Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1910-12-30
VALUE OF MOISTURE
Rain and Snow That Fall Should
Be Carefully Conserved
Almost impossible TO Impress Upon
Minds Of Farmers Importance Of
Giving Most Careful Atten-
ton to This Question.


In the dry areas moisture Is always
precious The amount of moisture
that falls In the form Of rain Is always
or nearly always low. by no means
that man can adopt can II be In.
creased. The only thing that can
be done is to adopt measures that will
make falls go further than II would
II II we're not carefully considered in
order to grow crops. Notwithstanding
this fact. II is almost impossible to
Impress upon the minds of many
farmers the importance OF giving the
most careful attention to this ques.
ton
In Montana the present season large
quantities of prairie are being broken.
In many instances the land thus
broken is left as the pillow left II. II
has been turned over and Il may be
In way that leaves II lying loosely,
says Dakota Farmer. II left thus
through the summer season II will
dry out so completely that no mois-
ture will be left. Should winter
wheat be sowed on that land. the
moisture Is not there to terminate II
or to sustain termination II II should
start. Grain starting thus weakly is
sure to succumb In the winter that
follows. Should no grain be sown
until spring. the ground has just that
much less moisture that II would have
had by the amount that was lost. And
yet this is what very many are doing.
Il may be that some are constrained to
do this by force of circumstances. as
when they hire the breaking done by
steam power and leave the land lying
thus. 1t may be that they do not
tind It possible to get the land com.
pressed at once, and dust mulch
made upon II,
The question Of narrowing grain Is
also one Of the greatest Importance to
the farmer In the dry country. This
Is great question. We have only
touched upon It's outer rim. In some
Instances one narrowing may make
more of difference than can we'll be
imagined. In other instances Il may
do harm. In the dry country from one
to two borrowings are nearly always
helpful to a grain crop. In some In
stances from three to four may do
good. In the case OF winter wheat
one to two borrowings may be benefi.
cial in the autumn, and from one to
three in the spring. If but two har-
rowings are done in the spring, let Il
be understood that. as a rule. one can
best be given when the crop can first
be discerned coming through the
ground, and the other after the plants
are several inches high. But no cast
IRON rules can be given. A heavy rain
falling may call for narrowing at some
different time. The conditions also
may call for the use OF different kind
of harrow The dry farmer Is not
equipped for his work with only one
harrow. The harrow that is suitable
for one kind of soil and condition Is
not suitable. II may be. for another
kind Of soil or different condition
Nor is the farmer in the dry coun-
try properly equipped for his work
without a roller. In some instances
be may want a subsurface packer In
otEor instances he will want CORFU.
gated roller, and yet again plain
roller, These three may not always
be wanted on the same farm. but In
the dry country they all have place
according to the conditions.
Each farmer should have some kind
Of clod crusher. II may be OF va
rious forms. but usually 1t may be
homemade and, therefore. cheaply
made. The idea is to have something
that Will crush clods In lands that
are more or less adobe in character,
such an implem mt If n can be called
an implement, is of immense value.
Both the roller and clod crusher are