The Springfield herald., 1915-03-12
A Weekly Talk
On Dry Farming.

OA IA y = "a A4A4A46 .
A precipitation such ~ We had thi,
last season comes oaly once in fifty
years: bot Il makes little difference II
1t never comes again for crops may be
raised every year II the 4. rmer knows
how.
tThs aAovs tat. taken from the Denver West
ssn Fsrn Lite. ~ shali kssp at the head Of thsss
talks for ths volume Of tact that is boiled down
In ths few woeds thses issa III.
That man is up.to-date who,
after hearing all sides of a ques.
tion, puts it up with his own ex-
perience, and then acts on his
own Judgment.
It might cover the ground to
say that cultivation in the rain.
less west (trite expression for
dry west") is wholly a matter
Of soil mulch; and tnat soil
mulch less than three or four
inches doesn't 20 far toward
canning that moisture.
AS ono can't have q soil mulch
anc q weed bed at the same time,
it follows that to have the soil
mulch cultivation must be suffi.
cient to keep the field practically
clear of weeds.
There are two things as to a
soil mulch and weeds. The first,
rs stated, is that you can't have
them both. The second is that
you can have q field clear of
weeds and not have q soil mulch.
To have q field clear of weeds,
and not have q soil mulch, is of
course q whole lot better than a
weed bed; but being free of
weeds doesn't fill the bill of a
mulch-bed cultivation-doesn't
sal up the moisture, or stop
what we might call the up
ward leak"
For these various reasons we
don't think much of the harrow
rs q dry.farm crop cultivator
-belisve in fact that its use is
largely time lost, especially; in
listed row stuff; and except for
The preparation Of q gerden bed,
tRpek passi1es and small grain
bed, wonadn't have one on the
place.
From what has already been
said, the why in the case is cas-
]y understood. 1t doesn't pro.
vide the necessary mulch, and
doesn't either, in listed stuff, &C.
complish much in weed killing.
If there has been no rain since
planting, the harrow will do
good work on top of the ridges
where it isn't needed; but if
there have been some packing
rains, the scratching on the
ridges is negative in cultural eff
fects, and THUS in either case the
time is lost. as in the first case
there is already a ridge mulch.
and in the second case it doesn't t
provide any.
If the planting is done at the
right time and in the right way.
the parts needing attention at
the tirst cultivation are the sides
of the ridges; and usually the
weeds there are of the prairie
variety. which are of a nature re-
quiring something more than q
harrow to be affectual.
The cultivation of a crop should
properly have been begun some
years ago. but for this year prop.
er il should begin with the op-
ening of spring, and as indicated
in the former talks on the sub.
ject-that is, by blank listing as
so0n as the condition of the
ground makes il advisable.
The planting of the crop, by
splitting the middles, is also an
actual cultivation of the crop.
The tool for the cultivation OF
the crop after planted, as already
stated. is q two-row disk cultiva-
toi. There are now enough in
the county to make their use
generally understood, but it is
generally advisable to throw the
dirt out on the first cultivation.
If though the mulch has not
been compacted, and the side
weeds do not make it necessary,
the first cultivation could be de-
layed, and the dirt then thrown