The Pioche record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1908-1925, 1911-08-12
SAVING ALL MOISTURE
OF Special portance Through
out Mississippi Valley.
II Season Should Continue Dry It VIII
be Necessary for Farmer, as Soon
as Oats arc In Shock. to Go
in and Disk His Stubble.


dry season--and by this VIZ mean
season of less than the normal rain
fall of the section--is mainly a mat
ter of holding the moisture. We can
not maze 1t rain. but must simply use
the moisture we have. To save the
moisture is of special Importance this
year. because throughout the entire
Mississippi valley the past year the
shortage of rainfall was about twelve
or thirteen per cent We raised fairly
good crops last year for the year
1910 began with moisture seeping out
Of the soil at every pore. That sup
ply is now practically exhausted, ard
we must depend to an extent greater
than usual on that which comes from
above. Hence it is important to save
all the moisture possible as long as
the season keeps dry, whether that
L4oisture is secured from below or
| above.
Fortunately, tie soil Is In unusually
fine physical condition, and has been
ever since the opening of the spring,
says the Wallace Farmer. Under
these conditions 1t Is much easier to
save moisture than VIII, the ground
breaks up cloddy in the spring.
First, moisture In the corn field.
The only way to save this is by fire.
quent stirring. thus mai. ming a
mulch of dry dirt Someone may ask:
Why does mulch OF dry dirt con-
serve moisture? Simply because by
cultivation the soil particles are kept
SO far apart that tbs moisture from
below can not climb out and get out
into the atmosphere. When the
ground is solid, the moisture below
keeps rising to take the place of that
evaporsted from the surface. The
same occurs when a crust is formed
by a beating rain on a well titled
field. The moisture from below es
capes through this crust In the same
way that 1t does on the packed road
or--the path through meadow Of
pasture The only thing the farmel
can do Is to keep the soil particles
so far apart that the water can not
SO to speak. climb out and get away
In seasons like this. when the Liant
Is free of weeds, farmers sometimes
think there is no necessity for cult
waiting their corn. They forget tina
In time the stirred soil sinks ant
becomes compacted, and hence tn
water 10 able to get out. In fact
: sometimes a half-inch rain in dr.
time Is a damage to the corn field
Il lies mostly on the surface. Tn
+ beating of the rain packs the surfac
! together, a crust is formed. and waite
escapes from II almost as readily q
from q bare field. Hence 1t Is In
portant after heavy rain. and some
times after light one, to restore tn
. mulch OF dry dirt and to do 1t as 500
as possible after the ground is DIR
i enough to work.
If the season should continue dry
J it will be necessary for the farmer
as soon as his oats are cut and /
shock, to go In and disk his stubbl'
In order to conserve the moisture. Tn
oat fields particularly will be yer
dry, because a pound o. the dry ma
ter of oats. both of STALK and grail
requires about five J 'ndred pound
Of water, while corn requires onl
about three hundred pounds. HenC
oats dry out the land; and If the fie
Is to be plowed, then the sooner 1t
disked the better. In fact. the dis
should Immediately follow the binde
without waiting Tor the shocks to
removed. Land handled In this WI
would break up with fewer Jumps al
be much easier to put in physical co
dition.
We can do nothing in the way
conserving moisture IL the pasture
meadow. We must stand the 10
th0re, but we can do a great deal
the corn field, In the potato field,
in the grain field, after the crop h
been removed, II 1t is intended to T
1t in fall grain.
AS we have often pointed o
there are three things that determi
largely the magnitude of the crop;
physical condition of the soil, viii
never was better; the temperature.
which re have an abundance, and
many places a great excess;
Iev moisture, which Is short. AS will
ew seen by referring to the weather
ports which we arr publishing fr
'uz week to week, there are but
tuz points in the Mississippi valley
which we have had normal rain
this year. Therefore. one of the m
important things for the farmer
sen both study and practice, and that I'll
:. cughly, is the best methods of c
ky serving moisture.
IT."