the
products of the farm to live stock and returning to the soil the
manure, both solid and liquid, produced by the animals. This brings
up at once the much discussed question of the relation between the
live stock industry and dry-farming. While it is undoubtedly true
that no system of agriculture will be wholly satisfactory to the
farmer and truly beneficial to the state, unless it is connected
definitely with the production of live stock, yet it must be
admitted that the present prevailing dry-farm conditions do not
always favor comfortable animal life. For instance, over a large
portion of the central area of the dry-farm territory the dry-farms
are at considerable distances from running or well water. In many
cases, water is hauled eight or ten miles for the supply of the men
and horses engaged in farming.
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