The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1912-08-09
DRY FARMING METHOD
In Arid Section important Factor
Is Precipitation.
In Order to Regulate Evaporation One
Must Study Several Processes In
Nature Which Retard or
Facilitate lt.

The important weather factors that
affect crop production as have been
told In all our Biographies from time
immemorial, but will still bear re-
peating, are light, heat and moisture.
To these might be added the fourth
term, evaporation.
In a dry farming section the most
important factor is precipitation,
writes A. H. Thirsen in the Deseret
Farmer. Temperature and precipita'
ton we cannot control. but We a
regulate to a great extent the evapora'
tiop factor, and in order to do this
must study the processes in nature
which retard or facilitate 1t.
1t has been found In Utah, by ex'
periments carried IN by Widtsoe and
Merrill, that 1.048 pounds Of water is
required to produce one pound OF
wheat. If IL inches of rain fell on an
acre of land during the year, the actu.
al weight would be 2,742,500 pounds of
water. If that acre produced a yield
of SO bushels or 1880 pounds of wheat,
one can readily calculate that there
would be only 1880 pounds Of water
to every pound of dry matter. But we
must still further consider what be-
comes Of the rainfall in order to esti-
mate what portion of it is available
for the plant.
AS the rain falls upon the ground a
large portion of it runs of, another
portion soaks into the ground and dis
appears by various processes, and
still another portion which merely
soaks into the top layer Is ~evaporated
Immediately. All water is eventually
e%vaporated and mingles with the air.
and under proper conditions rs again
precipitated.
In Utah the accepted method Is to
pillow deeply in the fall, cultivate thor
oughly, SOW in the fall, and summer
fallow every other year. During the
summer-fallowing period clean cult
walton should be practiced in order to
prevent moisture being used up by
weeds and by evaporation.
The moisture that soaks deep into
the ground and thai becomes available
for the plant shouts be properly con-
served. This is accomplished by thor
ough cultivation. Moisture moves up
ward in the soil Just as water moves
up in a capillary tube, or between
two plates of glass very close togeth'
err. The closer together the particles
of earth the more rapid will be this
capillary action, and to stop or les
sen it the top soil should be broken
up by tillage.
There are three weather factors
which have a great deal to do with
evaporation, namely; temperature. hui
midity and wind velocity.
The higher the temperature the
greater will be the evaporation. and
the higher the humidity the less will
be the evaporation. All have OBJ
served how quickly things are dried
on a hot, dry day; and II there hap.
pens to be q heavy wind then the dry.
Ing process is still further increased,
because as the water e%vaporates from
a moist article 1t exists as water
vapor in the space surrounding the ar.
ticle. and as the process is continued
the space approaches saturation and
evaporation becomes slower. But 1t
a wind comes up and carries away
the water vapor, evaporation a then
continue. The greater the velocity of
the wind, then the greater the evapo.
ration.
The snowfall is important in two
ways. First. that the seed is pro
tected when fall sowing is followed,
and second, that the ground seems to
be benefited. The drill burrows catch
the snow and hold it, thus afording
the seed the desired protection.