The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1914-09-18
NECESSITY OF FALLOW
QUESTION NO LONGER DEBArA.
BILE IN GRAIN SECTIONS.
When Properly Prepared and Cared
for 1t EnabIes Settler to Store In
Soil Large Amount OF Moisture
Keep Weeds Down.

SOL Large Amount OF Moisture
Keep Weeds Down.
In eastern Colorado. Wyoming. Utah.
Idaho. Oregon and Washington and
parts OF Montana. districts of very low
rainfall, usually less than fifteen
inches annually. rs per cent OF which
falls during late autumn. winter and
early spring months. and large per
cent OF which Is snow. the Importance
OF the summer fallow Is no longer de-
batable. says Denver Field and Farm.
Ii IL known to be an absolute neces-
sity to profitable grain farming. and
undoubtedly will continue to be so
long as wheat growing remains the
basic dry farm crop. or until drought,
resistant and early-maturing strains Of
inter-tilled crops, such as corn, alfalfa,
Canada peas. Mexican beans, potatoes,
sorghums, ETC., can be discovered or
! developed to take the place OF the fall
low. The great concern OF every farm
er operating in this region Is moisture,
In years OF abundance OF rainfall like
the present one crops are usually good.
no matter what system has been fol-
| lowed.
Prontable crops are produced in
such years even when wheat has been
stubbled In after wheat, but in dry
years such practice results in fsilure
and the country istcondemned because
1t is too dry to produce crops, when in
reality the fault is not with the coun-
try but with the man. 1t has been
thoroughly demonstrated that the
summer fallow when properly pre-
pared and cared for enables the set
tier to store in the soil large amount
OF the moisture of two years precipita
ton for the production OF one crop and
through its use profitable crops can
usually be grown, even in years of the
most extreme drought Although the
summer fallow enables one to produce
than is possible by any other system
OF farming its real merits are only
| brought out in dry years.
Summer fallow or summer tillags
consists In blowing the land thorough
ly to good depth, seven inches o,
even deeper. either in the fall or in the
spring as the weather, soil moisture
conditions and the disposition OF the
farmers time will permit, and leaving
1t lie over during the summer in cult.
waited condition free from vegetation
Of any kind until seeding time in the
fall. The deep blowing facilitates the
storing OF summer rains and the sur.
face cultivation checks its evaporation
from the soil until 1t can be utilized
by the growing crop. Weeds, volun-
teer grain or any form of vegetation
must not be allowed to grow on the
fallow, because they drink from the
land as much moisture as a crop OF
wheat Farming in the dry sections is
very exacting il profitable crops are
produced. The country is all right II
the natural advantages are intelligent
ly utilized.
In very large measure the settler
can control these by proper methods OF
farming and the summer fallow be-
longs in this category because 1t is the
best known way Of utilizing the scanty
supply of precipitation. There is one
| possible way In which farmers operat.
ing under a low annual precipitation
can produce profitable crops of wheat
every other year without the use of
the fallow, and that is by the substitu-
ton OF inter-tilled crops for the fallow.
BY the growing of such crops as corn,
sorghums, potatoes, Canada peas, Mex
lean beans, etc, the land can often be
made to produce profitable titled crops
and at the same time put the soil in
fair condition for wheat.
The main drawback to such a sys.
tenn at this time lies in the fact that
most OF the inter-tilled crops now avail
able are not very droughtresistant and
are late maturing-too late for the
short growing season common to the
semi-arid lands. Usually, too, such
crops cannot be removed from the
land in season to plant winter wheat
at the proper time. In order to insure
profit by utilization of inter-tilled
crops in rotation with wheat, it will
be necessary to discover or develop
more hardy, drought-resistant, early
maturing varieties, but these are grad
ually coming in and we expect to see
a great amount of progress along this
line during the next ten years.
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