Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-04-08
NEBRGSKA'S RAINS PRECIOUS
Cultivation for Conservation Of Moist
ure Necessary to Success, ..
HOT WINDS HAVE DISAPPEARED
BreakinE Of 6arEe Areas 10 south
ward Affect Climatic Condition
More work Means More
Money

The conservation Of moisture is one OF
the important problems before the people
Of Nebraska without going into details
II Is sufficient to say here that much land
is now being successfully farmed in this
state that was considered unfit for farm
ing twenty-five years ago. For some years
there were a great many people believed
that our climate had changed and that We
are now receiving more rainfall than for
merry, but the facts do not bear out this
claim.
The climate in Nebraska has been modi-
fled to some extent by the breaking up Of
vast territories in Kansas, Oklahoma and
Texas, but the only modification is in
respect to the hot winds.
The hot winds so destructive to crops
in years gone by. are to a considerable
extent a thing of the past because Of the
breaking mp OF so much land to the south
Of us. but the farmer cannot depend upon
having sufficient rainfall in all of this
state every year. with which to properly
mature common farm crops, unless he
properly conserves the moisture that falls.
This can be done by reasonably deep plow-
ing and shallow and frequent cultivation.
Labor IL an Essential.
The tendency Of the average farmer is
TO raise his crop with as little work as
possible therefore the seasons when there
is plenty of rainfall to raise a crop under
most any kind of circumstances have
tendency to discourage some farmers in
the matter Of doing as much hard work
az Is necessary to properly cultivate the
soil and conserve the moisture that falls.
c. w. Holdrege, general manager of the
Burlington, has been q pioneer in this work
and his farm near Madrid, is devoted to
this kind Of farming. A test showing how
moisture can be conserved was made upon
this farm few years ago. Three tracts
side by side were summer titled; one tract
was put into fall wheat, the other tract
into corn, the following spring and the
other tract summer titled the second time.
During the month of August following Mr.
Holdrege investigated the moisture in the
three tracts with a post auger and found
that the tract that had been summer. titled
the second time without any crop on at
all could be bored with the anger to q
depth OF four and one-half feet before
leaving moisture, the soil being soft and
damp to that depth, while in the corn
field. where the corn was in roasting ear
they ran out of moisture at depth Of
two and one-half feet, and in the wheat
field stubble, where the wheat was in
shock, they ran out of moisture at four
teen inches.
OF course all three of these tracts had
the same amount of moisture fall upon
them and It is apparent from this test
that moisture can be conserved, and in
the western part of Nebraska farmers will
succeed better where they undertake to
raise two crops in three years instead of
farming their land continuously every year,
summer filling the land left idle.
Additional Work Pays.
While it requires considerable more work
to farm under the proper dry farming
methods than It does to farm In a slip-shod
manner, the farmer will get good pay for
the additional work. For example, there
is no work that a farmer could do that
will be more remunerative than TO run a
disk Immediately after the binder when
cutting grain, and in this way disk up
the ground about two inches deep. OF
course, II there should be several hard
rains fall Immediately after this dsking
IT is easily understood that the soil win
absorb more Of the water that falls than
it would IL the land had not been disked,
while on the other hand II there are no
rains for some time after the crop has
been harvested, the land that has been
disked will be much more mellow and con-
tain much more moisture than soil not so
! treated. One reason is that Immediately
when the grain Is cut, there are millions OF
stubble stalks that shrink and leave air
holes to let out the moisture but per-
haps the principal reason is that the soft
mulch is thereby put on the soil and
| prevents evaporation.