Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1910-08-05
Bees II Pay To Summer FalIOH?


:. Of opinion and debate among the
farmers operating in the semi-arid
, West today, or under an annual
precipitation of 20 inches or less.
Out in Utah, Idaho, Oregon and
Washington and parts Of Montana,
districts Of very low rainfall, usually
less than Is inches annually, IS per
cent of which falls during late
autumn, winter and early spring
months, and a large per cent which
is snow, the importance Of the sum.
mer fallow which is no longer de-
batable. 1t is known to be an abb
solute necessity to profitable wheat
farming, and undoubtedly will con-
tinue to be as long as wheat growing
remains the basic dry farm crop, or
until drought resistant and early
maturing strains Of inter titled crops,
such as corn, alfalfa, Canada peas,
Mexican beans, potatoes, sorghums,
ETC., can be discovered or developed
to take the place Of the fallow.
The great concern of every farmer
operating in the extreme western
> counties of Kansas is moisture. In
years of abundance of rainfall crops
are usually good, no matter what
system has been followed. Profitable
crops are produced in such years,
even when wheat has been stubbled
in after wheat, but in dry years such
apractice results in failure and the
country is condemned because tits too
dry TO produce crops, when in reality
the fault is not with the country but
with the man. 1t has been thorough
ly demonstrated through experiment
that the summer fallow, when proper
ly prepared and cared for, enables
the farmer to store in his soil a large
amount of moisture of two years
precipitation for the construction of
: one crop; and through its use profit
able crops can usually be grown,
even in years Of the most extreme
drought. Though the summer fallow
q enables the farmer to produce bigger
yields during favorable years than is
possible by any other system of farm.
ing, its real merits are only brought
!. out in dry years.
Summer fsllow or summer tillage
consists in blowing the land thorough.
ly to good depth, seven inches or
even deeper, either in the fall or in
the spring. as weather conditions,
soil moisture conditions and the
disposition of the farmers time will
permit and leaving it lie over during
the summer IN a cultivated condition
and free from vegetation of any kind
until planting time. The deep
blowing facilitates the storing of
summer rains and the surface cult
walton checks its evaporation from
the soil until can be utilized by the
growing crop. Weeds, volunteer grain
or any other form Of vegetation must
not be allowed to grow on the fallow,
because they drink from the land as
much moisture as a crop of wheat
Farming in the extreme western
counties of Kansas is very exacting,
If profitable crops are produced. The
Country is all right if the natural
advantages are intelligently utilized.
Ip very large measure the farmer
can control these by proper methods
of farming, and the summer fallow
belongs in this category because it is
the best known way of utilizing the
scanty supply of precipitation.
There is one possible way in which
farmers operating under low annual
precipitation can produce profitable
crops of wheat every other year with
out the use Of the fallow, and that is
: by the substitution Of inter titled crops
for the fallOW. by the growing of
such crops as corn, Esorghums,
: potatoes, Canadass1 peas, Mexican
beans etc., the landI can often be