The Spanish Fork press. [volume] (Spanish Fork, Utah) 1902-current, 1910-08-25
DRY FARMING CROPS
meihod to Become important
Adjunct to Agriculture.
Possibilities Widening With Each suo-
eessIve Year--Extenslve Expert
ments Constantly In Prog
ress Shed New LIGHT

That dry farming Is destined TO be-
come an important adjunct to Ameri-
can agriculture is a conclusion no
longer open 10 serious doubt. says Or.
snge Judd Farmer Its possibilities are
widening with each succeeding year,
and the extensive experiments con.
stantly In progress are shedding new
Hight upon the whole broad question
Of agriculture
To the average farmer the propo-
sttion that moisture can be conserved
In the soil against a day OF need for
weeks and months-indeed. carried
over from one season into another,
seems the most absurd folly: vet that
Il can be done has been amply demon.
ntrated and the plan is in actual OPP
GRAFTON upon hundreds OF farms
throughout the west.
Dry farming Is not altogether new
In the United States The Indians OF
the southwest have raised meager
crops OF beans and maize for centuries
In sections where the rainfall Is al.
most nothing. There are many things
TO Indicate that the prehistoric races
OF the southwest were farmers, and
unless great climatic changes have ia
Ken place, they must have raised SUD.
plies for large populations in n land
where the rainfall was very little. Dry
FARMING has been feature OF agri-
culture in California since tho first
settlements. Oats. barley. corn and
tntt aa ,f
tables are raised with rainfalls vary
ing from to 20 inches yearly. It is
land OF hot, blazing sunshine, yet
evaporation is arrested and the soil
kept moist and hospitable to the grow.
Ing plant.
Perhaps no country In the word.
save that Of the actual desert sand,
seems less calculated for agriculture
than the wind-swept plains of New
Mexico and Arizona. How can crops
be raised In that land of perennial
drought, where the rainfall In many
places, registers less than eight inches
a year? Dry farmers say that It can
be done, the secret or system being
merely cultivation. In sections where
the rainfall is least 1t is proposed to
store end conserve the moisture dur
Ing one year for use the next, thus
only attempting crop every other
year.
In those favored localities where the
rainfall averages 15 inches or over
yearly. crop each year may be safely
attempted, The plan is to grow some
quick. summer growing crop. such as
kafir corn. Egyptian corn. milo maize
or beans. The planting should be
timed so that the crop will be in full
growth when the greatest rainfall is
expected to occur, AS the rainfall in.
creases. wheat. barley and oats may
he safely attempted.
But where tho rainfall ia less than
IL Inches, nothing remains for the
husbandman but dry
Farming of the most intense sort. He
must look IS months ahead for his
crop, industriously and constantly pre-
pairing, the while, his field for the ex-
pected planting, The blowing should
take place during the spring or early
summer, allowing the ground to lie
sallow throughout the season. AS fall !
cultivation must begin.
disk 10 used to break up the |
crust and light sod which may have |
Formed, Should rains fall during the |
fall and winter. cultivation must fol- !
how each. And. in any event, cultiva-
ton at intervals must take place. The
soil must be kept loose and not al /
lowed to Pack. as that condition is ia. !
tai TO the storing of moisture Cultiva-
tion must continue up to the time Of
planting In April or May /
II the cultivation has been rigid and