The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1910-11-29
NEW" DRYFARMINC"
Central Idea of the Practice Is
Capillary Attraction.
Broken Under8oIl Fatal to Moisture
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES Of Water
Waste Another Simple Rule
Thin Seeding Needed.

There are many who do not con-
cede anything new In what is called
~dry farming" but there seems to be
enough new In 1t to transform millions
upon millions of acres of land that
was once considered next to useless
into the most highly productive wheat
land In the world There is no doubt
but that the idea had an empirical
rather thoh scientific origin as prac-
tice usually precedes scientific in.
The practice of cultiva-
ton for the production OF prolific
crops and for the destruction Of weeds
stood In good esteem long before the
term dry farming" was heard, but
had quite a different sig
nificance. being synonymous with gen.
eral fertility. the scientific reason for
which was not we'll understood. It
was thought that the changing Of soil
particles made a greater store of plant
food available to the plant, whose posi-
ton was fixed. but 1t was not under.
stood that cultivation was putting the
lid on against free evaporation and
hence was a limiting of the upward
travelling of moisture with all its store
of plant food.
The central idea Of the practice of
dry farming is capillary attraction
The opponents of the dry farming sys-
tenn. since the underlying science Of
the art has become known, have been
favorable to changing the name of
the practice to scientific soil culture"
hut as its central idea Is moisture con.
servation and economy, and the prac-
tice presumes the need of such econ.
cmy, 1t Is not wholly inappropriate
that the original title should be al
lowed to stick.
Almost coincident with the dry
farming movement came the diffusion
of the knowledge of nitrogen forming
bacteria and hence the need of a good
condition of porosity in the soil to
allow free circulation of air to the
roots of the plant This has been in
corporated into the body of science
which constitutes the rationale of dry
practices.
There are a number Of minor prac-
tices Of q more or less mechanical or
physical sort For example, deep
blowing increases the moisture receiv-
ing power or volume of the SOIL The
texture Of soil should be improved by
tho use of the subsurface packer by
which capillary connection Is secured
after 1t has been rudely broken by the
furrow. A broken under-soil IL fatal
10 moisture conservation, or at least
to proper moisture conditions in the
root area Of the soil. The avoidance
of water waste through the growth of
weeds Is another simple rule, and thin
seeding is imperative. Where mois-
ture supply Is very light It Is also
found advisable to use two years
moisture for single crop, and In the
best of conditions three years mois-
ture for two crops.
It ia but natural that the study of
crops and varieties Of plants suited
to dry farm culture should become
part of the interest and activity of the
dry farming expert. The developing
of plants of heavy feeding capacity
through large root systems will nat
urally follow from the recognized need
of selecting deep feeding plants. Right
now there Is a chance for the investi-
gator to explain the "a bushel wheat
fields In Alberta. Dry farming re-
suits have not simply demonstrated
that what were called dry lands are
useful, but that In crop production
they have surpassed lands that have
hitherto been looked upon as being
more favorably situated for
all kinds Of crop produc-
ton. 1t looks as though the concen-
trated soil solution was away ahead
of the much diluted one, and moreover
1t should seem reasonable to expect
that paralleling the results obtained
in the production Of the highest types
and varieties In animal biology by
foods the practice OF dry
farming. will contribute correspond
ingly high plant products to general
1t does seem as though the latest
and best word spoken in agricultural
science will be spoken by the dry
exponent. or at least the dry
exponent Is doing his part in
bringing into wider ken what the In
vestigators are finding. and so making
farm practice better by the light of
science.