. The story of agriculture in the United States. dry yearscame, their crops died and they saw all the savings ofyears wasting away before their eyes. There followed atime of the greatest suffering and privation. Manyfarms were mortgaged; many were abandoned. After these settlers realized that they were in theregion of insufhcient rainfall, some were encouraged toremain by the belief that the settlernent of such a countryincreases the rainfall. In other words, it was the theorythat the cultivation of crops and the growing of treescauses greater precipitation. Some held a theory thatrainfall may
. The story of agriculture in the United States. dry yearscame, their crops died and they saw all the savings ofyears wasting away before their eyes. There followed atime of the greatest suffering and privation. Manyfarms were mortgaged; many were abandoned. After these settlers realized that they were in theregion of insufhcient rainfall, some were encouraged toremain by the belief that the settlernent of such a countryincreases the rainfall. In other words, it was the theorythat the cultivation of crops and the growing of treescauses greater precipitation. Some held a theory thatrainfall may be produced by artificial means, especially IRRIGATION AND DRY FARMING 343 by the explosion of heavy discharges at high United States government even tried experimentsof this nature. Elaborate preparations were made forsetting off explosives from balloons; and, as reported bythe officer in charge, the result was a, loud noise. Meanwhile, facts in connection with irrigation werebeing learned that were to prove very helpful to the. Durum Wheat Under Dry Farming in Wyoming farmers of the semi-arid region. In Utah, it was dis-covered on one occasion that, when an irrigation systembroke down, crops nevertheless grew. Interesting resultsfollowed experiments that were tried in Utah, Colorado,and Washington, before 1880. It was found that bydeep plowing, especially in the fall, and by frequentcultivation of a field after the crop was taken off in thesummer, the moisture could be kept from dry years, then, good crops could be raised. This wasthe beginning of dry farming. 344 AGRICULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES The man who became most prominent in the study andpractice of dry farming was H. W. Campbell, whosefarm was located in the northern part of South a severe crop failure, he set about finding a remedyfor the disasters of dry years. It was his idea that thesoil should be packed somewhat below the surface, andthen that the surface should be thor
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectagriculture, bookyear
