The Ordway new era., 1912-03-22
DRY FARMING POINTS
Potatoes Are Good Crop for Ro-
tating With Grain.
System Of Rotation viii Produce -Four
Crops In Five Years-land Must
Be Handled at Right Time and
Not Neglected.

The climate has not changed, moi
will 1t change, but man has and will
continue to do SO. And why is he
changing? Because there are 50
many devoting their lives to finding
out facts and giving them to the hui
man race in a concrete form.
Men like King. Campbell and Hi.
gard and others. too numerous to men.
ton. have practically devoted their
lives to the building Of q new agri.
culture. But for such men as these.
we would not be tilling the deserts of
the west, and making paying crops in
years like the present one. Campbell.
the great apostle Of dry farming. is
the first man that ever gave us a COM
plete set Of rules for dry farming. and
one who will take his book on dry
farming and apply the rules laid down
by him. will succeed. writes Norman
e. Holden. In the Scientific Farmer.
OF course. there are always local con.
ditions that will modify them.
One Of Professor Campbell's rules Is
to always summer till and have two
seasons moisture for one crop. The
writer has found that system of rotat-
ing will produce four crops In five
years. but in rotating one must be
equipped to handle the land at the
right time and not neglect 1t. II one
intends rotating. II 1t is grain crop.
the disk should follow Immediately be-
hind the harvester. This should be
done with summer tillage. but it is
not absolutely necessary as when q
crop ia to be planted the following
year. After the disking. the land
should be plowed. packed and har-
rowed. The following spring 1t
should be double disked and narrowed
sufficiently to make good seed bed.
Potatoes are good crop to plant
for rotating with grain. One should
plant an intertilled crop after grain.
Canadian field peas are a good crop II
they are planted in rows and cult
waited. Corn Is another and. where 1t
can be grown. is probably the best.
Here is q good rotation for one start
ing on sod: First year. plant small
grain (preferably winter wheat or
rye): second year. the same. then
till the ground; next crop. po-
tatoes. then Durum wheat. OF course
this rotation proposition must be care
fully looked into and II there Is not
sufficient moisture in the ground to
warrant q crop. 1t Is better to summer
till. The moisture in the ground can
be ascertained by taking samples AZ
far down as the moisture goes and
weighing the same. Place the damp
soil In an oven after 1t has been
weighed. dry 1t, and weigh again. This
will give the amount Of moisture. It
IL not advisable to crop unless there
IL at least four inches Of water stored.
Another. and one Of the most impor-
tant Of all conditions to be under
stood. Is that the more ideal condi-
tons Of the soil for plant life. the less
moisture It will take to grow the crop.
That the year 1910 has demonstra-
ter that dry farming is not myth, 10
evidenced by the results obtained.
The history Of dry farming in Beaver
head county has been a course in
which something Of real merit had all
those forces to contend with that have
their origin In self-interest, lack Of
knowledge. etc. However, this season
has proven to the most skeptical that
dry farming Is something real, line
Of agriculture that Is as safe to en-
bark Into as the irrigation system.
This Is q rather bold assertion. Do
the facts sustain It?