plants, without irrigation, in regions of limited rainfall. The
needs of the actual farmer, who must understand the principles
before his practices can be wholly satisfactory, have been kept in
view primarily; but it is hoped that the enlarging group of dry-farm
investigators will also be helped by this presentation of the
principles of dry-farming. The subject is now growing so rapidly
that there will soon be room for two classes of treatment: one for
the farmer, and one for the technical student.

This book has been written far from large libraries, and the
material has been drawn from the available sources. Specific
references are not given in the text, but the names of investigators
or institutions are found with nearly all statements of fact. The
files of the Experiment Station Record and Der Jahresbericht der
Agrikultur Chemie have taken the place of the more desirable
original publications. Free use has been made of the publications of
the experiment stations and the United States Department of
Agriculture. Inspiration and suggestions have been sought and found
constantly in the works of the princes of American soil
investigation, Hilgard of California and King of Wisconsin. I am
under deep obligation, for assistance rendered, to numerous friends
in all parts of the country, especially to Professor L. A. Merrill,
with whom I have collaborated for many years in the study of the
possibilities of dry-farming in Western America.

The possibilities of dry-farming are stupendous. In the strength of
youth we may have felt envious of the great ones of old; of Columbus
looking upon the shadow of the greatest continent; of Balboa
shouting greetings to the resting Pacific; of Father Escalante,
pondering upon the mystery of the world, alone, near the shores of