The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1911-12-08
SOIL IS A BIG FACTOR
Two Ess -tiaIs That Are Es-
sence Of Dry Farming,
Land Must Be Plovsod SO ~ to Get
Water 70 Sink Into Ground, and
Cultivate to Prevent Any
Evaporation.

TO get the water to sink into the
ground. and cultivate 80 as to prevent
evaporation Of any kind until We are
ready for the crop
The soil is very Dig factor. We
want a deep. friable soil into which
the water will sink readily. A heavy
soil does not take up water readily.
and does not give back water readily.
writes Frederick Linf1eld. In the Agri-
cultural Epitomist. A very light soil
Is too readily aerated; the water flows
through too easily. 1t does not con-
tain enough
At one place in the state where the
rainfall Is less than 13 inches we have
been carrying on work five years. In
one season of the five the rain exceed
ed Is inches and in one season 1t was
/ less than II inches. Not one season
during the FIVE years have we found
the water to penetrate prairie god
more than two feet. where the grass
vas eaten close by the cattle;
| That, bare, hard ground, clean OF
vegetation, had not taken up enough
watec to wet IT more Than two feet
doYn. Where the grass was growing
and the pasture taken care of, we
found that the water had gone down
deeper. The evaporation from the
grass-covered soil In the early spring
Is not as great as from the bare soil.
In the case OF cultivated ground.
plowed In the fall or early in the
spring. we have found the soil to be
wet down about six feet. and the sixth
foot of soil was wet enough to make
mud balls.
The next season the land was sum-
mer fallowed "a crop on it the first
year and summer followed the next
year, and we found the soil wet down
seven feet, with the seventh foot wet
enough to make mud balls.
The next year 1t was wet down still
further. Cropping every alternate
year and summer following between,
we found that 1t was wet down nine,
ten and eleven feet, and this on soil
that had never been wet down two
feet Ave years before.
The point l wish to make Is this:
that we can control the moisture. We
can get the water that falls to soak
Into the ground and can keep 1t there
until the next spring comes and the
crop Is ready to use it. We have
stored full half il not more of the
rainfall of one season and uded 1t
growing crop.
We pillow six or seven inches. 1t Is
best to go down deep. II there comes
heavy shower we want 1t to sink
down into the ground and stay there
We haven't found 1t necessary to sub
soil
The usual practice in cultivation is
to follow the disk after turning over
with the pillow, the double disk. and
. then we drag-harrow with a spike
tooth harrow. II we are able in the
! spring, We use a packAr to pack the
soil down, then disk and drag-harrow
|. We don't want to disk too much be
; cause 1t digs too deep and stirs the
ground and lets out the moisture.
A drag harrow used often enough
keeps the weeds down. On the col
:, lege farm we have used another too
l. which is a little heavier than tn,
harrow
In the spring we sometimes use thu
drag harrow on the wheat. There Il
little difference of opinion on tina
y point If we have soil which is Ugh
and is not clay we use the harrow
!, We disk on stubble land to keep tn
moisture in the ground.
= Fall rye is quite successful crop
so are macaroni wheat and fall wheat
\ especially the turkey red variety
hull-lesss barley, which does very wei
with US and IL very rapid grower
with good yiead In dry farming; ais
an early variety of oats.
Then. again, because we have tina
type of soil and store the water ava
down in the ground six. seven. eighr
nine or ten feet, and not very niue
comes to the surface. we want dee
rooted plants. Such crops as ia
wheat and corn are an advantage t
us. If we have to grow a late seaso
crop we want crop that will save tn
moisture. In our lower valleys we ca
grow corn and sugar beets fairly wei
and also potatoes.
Now, what results has this kind c
farming given in a country where tn
rainfall averages twelve snches2
want TO take up first what we hav
done experimentally, where we hav
tried to do this in the best way 90
| sible on a small farm
On fall wheat our average for abor
four years. where the average rainfa
was less than 10 inches for the la.
FIVE wears. cropping. every alternat
year and summer following, has bee
85 bushels per acre on a field of abol
six and a half acres.
Our average until 1910 was owe
forty. That year was one of the driel
we have had since | have been her