Dry-Farming

ferably in the fall; (2) thorough cultivation to form a mulch over the surface of the land, and (3) clean

uestioned the value of deep and fall plowing and the occasional clean summer fallow. It is the purpose of this chapter to state the f

veloped practically the same system of dry-farming. In all these places the best dry-farmers practice deep plowing wherever the subsoil will permit it; fall plowing wherever the climate will permit it; the sowing of fall grain wherever the winters will permit it, and the clean summer fallow every other year, or every third or fourth year. H. W. Campbell, who has been the leading exponent of dry-farming in the Great Plains area, began his work without the

e increased gradually until the full depth is reached, to avoid a succession of poor crop years while the lifeless soil was being vivified. The states of Utah, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, and the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan of Canada all specifically declared through one to eight representatives from each state in favor of deep plowing as a fundamental practice in dry-farming. Fall plowing, wherever the climatic conditions make it possible, was similarly a

was sufficient; and others one in four years, and a few doubtful the wisdom of it altogether. However, all the speakers agreed that clean and thorough cultivation should be practiced faithfully during the spring, and fall of the fallow year. The appreciation of the fac

usly against it was from the Great Plains area, and a warning voice was heard from the United States Department of Agriculture. The recorded practical experience of the farmers over the whole of the dry-farm territory of the United States leads to the conviction that fallowing must he accepted as a pr

ow year is larger and better than one following wheat. There seem, however, to be two serious reasons for objecting to it. First, a fear that a clean summer fallow, practiced every second, third, or fourth ye

a large part of the dry-farm territory leaves the large header stubble to be plowed under, and it is probable that under such methods more organic matter is added to the soil during the year of cropping than is lost during the year of fallowing. It may, moreover, be observed that thorough tillage of a crop like corn or potatoes tends to cause a loss of the organic matter of the

the fallow fields, which results from the heavy winds that blow so steadily over a large part of the western slop

e dry-farming of the Great Plains area and should be replaced by the growing of hoed crops. Chilcott, who is the chief exponent of this doctrine, declares, however, that it is only with spring-grown crops and for a succession of normal years that fallowing may be omitted, and that fallowing must be resorted to as a safeguard or temporary expedient to guard against total loss of crop where extreme drouth is anticipated; that is, where the rainfall falls below the average. He further explains that continuous grain cropping,

ned by Atkinson and others at the Montana Experiment Stations,

s characteristic, except for a lower annual temperature, of the whole area, and where dry-farming has be

only value of the fallow year under such conditions would be to set free fertility. In the Great Plains area the rainfall is somewhat higher than elsewhere in the dry-farm territory and most of it comes in summer; and the summer precipitation is probably enough in average years to mature crops, providing soil conditions are favorable. Th

tation below the average, is sure to come. In somewhat wet years the moisture stored in the soil is of comparatively little consequence, but in a year of drouth it will be the main dependence of the farmer. Now, whether a crop be h

es of agriculture. To attain such certainty and respect clean summer fallowing every second, third, or fourth year, according to the average rainfall, is probably indispensable; and future investigations, long enough co

manure." In recent days we have learned the value of tillage in conserving moisture and in enabling plants to reach maturity with the least amount of water, and we may be tempted to believe that "tillage is moisture."