Farmers' champion. (Elgin, Okla.) 1912-1922, 1913-09-11
CROPS IN DRY AREAS
Much Depends Upon Amount Of
Rainfall and the Season.
" Attempt 10 Made 70 Grow Grain
Every Year Plan VIII UNdevbtsd-
" FaIl Who're FIstssN Inches
o. Water 10 Maximum.
(By PROF. THOMAS SHAW,

Wy IuOMHo SHAWL
The answer to the question 90 to
how frequently crors nay 10 grown
In dry areas. depend uH.r two things.
The FIRST is the amrtu ct precipita-
tion that falls and the SEE ond 10 the
season At which II falls. Both have
an important bearing on the answer
to this question.
Where the precipitation Ia not
more than. say. 16 inches In a year.
"a for instance In Montana, the fire.
quency with which crops may be
grown will depend upon the character
OF the farming. n the attempt is
made TO grow crops every year. Il
will undoubtedly fail. because rs
inches OF rainfall In a year will not
grow good crops OF grain every year
In an unbroken succession. In crop
ping with grain II will be found nee.
essary at least occasionally to devote
one season to the conserving of mois-
ture to make II possible TO grow good
crops In the year or years that fol-
low.
This assumption implies that where
the rainfall Is Is inches and proba bly,
less than that. good crops OF grain
cannot be looked for every year with
that amount OF rainfall. and for the
reason that good crops OF grain cannot
be grown every year on the same
land. unless the rain should fall at
Just the right time to meet the needs
OF the crops. This does follow In
some instances but in some instances
1t does not. hence the growing OF
grain crops every year becomes. In a
sense. sort OF gamble. II there Is
enough OF rain 1t will be a success.
II there is not enough It will be q
failure. How shall this contingency
be met The answer to that question
Is the central thought In this article.
1t Is met In two ways The first Is
to summer-fallow the land one year
and to grow on II n crop OF small
grain the next year. This method has
some advantages and some disad.
vantages. Among the former are the
certainty OF good crop on the land
even though the year should be dry,
and the proper cleaning OF the land
because OF the frequency OF the sum
mer fallow. Among the latter are
getting but one crop in two years,
the depletion OF the soil fertility, and
the absence OF a rotation that will
keep the land In mechanical bal.
ance. But this method may answer
fairly well for many years. II will
not. however. answer for all time. for
the time will eventually come when
the soil will be depleted OF its fsrtil-
ity. -
There Is. however. a better methauD
than the above. II Is to adopt the fol-
lowing rotations: Summer fallow,
followed by crop OF grain. The
grain is followed by fodder corn or
by some crop that involves cultivation
while 1t Is being grown. This is fol.
lowed by n grain crop. and the grain
crop. In turn. by summer fallow. This
means that three crops may be grown
in four years. one OF which will be
fodder corn. The great advantage
from growing fodder corn once In four
years over summer following twice In
four years is that the fodder corn
furnishes food for live stock. II may
be asked why not make the fodder
corn take the place of the summer
fallow and cut out the summer faliow.
The answer Is, first. that an occa-
sional summer fallow is necessary
where the conservation OF moisture Is
to be sufficiently maintained where
the rainfall Is less than 15 inches In
a year. II the rainfall is more than
15 inches, II would probably be pos
sible to eliminate the summer fallow
altogether. In humid areas 1t is not
necessary to have the summer fallow
70 retain moisture. II II Is main.
tained at all II Is as means to aid
In the erectual destruction OF weeds.
But the four-year rotation is not in
itself sufficient to meet every exigen-
cy. II is a marked improvement over
the two-year rotation. but II does not
provide for the maintenance OF fer
tility In the land. nor does 1t provide
for supplying the land with humus.
which II SO much needs In dry
country. How can this be accom-.
plished' II can only be accomplished
by laying the land down to grass oc-
casionally, or Its equivalent. That
equivalent. In dry areas. can be best
accomplished by laying the land down
TO alfalfa for limited term OF years.
This will mean that the rotation will
be as follows: Summer fallow. grain.
cultivated crop. grain, alfalfa for Q
few years and grain again. followed
by the rotation mentioned above.
This probably will be the rotation
most commonly followed In dry areas
In the years that are at hand.