The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1914-01-28
MAKING USE OF WATER
Requirements Reduced by Thor
ough Cultivation OF Soil.
Deep and Frequent Flowing SO That
Weatherina Of Winter May be Felt
to Great Depths and strongly
4. Of Importance.

iHv " q. PALMER North Dakota Agri-
cultural College,
one OF the limiting factors IN crop
production In the dry farming region
is water How To make 1t 40 as iar
as possible is fuzzy as Important as
getting it into the soil and keeping u
there. Or. Widtsoe OF Utah prepared
a paper for the Dry Farming Congress
entitled, How To Reduce the Water
Requirements of Plants u was IN
one sense epoch making. lie opened
with the statement that It required
from 800 to 5000 pounds Of water TO
produce one pound Of DRY matter. lie
quoted the experiment OF Paguous ot
France who found that on poor soil II
required 1903 pounds Of water TO pro
duce one pound OF dry matter. while
on fertile soil II required but 81 EN'
perlments In Utah brought out similar
results-for instance corn grown on a
naturally fertile piece OF land re-
CURED 90s pounds of water to produc"
one pound OF dry matter. Wien ma
nured II required but 6l2. adding some
sodium nitrate In addition to the ma
nure reduced II to 5s5. In another
experiment corn grown on sandy loan
' not cultivated required COS pounds OF
sater. When cultivated II was re-
duced 10 252. On clay loan not cul'
tivated 535 pounds were required.
c~ultivating reduced II TO i2S. On clay
soil not cultivated 753 pounds was the
requirement-when cultivated this
was reduced to $50.
The significance OF these figures Is
not easy TO estimate. In most sections
even In humid and irrigated ones but
especially In the dry farming regions
water In the limiting factor In crop
production. by having the soil well
provided with available plant food the
plant n make more growth with q
given amount OF water-iust a. one
would have to eat more soup II Il were
thin than II thick TO supply a given
amount OF food. Manuring by putting
more plant food In the soil increases
production without increasing the
moisture requirements. Cultivating
BY keeping the moisture from evapo.
rating makes ideal conditions for
germs to work on the inert plant
food. making II available and 80 n
larger plant growth. Part OF the value
OF the summer-fallow comes from tho
plant food made available and not
alone from saving up moisture.
lie sums up as follows: At the
present time the only means pos
sessed by the farmer for controlling
Transportation and making possible
maximum crops with the minimum
amount of water In a properly titled
soil IL to keep the soil as fertile as
possible. In the light OF this principle
the practice usually recommended for
the storing OF water and for the pre-
ven'lon Of the direct evaporation OF
water from the soil are emphasized
Deep and frequent blowing, preferably
In the fall. so that the weathering OF
the winter may be felt TO great depths
and strongly, In OF the first importance
in liberating plant food. Cultivation
which has been recommended for the
prevention OF the direct evaporation
OF water Is OF itself an effective factor
In setting free plant food and thus
In reducing the amount OF water re.
quired by plants,
The experiments al the Utah station
referred TO bring out most strikingly
the value OF cultivation In reducing
Transportation.
In the same connection II II interest.
ing to bring up the results OF expert.
ments conducted by Prof. Snyder OF
Minnesota. lie found, for instance,
that timothy grown on poor land had
n protein content OF GA per cent,
while that grown on good land con.
tained SA per cent. In other words.
on the rich soil the plant put &c per
cent. more food value into the crop.
In another experiment he found that
corn fodder grown on poor land con
tained Gas per @ protein. On the
same land MANFRED. 9is per cent, on
clover sod MANFRED 1919 per cent,
or In other words two tons OF corn
fodder from n rich soil contained moro
food value than three tons from n poor
soil. The plant Is n good deal like a
carpenter; when lumber Is cheap he
wastes more. As II gets expensive or
hard to get he uses It more econom.
ically. Tho same way with tho plant
as It finds the food hard Ia get It
makes II 80 further and consequently
produces a plant with less food value