The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-09-13
this may be accomplished. President

this may be accomplished, President
Worst says:
AS has frequently been stated, the
time to save moisture 10 whom we
have it. The copious showers Of the
past few weeks have q tendency to
replenish the subsoil moisture. so
largely used up during last years
drought. To insure the retention of
subsoil moisture however. the disc
and the drag. as we'll as the pillow,
should be judiciously used with that
end in view. Deep blowing and sur
face cultivation will water more land
and produce more wealth, II persist
emily applied, than all the irrigation
water that flows from the western
mountains. The drag and the disc are
II substitutes for irrigation. The
farmer must come to look upon them
as Indispensable aids for conserving
moisture. as we'll as for pulverizing
the ground and creating the seed bed.
No matter how much labor may be
required to seal the moisture In the
soil, the fact remains that, unless the
moisture is there during the entire
growing season, the harvest will be
either greatly impaired or a total
failure. Where everything depends
SO completely upon one single ele-
ment, like water, the farmer is taxi
ing a desperate risk If he does not
insure himself, to the very utmost,
against losing the service Of that
agency.
Discussing the time in which the
moisture conservation for next year
should be made, he says:
Now is the time to prepare for
next years crop. Let no farmer un-
derestimate, in this preparation, the
Importance Of water. Without sufi-
cient moisture, there can be no bac-
terial action to prepare the plant food
and also no medium by which this
plant food can be carried in solution
to the young plant. Fertility is es-
sential, as a matter OF course. but
is useless without the necessary per-
centage Of moisture in the soil. While,
the moisture that falls cannot all be
saved for the crop, the fact remains
that much can be spared and still a
sufficient quantity conserved to sus-
tain the crop through the growing
AS only about seven inches
Of water are required to mature a
fair sized crop. provided the crop gets
all Of it, and as the average rainfall
of the state averages more than twice
that quantity. it will readily be seen
that tillage for the, purpose Of con-
.servation Of moisture will practically
insure a crop every year. Corn
should be grown more generally and
in much larger way. Winter rye is
also a good crop as it stands the
water we'll and natures early enough
to escape the hot, dry period. Both
corn and rye are excellent crops to
rid the land of weeds which not only
rob the soil of moisture and fertility
but lower the grade of all kinds Of
grain. A clean farm is, to a great
extent, immune from the effects Of
drought. Deep and early blowing
with proper tillage at time of plant
ing, and, in some instances, while the
grain Is growing, also tends to con
serve moisture.
To paraphrase the old adage, cts
an i'll rain that does nobody good"
The extra moisture of this year can
be conserved and made to produce
the crop next year. The only thing
necessary is that proper methods be
used by the farmer, and President
Worst points out concisely what these
method are.