Prev | Current Page 365 | Next

Widtsoe, John Andreas, 1872-1952

"Dry-Farming : a System of Agriculture for Countries under a Low Rainfall"

Curiously enough, the
lowest yields of fifteen and sixteen bushels to the acre were
obtained in 1907 and 1908 when the precipitation was fairly good,
and must be ascribed to some other factor than that of
precipitation. The record of this farm shows conclusively that with
proper farming there is no need to fear the year of drouth.
The Utah drouth of 1910
During the year of 1910 only 2.7 inches of rain fell in Salt Lake
City from March 1 to the July harvest, and all of this in March, as
against 7.18 inches during the same period the preceding year. In
other parts of the state much less rain fell; in fact, in the
southern part of the state the last rain fell during the last week
of December, 1909. The drouth remained unbroken until long after the
wheat harvests. Great fear was expressed that the dry-farms could
not survive so protracted a period of drouth. Agents, sent out over
the various dry-farm districts, reported late in June that wherever
clean summer fallowing had been practiced the crops were in
excellent condition; but that wherever careless methods had been
practiced, the crops were poor or killed.


Pages:
353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377