The Ordway new era., 1913-04-11
DRY FARM ESSENTIALS
First Catch and Store Rain
Water Which Falls on Land.
Can Be Accomplished by Making Of
subsoII a Reservoir to Hold Rains
Which Otherwise In Large
Measure Would Run OF.

tBy r. r. cLARIDGE. Longview. Texas.)
AS the term is usually understood,
"dry-farming" is cropgrowing with
limited rainfall. But the methods
which bring success. in other words
| "dry-farming methods" apply in great
er or lesser degree to farming under
all conditions.
In a nutshell, the essence OF dry
| farming is first. to catch and store in
the soil. the rain water which falis
| upon the land, and then to hold 1t
where 1t will do the most good to
| crops. The first is accomplished by
| making of the subsoil reservoir to
hold the rains which otherwise in
large measure would run off the land.
| This is done by deep plowing and sub
soiling.
The second essential of dry-farming
| is to hold in the ground against time
when 1t shall be needed. the moisture
thus stored in the soil and subsol'
This Is done by surface stirring. be
| fore and after planting.
AS moisture from the soil ecapes
into the air by way of tubes or capil-
laries connecting with the surface,
surface has the effect of preventing
the escape into the air OF soil mols-
ture. For instance. when we boys,
| young or old, in dry time, roll over
the old logs to get worms for nsn
| bait, we find the worms on the surface
| of the ground because there Ia mois-
ture there The moisture is there, be-
cause It cannot get out. the log oper-
ating as an obstruction to its passage
| by closing the soil tubes at the SURF
ace. The soil mulch, made by surf
ace stirring Of the soil. serves the
same purpose as the old log.
Experimenting to some small extent
with the soil mulch, have been great
ly surprised at how long moisture may
be held in the ground by the establish
ment of such a mulch upon the surf
ace. Last season, for instance, l held
an Irish potato crop In the ground
month for better prices. There was
not a drop Of rain for two weeks be-
fore they were ready to dig. the 10Th
of May. And yet there was moisture
of June. And yet there was moisture
enough In the ground to bring up to
a good stand cotton planted immedi-
ately after digging the spuds month
later Some OF my neighbors wondered
why should cultivate potatoes so long
after they had matured. Fearing rain
would not come in time, 1 was mere
| ly holding the moisture to bring mp
the cotton which. by the way. made
more than half a bale per acre.
The same season was taking some
strawberry plants. late planted
through the summer. After the last
rain in the spring l made. with hoe
and with my own hands. better soil
mulch than one could afford to de-
| vote to field crops. For two months
they kept green and fresh. Not wish.
ing them to bloom so late. even
| pinched OF a good many blooms. But
when a heavy midsummer rain came
| I was away from home, and did not re-
turn until seven or eight days after
the rain. was surprised to find my
vines about "all in" Seven or eight
weeks drought. in other words. did not
| hurt them, but they we're nearly
ruined by a hard-baked surface very
soon after the rain.
The dry farmer soon learns that.
falling his soil mulch after rain. he
| is out of business. and that 1t Is I'M
portant his mulch should be made at
the right time. II the surface is per-
mitted to bake before it is stirred. 1t
becomes broken into clods. and am
| afraid that moisture goes into the air
through clods as fast or faster than
through baked surface.
Among people casually up to the
subject of surface stirring to hold in
the moisture. I find the idea prevail
ing that the thinner the soil mulch the
better. Well, there is such thing as
subsurface crust. which. prevent
ing the rise Of moisture. is as bad or
worse than top crust. This comes
usually where the surface Is stirred
shallow after rain. and then let
alone through long dry spell. The
| first mistake Is no doubt from stirring
| anI fhnr