Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-01-24

! self, its extensive use TO conserve soil
| moisture and to permit crop growth In
| arid regions has not been so generally
| used until recent years. II seems not
| to have been realized that the soil Is
| capable OF acting as n storage reservoir
for water when proper tillage Is used,
and that under favorable circumstan-
| ces enough moisture to mature an or
| binary annual crop can be stored in the
soil before the crop Is planted. Even
| IL this fact had been appreciated, 1t
was not practicable to nut IL into gem
eral use until farm machinery capable
| of chcaply getting the soil into proper
| condition was devised and constructed.
WONDERFULLY EFFICIENT.
so far as American agriculture is
| concerned, effective summer following
became possible only with the inven-
| ton and general use of the disc har-
| row. This implement, together with
| the pillow and the ordinary smoothing
| harrow, makes an equipment cheap
| enough to be available ~ every farmer
| and efficient enough to make tillage
| for moisture conservation entirely
| practicable. The highest development
| of summer following for moisture con-
| servation has probably been obtained.
| In this country at least in the region
west of the Rocky mountains. In all
| this region. the greater part of the an
| winter, and early spring months, when
| evaporation is at its lowest point, and
| the greatest penetration of the rain
| into the soil Is possible. Under these
| conditions. thorough summer fallow,
| established as soon as possible after
| the spring rains have ceased. can be
| cheapiy maintained throughout the
| summer and is wonderfully efficient In
| preventing evaporation of water from
| the soil
although It has been wen known
| fact for many years that Il well mann
tanned surface mulch is very efficient
| In preventing evaporation of waller
| from the soil, definite facts as to Just
| what this efficiency is are extremely
rare in our agricultural literature.
| Within the past two or three years,
| however. experiments have been UNDER
taken in a unmber of places TO ascer-
| tain just what this efficiency is under
| various conditions, and we may now
| hope, in the course of few years,
| to have a body of knowledge on this
| subject from which to make deductions
| and upon which to make generaiiza-
| tons
WHERE IT Is POSSIBLE.
For practical purposes, however, it
| Is sufficient to know that where the
annual rainfall comes during the cold
err months of the year, 1t is possible To
use a system of summer following. to-
| gether with growing crops on alternate
years, that will secure paying crops
where the rainfall is altogether too
| light to permit farming without irriga-
ton with the ordinary cultural meth
| DDS.
HEAVIER SOILS ONLY.
1T must be kept Ill mind that the
best use and highest development or
summer months, the maintenance OF
an adequate surface mulch to retain
this moisture is both difficult and ex-
pensiye. 1t must be remembered that
there are some conditions under which
summer following, together with alter
nate year cropping, cannto be econonll-
cally used. This is true where the soil
is SO light and open In texture as not
to be able to hold large quantity of
water. Only the heavier soils are cap
able of holding enough water TO JUSTIFY
the expense of summer following.
Where the soil is light there is also
great danger of serious injury through
wind erosion. There have been cases,
| in fact, where fallow soil has been
| blown entirely off a field 10 a depth of
| several inches. In other cases. where
| the land is rolling and the rains are
| frequently torrential, there Is danger
| in leaving land exposed in fallow
| condition on account of the erosion by
water that Will result. These ana
| other similar possibilities must be kept
| in mind in discussing the applicable
| ity of practising summer following and
| alternate year cropping for any region
| or any soil type.
PROFITABLE IN UTAH.
This much is certain, however. that
| on most of the mesa and high valley
| lands of Utah, where the rainfall is TOT.
| light to produce an ordinary crop every
| year, ii has been demonstrated beyond
the shadow of doubt that the practise
| of summer following and growing
crops every other year is sufficiently
| profitable to justify an enormous eX-
| tension of the cultivated acreage of this
| state.
1T remains to be seen just what the
| ultimate effect of this practise viii be
| on the continued fertility of these soils
| and on their mechanical condition. 1t
| may be found, for instance, that this
| practise of growing wheat. or some
| other grain crop continuously would
| In the course of generation or half
century, seriously reduce the fertility
| of these naturally rich soils or result
! in a change In their mechanical condi-
\ ton that would sooner or later make n
| continuation Of this practise impossible
| If this is the case, the sooner II is dis
| covered and some means taken to post
pone or avoid the result, the better it
| will be for all concerned. For this
reason, 1t is highly desirable that tho
| future as we'll as the present effect of
| this practise be considered rather critic
| ally 1t would be perfectly natural 10
assume that here IN Utah it will be
| found, as II has been found in many
| cases elsewhere that the continuous
| growth of any one crop on The land Will
only result in decreased yield due
either TO the actual depletion Of the
plant food needed for that crop or 10
| some other notifications resulting from
such continuous culture.
ROTATION OF CROPS.
while the practise under consldera-
| ton has not been generally applied over
large area for n sufficiently long PEE
| riod to- give conclusive results, II is
very gratifying to observe that the
| present indications are that rotation of
crops Is apparently by no means 80
necessary under dry farming conditions
here I'm Utah as II might be supposed to
be, or as IL has been found to be In 9TH
| err regions for the maintenance OF
high state of productivcness II this
! Inference be correct, II Is a matter OF no
little interest and Importance TO this
whole section and to others having sim
liar conditions, AS a matter OF fact II
has been found that in the cache valley.
for instance. where dry farming has
been carried on for about ono-third of
century aud where some fields have
| leng, ttepI axplpaiNalV urptylnnr