The Arvada enterprise., 1910-11-25
CRUST ERRMULcH
Noty6g Gan Pr Formation 4
DnuhA Long. 81
Cannot Hs :sFsks~z 51wi,nodt De-
''sroyI4salc,o,. - an p Rem
sss n.."'sss Blight r,,,r

Every dry year, do a 1, asks z
What can;&e s6Swhsh Q4wst forms
under mulchf %,
Nothing can ;preveS{ss ss,b,s crust
forming II the drou& lasts long
enough. writes q, R. P,rxons in Dry
Farming bulletin. h7Tfst1'
The top inch Of thS mulch dries
first. then the second, tSen he third,
and then! thel instftabis .ccrrndTt begins
to form underneath md becomes
thicker and thicker; withievery day of
drouth., 80, t,tr -,riisia -,
We cannot break up this crust with
out destroying the crop, Dnf we can
render this crust perfectly. harmless
by the right kind of iplo@hri and that
Is all that Is necessary E:l
m The formationsof,this erust depends
on two different factors, the druuth
about and the moisture conditions be-
low. r.....,-.,,,,.i -, 81. w.. ..r.
People sometimes talk md write in
magazines about the dry fsffier max
ing cistern for moisture ahd putting
the lid on and So forth, al Ii he had
all the water he could handle. but the
fact of the matter IL we can wet up
our land by conserving mosture to a
certain percentage TO aecertain limit
only, which is determined by the cap,
illarity of the soil in, question, and
above that limit, which Is more or
less constant. It is Impossible to raise
It as long as there is dry subsoil
below, which is the true condition OF
the dry farm soil. What I mean Is
this, When a storm comes the water
goes down BY; ;capillarity or gravity, OF
both combined, until 1t is too diffused
to go any further; capillarity ceases
for the time being until another, storm
comes and starts It again. then 4
goes down again untfl 1t stops for lacl
of water. Nowtii we make test o
/ this soil for moisture, a day or SO afteI
o storm, when capillarity. has ceaset
working. we find we hayeg M NOR
moisture In the soil than we had be
fore, the percentage is the same, bu
-it has gone down further We are OF
tanning greater depth Of mois
ground. li!.iS F=
Some farmers plow shallow, OWN
to a. misconception of this action c
moisture. They expect the moistur
to rise by scapillarity to- moisten thei
crust and hold the drouth at. ,ba!
when capillarity Is already exhauste
by the downward pull Of gravity
After making. several hundred test
in all varieties of soil during the ia.
so years, Il have been unwilling
forced to the inevitable conclHaio
that capillarity "a. n hslp to tbs3n
farmer il brips3hE w moisfdre
the subsoiI 10 the roots OF lis -
is a negligible quantity on true DIR
farm land that isisnot sub.irr4sted
= We all allow, however, that caplal
ffty works very strongly sometimafo
a few days on the top three OF tou
inches after wet weather, before tn
moisture has ,diffused downward, an,
we can make use Of this knowldg
for seed germination,7 by using tn
press drill, which will draw the nois
ture to the packed seed rows, Titf
out packing and baking the vhol
field. -. -sAth- - T, -. -. :
Since the moisture does not rise t
moisten our crust except very Sigh
ly by distillation. 1t is clear that th
best thing we can do is to go dow
after the moisture. The only wWit
do this is to pillow deeply, not any ST
or seven inches, but eight, nine, te
or twelve, ne 49,. Ii Z