Golden Valley chronicle. (Beach, Billings County, N.D.) 1905-1916, 1910-09-16
CONSERVE MOISTURE IN SOIL
Pillow and Harrow Are important Fac.
tors in Saving Rain as It
Falls en- Our Land.

by VI. c. PALMER. Agricultural Editor.
Scr!h Dakota ColcEeD
Weather is one OF the things that is
looked upon as being beyond the reach
| Q. mans manipulation. and it is one
OF the important factors in crop pro-
t1uction Experiments have been con-
dncted to try TO make it rain, but end
ed in failure. 1t has been found that
the same end can he accomplished in
"a different way, that is by saving the
rain that falls on our land and not
letting 1t escape except as the crops
need 1t. This is not as attractive a
be accomplished by the shooting of
cannons, the sending up OF explosives
to startle the heavens. There is not
SO much glamor attached to the use
OF the pillow and the harrow, yet they
are mighty toole that are at the very
foundation Of our existence and civil
cation, and as wish to advance and
on substantial basis 1t will have to
come largely through the more intelli-
gent use Of these two simple tools,
and they are the ones we will use in
controlling the weather.
AS the soil lays j, co1npacts. The
particles making it Up gradually fit
closer to each other, good deal like
the bricks in the wall. Flowing
loosens up the soil. good deal like
throwing bricks into a pile The CON-
pact soil does not allow the water that
falls as rain &c soak in rapidly and
some of it will run Off II this run
off can he saved it will be the equiva-
lent OF making it rain. Deep blowing
makes more room for taking IN rain
fall than shallow FlowiDg; hence. che
reason for deep blowing. The plow
Ing. however. leaves the surface Of the
soil SC that some OF the moisture al
ready in It will evaporate, and especi-
ally VIII this he tr,!e in the spring.
This car be prevented b. narrowing
the soil as soon as il IS plowetl. When
blowing il the fall there usually is
not much moisture III the soil, so il
is hest not to harrow it. as it is bet
ter &c leave it rough to 60 through
the winter, unless crop is to be put
on in the fail.
Prof. King Of Wisconsin found that
as much as one-halt IL, one inch Of
soil moisture might evaporate from
the plowed ground in the spring, SO
that this would he the amount that
could he saved by narrowing, which
would be the equivalent Of {. rainfall
OF one-halt to one inch {. little later
IL the season, as when the rain once
gets into the soil il can be helG there
until the crops need it, Narrowing
loosens UP the surface but when left
for some time. settles back again and
then allows the moisture to pass up
through the surface SC that another
narrowing may become necessary.
The cultivation given corn is ideal
for saving moisture. While the corn
crops use as much moisture as any
crop, yet it leaves more in the ground
than grain crops on account of the cnl-
tivation given it, which both keeps
moisture from evaporating and also
kills weeds. which would evaporate
large amounts of moisture
Moisture is the most uncertain part
OF the weather. yet by using the pillow
and the harrow it can to large ex-
tent be controlled. Thus man is be-
ginning more and more to make use
of nature and to control it.