The silver messenger., 1911-09-05
PREPARE FOR DR0UTH
Farmer Must Pay Particular At
tention to Soil and Crop.
Perhaps Most Important Cons'oers'
tlon in Connection With Moisture
Conservation Is Plow'n9-
Use Disk and Harrow.

(By II. f. PATTERSON. Montana Ex-
pertinent Station)
It is not possible for anyone 10
foretell the season and 1t is not tne
purpose of this article to try to pre-
dict the amount of rainfall during the
coming spring and summer mohths'
The season of 1910 was very dry III
nearly all parts of the United States;
previous to 1910 we had a number OF
very wet years. A good many au-
thorities are OF the opinion that the
wet and the dry seasons alternate
1t is not the purpose of this article
to leave this impression, for the
writer has not access to the preclpi-
tation tables over a long enough Pc
riod. He does not know whether the
coming season will be dry or wet,
but, in the event that it Is dry, 1t Is
well to be prepared for it. Then, II
1t should turn off wet, the extra labor
would still bring one in good returns
To protect himself against dry
season the farmer must pay partlcu-
lar attention to the method of hand
ling the soil and to the crops that
are planted. 1t has been stated that
the equivalent OF about seven inches
of rainfall can be stored In the SOIL
by proper methods of cultivation. II
this amount of water Is saved and II
then there is any rainfall during the
growing season, one is quite sure to
have good yields. If. however. the
soil is not properly prepared and
moisture has not been saved, and II
then it turns of dry, there is moth
ing to do but to fail.
Perhaps the most important con-
sideration In connection with mois-
ture preservation is the plowing. The
land should be plowed as early in
the spring as possible. 1t should be
plowed to a good depth and the plow
should be followed Immediately with
the disk and the harrow. The disk
will pack down the land, fill up the
air spaces, aid in decaying the or
ganic matter. and the harrow will
place dust mulch over the surface.
This dust mulch will act as a cover
and prevent the evaporation of mois-
ture.
Whether or not 1t will pay to seed
crop upon this newly plowed land
is difficult to say. In some instances
a quick-growing crop would give a
yield and in many instances 1t would
not. In order to be on the safe side
1t Is suggested that the land should
be summer fallowed the first season
and seeded the next fall or the next
spring. By summer following is
meant that the land should be cult.
waited or narrowed after each rain
throughout the summer. A good way
to tell whether the land needs to be
narrowed or not is to study the phys
ical condition Of the surface soil. II
crust has been formed do not delay
the narrowing. II large number OF
weeds have germinated and are grow
Ing. the quicker the land Is harrowe ed
the better. The object of this sum
mer following is to prevent the
evaporation of moisture
The second consideration thai
means success or failure In a dry re
gioA is the crop that is grown. Crops
that are especially we'll adapted tt
the dry land areas should be used
The Quick-growing varieties seem tc
give the best results. There are bott
winter and spring varieties of quick
ly maturing grains. The Turkey RED
wheat seems to be very desirable fol
fall seeding. The seed should be
sown quite early in the fall This
will give opportunity for a good roo
development. Then again, the fal
sowing permits the grain to star
very early the next spring. Because
OF these characteristics Turkey Rec
wheat will mature before the dr.,
weather Of July and August. II on,
Is to SOW a spring-grown crop h,
should also secure a variety that will
mature In as short a time as possibl,
and one that has a hardy roo
growth. These characteristics will
tide the plant over a dry spell ant
no doubt will mature a crop.
Too much emphasis cannot b,
placed upon the method OF handlin,
the land and in choosing the varie
ties OF grain that are used