The Spanish Fork press. [volume] (Spanish Fork, Utah) 1902-current, 1910-05-12
FARM IN DRY AREAS
10 Succeed One Must Make Best
Possible Use of All Moisture.
FIRST Year Flax and Potatoes Would
BE Money Crops for the Season
Corn and Beans VIII Grow
Without Cultivation.
oBy PROF. THOMAS SHAW

D
areas are said to be dry where the
normal precipitation runs from say IL
W ~ inches with an average of about
10 inches. In such areas the annual
'aiiliall during the growing season,
mat Is during April, May, June and
'uiy' Is approximately eight to ten
inches. Such areas cover much of the
western Dakotas, Montana, eastern
washington and Oregon and other
mountain states that lie to the south.
"ard. In these areas the settler will
uot succeed in growing good crops un.
'ess all MS operations are conducted
with view to make the best possible
use of the moisture that falls. To aid
lhe new settler in such areas in con-
uucting his farm operations is the OBJ
lect of this paper.
II VIII be a decided advantage If
some OF the ground has been broken
the previous year, but to hire such
WORK may involve considerable cost.
III any event the settler should be on
the ground and ready to begin work
as soon as 1t will answer to till the
ground in the spring.
The first season he may SOW on
spring breaking oats, alfalfa and flax.
ana he may plant corn, potatoes. field
DEANS rutabagas and garden vege-
tables The oats fed in the sheaf or
otherwise and the corn fed chiefly
as fodder, would furnish food for the
horses, the alfalfa would It once get
start TO furnish future hay crops.
Inc lax and potatoes would be the
money crops for the season. The
Deans, rutabagas and garden vege.
tables would aid much in keeping
down store bills.
The aim should be to SOW or plant
lhese crops on land plowed fairly
deeply and thoroughly cut up with
DISK and harrow on the surface, so
as to make fine seed bed. The oats
should be drilled in as early as pos.
siDle, the flax coming next and alfalfa
after the flax. The other crops may
follow as soon as the danger from
frost Is past. The corn and beans il
well planted will grow without cult.
walton, but will be greatly benefited
by it. The rutabaga seed may be scat
tered broadcast and covered with the
harrow.
AS soon as the crops are planted,
as much additional ground should be
broken as can be well cared for on
which to grow the bulk of the second
years crop. Such breaking would be
chiefly done late in May, in June and
possibly early in July. AS the ground
is plowed from day to day it should
be rolled or planked the day that it is
plowed. The disk should then be
used, followed quickly by the harrow.
The harrow should be used at inter-
walls, say of two to four weeks, the re-
mainder of the season, and especially
after any considerable amount Of rain
has fallen. The object of these opera
tons is to hold moisture.
Sometime in August, part of this
land should be sown in winter wheat
with a grain drill, putting the seed
down to where moisture is found in
the soil. The best variety to SOW is
the Turkey Red, because of its hardi-
hood and of the ready sale which it
commands in the market. This wheat
will probably be the best money crop
for years to come of all the crops
grown in dry areas. The land thus
managed and not sown to winter wheat
will be in fine condition for cereals to
be sown the next spring. The larger
the area of such land well prepared,
the larger will be the crop of the sec
ond year, but in no case should the
care of the land broken in the sum-
mer be neglected in order to increase
the area sown.