The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1907-04-22

) solution is disposed OF by the plant
In two principal ways,-dt either uses
it for assisting in building mp its own
tissues or throws It on through small
{ openings n the leaves and young
growth. In fact, most of the water
taken into the plant through its roots,
passes upward and out again into the
air leaving within the plant the dis
solved food it contained when it N
tered. The soil water, then, is the We
hicle nature has provided by means
of which b food OF the soil is car
ried into the plant. Large quantities
of water must pass through the plant
in order to deposit sufficient food
therein to bring it to maturity.
The amount of water required for
the growth Of crops will depend
among other things, upon the kind OF
crop a1d the atmospheric conditions.
Some crops require very much more
kwater han others, not only because
they require a much longer time in
which to grow but also because they
demand more water in order to COM
plete their growth.
Experiments seem to show that
more soil water is required to grow
crops in the semi-arid belt han in the
humid sections. Professor F. H. King
on page 139 of his book entitled "Phy-
sizes of Agriculture" says: ct mas
been determined by careful and ex-
tended observations in this country
and il Europe hat almost any one
of the cultivated crops withdraws from
300 to 500 tons of water from the soil
for each ton of dry matter produced"
Professors Widtsoe and Merrill, in
Bulletin No. 81 of the Utan A~gricultur-
al Experiment Station, pages 80, S3
and "a say "In Europe and the East
ern states, it has been found that to
produce one pound of dry plant sub
stance requires nearly 500 pounds of
water. That is, one ton of absolutely
dry lucern hay grown in a humid eli
mate, is produced at al expense of
500 ton of water"
In the drier climate of Utah, more
water is ordinarily required to produce
one pound of dry matter. Expert
me1ts on this subject, not yet publish
ed, indicate hat on the arid farms
about $50 pounds of water are requir-
ed to produce one pound of dry plant
substance"
THE chief arid farm crop is wheat.
Grown without irrigation, nearly one
half of the wheat plant consists of the
seeds or wheat kernels. Knowing
that about $50 pounds of water are
required to produce one pound of dry
matter, it may be calculated that it
will require sc tons of water to pro-
duce n bushel of arid farm grain"
This seems a very large amount
of water, yet, when compared with the
amount of water that falls upon our
soils in the form of snow or rain it
is very small. For instance, a rain
fail of ole inch amounts to over lib
tons per acre, or more than enough
if it could be used by the plant to pro-
duce two bushels of grain. Twelve
inches of rainfall amounts to 1861
tons of water per acre, or enough to
produce 81 bushels of grain. = .
"If only half is kept in the soil there
is a possibility of more THAI Is bush
els per acre. which is a very proita-
BILE yield. BY the employment of pro-
per methods of tillage, 10 inches or
considerably less may be so conserv-
ed in the soil as to yield good crops.
Where the rainfall is light, the land
should be allowed to rest at least ev-
cry other year, so that the precipita-
ton of at least W years might be
stored in the soil for the benefit of the
next crop. = ="
Since New Mexico is located a lit
tie south of Utah we may expect that
other things being equal, somewhat
more water will be required to grow
the same kind of crops in the former
than in the latter
The discussion of the quantity of
water required by plants at once i'm
presses one with the extreme impor-
lance of conserving h soil moisture.
If there were no losses of soil mois-
ture other han through the plant it
self, profitable crops could be grown
over a very large portion of New Mex
leo. But in fact, the most constant eff
fort is required to prevent the surface
evaporation whereby a large portion
of the rainfall is dissipated without
doing a particle of good to the growing
crop.
Those crops that require the least
amount of water to bring them to ma
turity or that occupy the ground a
short period of time, of course, are
best suited to semi-arid conditions, or
may be most quickly developed into
strictly dry farming crops.
Systems of Dry Farming.
For convenience dry farming may
be divided into three different sys-
TENS: l. Crops annually system
whereby a crop, whether heavy or
light, is grown every year. Probably
crops may be grown every ear with
say 10 inches of rainfall, provided the
proper methods are followed and the
rain fall is properly distributed for
storage and cropping. 2. Crops bien-
nially,-a system under which crops
are row only every other ear. II
Utah yields of 80 bushels of Wheat
per acre have been obtained every
other yea with an annua rainfall of
IL inches and good crops biennially
been reported with al annual
precipitation of only 8 inches. The
soil was of excellent character and the
methods employed were up-to-date. g..
A modification or combination of b
first and second. Under this class
be mentioned the production of
two crops in three years, three crops
in five years, or two crops in one yea
one being a catch or cover crop, sOwn
it's effect upon the soil or the soil
moisture, to be plowed under before
the regular crop is sown.
The system chosen for any section
necessarily depende upon a mum
of conditions, anon which may
be mentioned: The rainfall; the dis
of the rainfall; the length
Of the growing season; the general
climatic conditions, such as the hu-
of the atmosphere. the number