The question is
continually asked, "Can crop yields reasonably be expected every
year, through a succession of dry years, under semiarid conditions,
if the best methods of dry-farming be practiced?" In answering this
question, it may be said at the very beginning, that when the year
of drouth is mentioned in connection with dry-farming, sad reference
is always made to the experience on the Great Plains in the early
years of the '90's. Now the fact of the matter is, that while the
years of 1893,1894, and 1895 were dry years, the only complete
failure came in 1894. In spite of the improper methods practiced by
the settlers, the willing soil failed to yield a crop only one year.
Moreover, it should not be forgotten that hundreds of farmers in the
driest section during this dry period, who instinctively or
otherwise farmed more nearly right, obtained good crops even in
1894. The simple practice of summer fallowing, had it been practiced
the year before, would have insured satisfactory crops in the driest
year. Further, the settlers who did not take to their heels upon the
arrival of the dry year are still living in large numbers on their
homesteads and in numerous instances have accumulated comfortable
fortunes from the land which has been held up so long as a warning
against settlement beyond a humid climate.
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