The Springfield herald. (Springfield, Baca County, Colo.) 1887-1919, 1915-02-12
A Weekly ak
On Dry Farming.

"A " SS!AAy eSA
On Dry Farming.
In this little talk we want to
take for our text a paragraph
troT dry-farming article in
the Denver western Farm
Life"
A precipitation such as We had this last season
comes only once In 50 years, but It mskss httls
diferenc II it never comes again, for crops may
be raised every year II the farmer knows bow.
1t has been twenty-nine years
since the editor first pitched his
tent 'over here" in this Colora-
do land. Ten years ago we
made a second landing in this
short-grass country, fully believ.
ing the country to be Rood-for-
nothing except for herbivorous
beasts to roam in by day and car
nivorous beasts to howl in by
night.
But at the end of these twenty
nine years we are ready to cor
roborate what is put in the above
text-that good crops may be
raised here every year if the
farmer knows how.
Ever since we took charge Of
the Herald we have been throw
ing out occasional warnings to
our new settlers of the possible
future of this county, anu we ex-
pect to continue to throw out
these warnings until the greater
Baca county has changed from a
dream to a realization.
With our present knowledge of
the country we are satisfied that
taking the country as whole,
there hasn't been single year
during these twenty-nine that
good crops couldn't have been
raised; and yet. Notwithstanding.
we believe. that unless the farm
ers of the county have some
thing to supplement their farm
ing operations-outside of stock
raising, some Of these mornings
some of us are going to wake up,
as we did once before, and find
that everybody is gone.
There are two present condi-
tions that are going to serve az
contributing causes to this Sec
und outgoing. The first is the
want of the how" and the sec
ond is the want of the necessary
equipment after the ''kow" is
Understood.
We want to make this talk
practical, and consequently want
here to point out two things that
have invariably stood in the way
of that certainty of a good crop,
each about equa to the other in
total results.
The onc, which might prob
ably be placed as the first, is in
getting stand; and in this there
isn't any cut-and- dried rule that
car he followed to insure the
stand wanted as that man has
Mt vet heen found who knows
how to always get stand
There a-e some hints, though,
that can be followed in getting
the stand wanted, some Of which
we here give:
The planting should be of uni
form depths.
Early planting 81 ould be much
shallower, and late planting
much deeper.
The exact depth is the great
puzzle, but we believe an inch
for early planting, and probably
about two and one half for late
planting, would not be far out of
the way.
We believe the grain is the
safest in having moisture for
termination if dropped into a
slit in the hard ground or en- top
of the hard ground in the bottom
Of the furrow. rather than in the
loose soil, having the necessary
soil then thrown over it.
A dashing rain and the bak-
ing of the soil over the grain, Is
an ever present danger, in
the case of which baking the
crust should be broken without
waiting to see whether the stuff
can get through or not, as when
il strikes that crust and. beQinS