The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1912-02-02
FLOWING FOR WATER
Must Be Done Deeply and at the
Right Time.
Experiment Stations Find That When
Work 10 Done in Fall It Proves
Water Conserving and Has
Many Other Advantages.

1t is not alone sufficient to pillow
and to plow deeply; X is also neces-
sary that the blowing be done at the
right time In the very great ma
jority OF cases over the whole dry
farm territory, blowing should be
done In the fall There are three rea-
sons for this; first, after the crop is
harvested, the soil should be dis
turbed Immediately, so that it can be
exposed to the full action of the
weathering agencies, whether the win
ter be open or closed. If for any rea-
son blowing cannot be done early, 1t
Is often advantageous to follow the
harvester with a disk, and to pillow
later when convenient. The chemical
effect on the soil resulting from the
weathering made possible by fall
blowing. as will be shown in chapter
TX, is OF itself SO great as to warrant
the teaching Of the general practice
OF fall blowing. Secondly the early
stirring Of the soil prevents evapora-
ton of the moisture in the soil dur
ing late summer and the fall Thirdly,
In the parts of the dry-farm territory
where such precipitation occurs in the
fall, winter or early spring. fall
blowing permits much of this precipi-
tat1on to enter the soil and be stored
there until needed by plants.
A number Of experimental stations
have compared blowing done In the
early fall with blowing done late in
the fall or in the spring, and with
almost no exception it has been found
that early fall blowing is water-con-
serving and in other ways advantage
Gus. 1t was observed on a Utah
dry-farm that the fall-plowed land con-
tanned to depth OF 10 feet TAT acre
inches more water than the adjoining
spring plowed land-a saving OF nearly
one-half OF years precipitation. The
ground should be plowed in the early
fall as soon as possible after the crop
Is harvested. 1t should then be left
In the rough throughout the winter,
SO that it may be mellowed and
broken down by the elements. The
rough land further has a tendency to
catch and hold the snow that may be
blown by the wind, thus insuring
more even distribution of the water
from the melting snow.
A common objection to fall blowing
is that the ground is so dry in the fall
that 1t does not pillow up well, and that
the great dry clods Of earth do much
to injured the physical condition of the
SOIL 1t Is very doubtful If such an
objection Is generally valid, especially
II the soil is so cropped as to leave a
fair margin of moisture in the soil at
harvest time. The atmospheric agen-
cies will usually break down the
clods, and the physical result of the
treatment will be beneficial. Un-
doubtedly, the fall blowing of dry land
is somewhat difficult hut the good re-
suits more than pay the farmer for
his trouble. Late fall blowing, after
the fall rains have softened the land,
Is preferable to spring blowing If
for any reason the farmer feels that
he must practice spring blowing, he
should do it as early as possible in
able to pillow the soil when 1t is so
wet as to injure its filth seriously, but
as soon as that danger period us
passed. the pillow should be placed in
the ground. The moisture in the soil
will thereby be conserved, and what
ever water may fall during the spring
months will be conserved also. This
is of especial Importance in the Great
Plains region, and in any district
where the precipitation comes in the
spring and winter months.