The copper era and Morenci leader., 1912-07-12
SAVE SOIL MOISTURE
Disk as Soon as the Binder Has
 Cut the Grain.
Land Flowed When Moist Will Always Be In Good Mechanical Condition, Particularly k Followed
 Quickly by Harrow.

How should the average loam soil be treated to hold the largest amount of soil moisture? Disk as soon as the binder has cut the grain. This will con serve much soil moisture that would otherwise be lost by evaporation. The chief objection to this method is that 1t takes a lot of power in harvest time and in many cases the extra eX- penditure of labor will be too great for the farmer to endure. who has this years crop to save, Whether the land has been disked or not 1t should be plowed as early in the fall as possible when it is as wet as 1t is at present. Land plowed when moist as it Is now will always be in good mechanical condition. particular ly if followed by the harrow, the same day it is plowed. The soil IS then broken up and competed much better than if the Jumps are allowed to dry in clods. It is just as essen tial to harrow the same day you blow as it is to set concrete the day you mix 1t. In many cases the subsoil packer or corrugated iron roller should follow the blow to compact the furrow slice down upon the sub soil; this should always be done the day the land is plowed while the fur row slice is moist.
 Sandy soils that are inclined to blow should generally be left for spring blowing. Such soils should generally be disked lightly in the fall as this puts a mulch on the field, thus pre- venting evaporation of soil water to quite an extent. It also buries many weed seeds and gets them to germin- ate in the fall. Should the remainder of the season be wet, vast numbers of wild oats, mustard, wild buckwheat and other seeds will be started and will be destroyed by frost
 Corn fields should be disked shallow as soon as the corn Is cut. the disk should follow the binder or else the corn should be shocked up in straight rows and the disk can then be used to good advantage between the shock rows
 Remember next year may be anoth- CT dry year, with more or less hot winds. If the subsoil contains plenty of water these conditions will not harm the crop. small quantity of "dl0I otOTcu III tue SOil Lul6 ldll, Uy means of the disk or early fall blow ing, together with what falls next year, may take the crop through three or four very severe days next July, where crops not aided by an extra store of water in the soil may fail.
 Last September six inches of rain fell at Hazelton. Land plowed after this and narrowed three times at in tervals to keep the mulch in good shape was full of water this spring. Wheat planted on such land will prob ably yield over 20 bushels per acre, although the rainfall for June and July was but 3.36 inches, 200 inches of this fell in one hour, so that much of it ran off and the balance was in light showers that did but little good. The temperature was from 95 to 100 degrees for five days in succession, with strong winds blowing from the south Fields across the road not treated to conserve the soil moisture were a total failure because the crops had no stored water to sustain them through their hour of extreme need. The whole secret of dry farming is to save the soil water when you have it.-North Dakota Extension Bulletin.