The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1910-01-28
FRUIT AND ALFALFA
Among Easiest Crops to Raise
on Dry Land, Says Expert.
Well Known Western Horttculturist
Gives Reasons for Stating They
Can Easily Be Raised In
an Arid Country.

At the recent Dry Farm congress.
held at Billings. Mont. MIR. E. r.. Par
sous. well known Colorado horticult-
urist. who has made dry farming a
close study and has been quite sue
cessful, gave an interesting talk.
Among other things he said:
ut may surprise some OF you to
know that II any man were to ask
me what / considered the easiest
crops to raise on the dry farm. my
answer would be fruit and alfalfa.
Trees and alfalfa are both deep
rooted, and this is half the battle In
fighting drought. On my ranch we
plow from ten to twelve inches for all
our crops. in order that their roots
may get down as deep as possible In
the shortest possible time.
I'VE first secure the moisture for
fruit trees by blowing year ahead
of time and digging holes in the fall
before planting and with two or
three feet Of moisture in the ground
we do not care whether dry year
comes or not. At the last congress
explained how to handle an orchard
SO that no loss could possibly result
from drought, and l wish | could say
the same Of winter-killing, but though
we cannot actually prevent this. we
can almost eliminate 1t by careful
choice of tested varieties. In differ
ent parts OF the world, even in des-
erts, VIC find trees growing some.
times where nothing else will grow.
I'm the dry orchard the farmer can
give his tree almost as much water
as the irrigator, If he wants to. 1t Is
simply question OF area, the greater
the area the larger the supply of mois-
ture and the roots will penetrate al
most any distance to obtain this mois-
ture and in very short space of time.
when the trees are young it Is I'M
possible for them to use up all this
moisture and the surplus is stored in
the subsoil for future use, and when
we have our trees standing in is feet
of damp soil. as is actually the case
In my dry orchard at the present
moment we care little or nothing for
dry years.
The trees In the dry orchard sell
dom winter-kill, because they do not
become too sappy. You can not fill
an iron or any other pipe with water
and expect 1t not to burst when the
frost comes; SO with trees. Thou
sands OF trees are killed IN the west
every year by late irrigating, and
want to tell you that In the deadly
winter of '98 and 90. when thousands
of apple trees were lost In the irrigat-
ed ranches. we did not lose one. Now,
II 1t were not for the warm spells,
which cause the sap to rise, this would
not happen; in Canada. for instance,
It does not matter how wet the trees
become. The south side Of the tree
suffers the most because IT is the
warm side.
Some Of our agriculturists and ex-
perimenters tell you not to plant al
falfa on sod; they know too we'll how
sod is usually plowed in this country
three or four inches deep-like rib
bons spread out to dry.
"But you can raise alfalfa on sod.
and on sandy land will do better than
any other way. We never wait for
sod to rot. we rot It with the disc.
We start In the first wet day and disc
It and crosssdisc 1t, cutting It all to
pieces as deep as the disc will 90.
then We plow 1t eight inches, turning
It completely over and disc It the 9TH
5er side; then work 1t rs fine az. old
land before planting. Fall plowiax
and spring planting are best and the
seed should be put in during the wet.
test period Of the year, about half an
inch to an inch deep. There Is always
q certain risk Of sprouting and dry
ing out before the next rain comes
when small seeds are planted during
the heat of summer. The press drill
is much better for this work than the
disc drills. am not much in favor
OF rolling or packing except for seed
termination. my experience being that
the first good storm will pack your
land and settle It more than you
could do It in a weeks work.
This crop is OF vital Importance to
the diversified farmer, for with the
same amount Of work he can raise
twice as much feed as is possible
with any other crop"