Bringing Life Back to Horse Heaven
A new wave of 'dry-farming' expertise promises to turn abandoned wheat fields back into fertile ground.
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To the casual observer, a dry-land farming demonstration such as was given in Horse Heaven Tuesday, possibly seems of but little moment. To the practical farmer, however, the following of the general system of cultivation as outlined by the experts, means the difference between success and failure. Had such demonstrations been started six or seven years ago, the thousands of acres of tillable land which are now rank with thistle and mustard growths would today be producing crops and the population of the hills would not have dwindled. Farming has reached its lowest ebb in the Horse Heaven country, but undoubtedly from now on there are going to be, not only better and bigger crops, but more farmers. The abandoned acres are going to be cultivated again, because it has been demonstrated that wheat growing in the hills can be made to pay through proper moisture conservation.
“The thousands of acres of tillable land which are now rank with thistle and mustard growths would today be producing crops.”
The 'Horse Heaven' region remains a vital part of the Washington agricultural landscape, and these early 20th-century attempts to formalize farming science were the foundation for the region's massive grain production today.
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