The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1910-10-27
WORK ONDRY FARM
Success OF Any Business De-
pends Greatly on Margin
OF Profits.
Careful study Of Situation Anon
Farmers In Eemi-Arid Sections
Shows That Those Who Plow
Deeply Reap Abundantly.

,By T. II. PARSONS. Practical Farmer,
Parker. Csio.D
The success oil any business depends
on the margin of profit, the difference
between expenditure and returns. The
same principle obtains in dry farm
ing az IN everything else.
Many are losing regularly every
year from six TO ten dollars an acre
on their piowing alone. A careful
study OF the situation, taking facts
and figures from u hundred or more
different farmers In every dry state
in the Union. shows that those who
plow ten or twelve inches reap, as a
rule, almost double the crop that is
reaped by those who plow only siA
or seven inches. The extra cost Is
one more horse, or about one col
lar per acre. the extra returns are
sometimes as much as ten or more
dollars per acre.
Good plowing is economical in
every sense OF the word and no
amount of supplementary work viii
take its place. A crop planted in
deep ground will stand more drought.
and mature with half the cultivation re-
quired by crop on shallow ground.
Rolling or packing the ground is an
operation that can often be profit
ably avoided The rule to follow is
10 plow In the fan for spring grain
crops and In the spring for fall crops.
This obyiates packing. for the ground
has ample time to become settled.
For corn and cane the soil should not
be packed. except in the seed row.
Even for that purpose tho split wheel
is much better than the solid wheel.
as IL leaves loose space in the cen
ter OF the seed row for the shoots to
some through. In cultivating these
crops deep cultivation is the more
economical since the soil stays loose
for longer period and does not
bake as easily as when the mulch is
shallow; cutting the surface roots at
the beginning of the season does not
hurt the corn but fayors deep root.
ing Packing the surface stimu-
1otes the growth OF crop at the
start, encourages top growth, at the
expense of the root. and on the dry
farm oyergrowth az the start IS very
poor preparation for a drought at the
dinish. For these reasons rolling and
packing have been almost entirely
abandoned in the agricultural com
munites OF the old world and Mr..
Safray tells us the same thing of the
dry regions OF Hungary.
There are. however, some loose
sandy soils which are the better for
packing. when planted Immediately
hfter plowing.
| agree with Professor Jardine that
At is dangerous TO pack clay loans.
for fear Of crusting and the expert
ence Of our friends in Colorado, New
Mexico and Texas amply confirm this
belief
The most vital point in the dry farm
operations is the economy OF moist
ure. Moisture means crops and good
crops mean profit. Little attention
is paid to this by some formers. They
viii plow whole field before harrow
ing This allows thousands OF tons
OF moisture to escape into the atmo-
sphere and leaves the land dry and
full OF clods for the raising of an in.
different crop, In planting corn on
the level Il makes no difference what
ever. whether the rows run east and
west or north and south. The sun
strikes the corn from above on level
land, not from the sides. but on a
side-hIll Il makes all the differc1ae
in the world. as far as moisture Is
concerned. II the rows run up
and down the hill. the cultivator
leaves furrows for the water to run
on on the other hand, where the
rows run across the slope, rough cul.
tivation WIN often hold an inch OF
rain II Il comes in 90 minutes.
A northern slope holds moisture
slightly longer than a southern ex.
posure. but this Is somewhat compen-
sated for by the fact that the south.
ern slopes usually catch more snow
in winter
Much moisture is lost by not break
ing up the surface of field as soon
as a crop is or. patch OF 40 acres
may evsporate as much as 200 tons
warm day This Is like throwing
away gold.
On the question OF fallowing. no
hard and fast rule should be follow.
ed. the farmer should decide as TO
whether to plant crop or not ac-
cording TO the actual amount OF moist.
.ure in the ground. To discover how
.lmuch moisture the soil contains is a
very simple matter OF weighing. dry.
ing and weighing again.
Except in orchard work It is poor
economy TO save more than three feet
of moist soil, containing as much as
1t will ordinarily carry with dry
subsoil underneath. This amount OF
moisture with careful handling will
raise crop in fairly dry year.
In order 10 thoroughly unde. stand
the moisture question the farmer
should investigate N with n ground