Bisbee daily review., 1911-08-09
BIG CROPS POSSIBLE
Conservation of Moisture Is
 Placed Ahead of irrigation.
Dry Farming Is Most important Issue, Says Prof. Shaw-Rotation, FaI- lowing and Scientific cuitlVa-
 tion Productive.


 Thomas Shaw, who was in Central Oregon recently investigating condi- tions relating to that particular branch of agriculture. Professor Shaw has been at the head of the depart ment of animal husbandry at the Uni yersity of Minnesota since 1898, and is the author of numerous books on various phases of scientific farming Tn comparison with dry farming the mining industry. important as it is, dwindles into insignificance." Prof. Shaw continued. The problem of ir- rigation is great, yet when irrigation has done the best 1t can do, not more than 2 per cent of the arid land In the West can be affected. All of the re- maining portion, excluding forest areas, must be made to produce crops with dry farming methods.
 sConservationists should devote some of their time and energy to the conservation of moisture in the soil The value of the rain that falls during April. May. JuEe and July on the lands of the semi-arid West. if prop erly conserved, is more than that of all the other material interests com bined."
 Professor Shaw said that his expe- rience had shown that good crops of all kinds of grain and some vegetables can be obtained on summer-fallowed land. properly prepared. in seasons of unusual drought, and that very large yields may be grown in a season when the rainfall Is more than normal On account of the more open character of bench lands, such areas have pro duced more heavily than the lands be side the streams. he said. He referr- ed to the record of the bench lands in Montana, to illustrate this point:
 Tt is hazardous" he continued, in pointing out the methods of dry farm ing that will not succeed, "to grow a crop of grain in these bench lands, when they have been plowed in the spring and the crop sown the same season. If the season should prove moist a good crop may result, but if it should prove dry 1t will assuredly fail, and the failure may be complete. 7"
 He said that the experiment had taught him that lands devoted to 8 cultivated crop could be followed with a cereal crop with fair return to the grower. The process of cultivation under this method. he pointed out, was not far different from that employed when cultivating the summer fallow. 1 The difference came in the subtrac. ton of moisture from the soil when growing the cultivated crop. The question whether enough moisture would remain to assure a fair crop has been brought up, but Professor Shaw said that at the experiment sta tions he had grown spring wheat of the durum variety after corn, while beside them were wheat plats started after the bare fallow. In every in- stance the wheat was stronger and more promising after the corn than after the bare fallow. He said that the explanation of this apparent phenomenon was difficult, but account ed for it in the fact that the cultiva- ton of the corn probably stirred the soil more deeply than the harrow used In the summer fallow, thus iberating more soil fertility.
 The crops that may be grown on dry farming lands may be divided into ! three classes-cereals. cultivated crops and alfalfa" he said. Among the cereals winter wheat is beyond all comparison the most important. for ] the reason that it is the surest crop that may be grown and that it Is of the highest money value because of the large yields obtained. Some areas have grown SO bushels to the acre. ! The average yield is not less than 25 l bushels Durum wheat is, next to win ! ter wheat, the best money crop that l can be grown. It will not bring so high q price in the market, but it will more than offset the lack in this re speet by the increased yield.
 The third crop in money value is fax. This Is better adapted to spring breaking than any other crop. Speltz, barley and oats have also been sue cessful as spring crops. Both speItz and white hulless barley mature early, i and this means that they are less H- able to be injured than some other crops by the dry weather that usually accompanies the maturing of grain. The cat crop calls for more moisture than any of these.
 The cultivated crops that may be grown are corn, potatoes. beans and field roots. Of these, corn for fodder 1 is by far the most valuable and i'm. portant This will be the great culti. vated crop of the dry country up to an elevation of 1000 feet
 The great reliance for forage will be alfalfa The farmer in the dry country must depend more upon al. falfa for hay than any other crop. IL can be grown on nearly all the bench land country susceptible of cultivation. From one to one and a half tons an acre may be grown each year, and in moist seasons even large crops win be obtained"
 Professor Shaw has made a study hof the rotation of crops so as to ob. tain the best results. and has reached the conclusion that a part of every dry farm should be fallowed each year, that part be devoted to cultivated crops. and the remainder to alfalfa