The reports
of the Dry-farming Congress furnish practically the only general
information as to the status of dry-farming in the states and
territories of the United States and in the countries of the world.
California
In the state of California dry-farming has been firmly established
for more than a generation. The chief crop of the California
dry-farms is wheat, though the other grains, root crops, and
vegetables are also grown without irrigation under a comparatively
small rainfall. The chief dry-farm areas are found in the Sacramento
and the San Joaquin valleys. In the Sacramento Valley the
precipitation is fairly large, but in the San Joaquin Valley it is
very small. Some of the most successful dry-farms of California have
produced well for a long succession of years under a rainfall of ten
inches and less. California offers a splendid example of the great
danger that besets all dry-farm sections. For a generation wheat has
been produced on the fertile Californian soils without manuring of
any kind. As a consequence, the fertility of the soils has been so
far depleted that at present it is difficult to obtain paying crops
without irrigation on soils that formerly yielded bountifully.
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