The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1909-02-26
Saving the Rain Fall

H. T. NOVEL;, former director of the exper-
iment station of the agricultural department of
the University of Wyoming, has written an in
teresting article ''The Conservation OF
Water Prof. NOVEL; says:
1T is interesting to note the analogy be-
tween the needs of the growing plant and that
of the growing animal. Let consider for "a
moment some crop plant in its requirements
compared with some farm animal-say, horse
In the first place, both the animal and the plant
need food for their development. That given
the animal is in the form of grain and hay, but
the plant gets most of it's food in more element
ary form. The breaking down of rocks by the
weather has formed in many centuries what we
call our Soils These soils are composed of the
same substances in general as compose the
rocks from which they were formed. Itistrue
that rain and snow dissolve some nitrogen from
the air and it is collected in the soil in form
available to the plants, but this is so small in
amount that other ways of supplying the nitro
gen foods to growing crops must be cOnsiderd
Probably the best form in which nitrogen can
be placed for the best use of the plant is in the
form of humus, and he who by provident
methods obtains good supply of humus in his
soil is indeed fortunate, Crops obtained
such land will be well fed and well nourished, if
other conditions right, and the yield will
show very much larger than the same crop
grown the same soil, without the humus.
just your horse needs fresh air and IA
ventilated barn to keep in good health, so the
crops need plenty of air and ventilated soil to
grow best. Ventilation in the soil serves
double purpose; it helps in the growth process
of the plant and also tends tooxidiz the elements
of the soil and thus renders them available for
for the plant. For this reason, best results
may be obtained by using seed grown either
under the conditions as those in which
you wish to grow them, or under even severer
conditions. For instance, it would not do to
plant seed under irrigation for dry farm crops
1t does not give good results to plant seeds
under our MD conditions that have been grown
under the more humid conditions of the east.
Southern grown seed should never be planted in
northern or high altitude locality.
"It has usually been considered that fifteen
or more inches of rainfall annually was sufficient
to mature crops without the use of special
methods, such as irrigation or dry farming
methods. Although this may be true where
rainfall occurs at the most advantageous
periods in the growth Of the crop, must re-
member that irrigation is practiced very largely
in some countries having large annual rainfall.
In Italy. the rainfall is in many places more
than sixty inches year, and yet irrigation has
probably reached as high stage of development
in these localities anywhere in the world. Ir
rigation is practiced in scme form or other in
many of the eastern states, and in Florida which
has large rainfall, irrigation is now considered
almost a necessity to insure against failure in
the short periods of eXvreme drouth that some
times occur there. On the other hand crops
are raised in places in this country, as you have
frequently been told, where there is less than
ten inches of annual precipitation.
THE conservation of soil moisture by cul-
tivation has been known in a somewhat vague
way for great many years, but every year
that so much Investigating is being done as at
something new found out about the best ways
of retaining for use of the plant the moisture
that comes into the soil
1t is the object of the dry farmer to pre-
vent, so far as possible the great losses Of water
so as to leave more for the use of the plant. The
running off of water may largely be prevented
by having occasional banks foot more, or
raised roads, or counter furroWs that will keep
the water from going down the steepest slope
The seepage may De prevented to a great ex
tent by deep blowing and compacting of those
by their own weight. Cultivation breaks up
crust, disntegrates the tube-like interstices, |
and forms soil mulch on the ground which |
protects the moist earth below from evaporation. !
Cultivation does many other things of great |
,1,,& tl,D Il 70 It,t