The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1915-01-29
CREATING DUST MULCH
Do Not Attempt Anything Witt
Clods in the Fall.
Rain and Melted Snow Permitted tc
Run Down and Water Can Be Con-
served by Proper Dust Mulch
Soils Not All Alike.

| 1t is possible in the semiarid sec
| ton of the country, and on light soils
| in any section, to form such a dust
mulch as will favor blowing. especi.
ally in dry time, aud more particularly
on lands that are somewhat worn and
somewhat deficient in soil moisture.
1t is utterly impossible for any per
son to make suggestions on the man.
| agement of land that will apply infal-
libby to all kinds of land under all
sorts of weather conditions and in all
sections. We would not attempt to do
anything with clods in the fall, says
Wallace's Farmer. We would not har
row ground in the fall, but would leave
1t rough for the subsequent freez
ing and thawing will break up the
clods, while the roughness of the land
will give the frost better chance
to get in it's work as well as catch
snow and rain.
Where land Is light, where is it ex
posed to high winds, where experience
teaches that it is liable to blow, we
would keep the prevention of blowing
always in mind. 1t is difficult to know
just how to handle these lands. II
they are narrowed till the surface is a
tine dust, there is every opportunity
for the soil itself to blow away. II
they are rolled with fiat roller, they
are more likely to blow than If left
loose. The disk roller, or a packer,
while compacting the soil. leaves ii
somewhat rough and prevents blow
ing.
We saw one year in the state OF
Iowa an entire crop of wheat from ten
acres of land blown out into the roads.
The danger is much greater in the
semiarid country. Clod formation can
be prevented by first disking, then
blowing and narrowing directly after
wards, so that clods have no chance
to form.
No matter what agricultural papers
Il man may read, or how many books,
or how great their general value, the
farmer must study his own farm and
his own conditions, and feel free to go
directly contrary to advice, no mat
ter how good it may be under widely
differing conditions from his.
You cannot treat sandy soils the
same way you do clay; nor can you
treat the light soils the same way you
do the heavy soils in that same Sec
ton; nor can you treat either of them
as you would gumbo soil in the valleys
Of the humid section. In the semiarid
o1a ic
different from that of the humid sec
ton. In the humid section the strata
are, so to speak, HORIZONTAL in the
semiarid section, perpendicular.
Professor Ten Eyck, who had long
experience in the Kansas dry belt ex-
pertinent station, once said to US that
he had the best results by listing the
soil deep late in the fall and leaving it
rough so that the rain and melted
snow could run down and the water
could be conserved by a proper dust
mulch.
In any section where land is liable to
blow. we would be careful about using
the harrow more than is necessary,
and would under no circumstances use
a smooth roller. The more vegetable
matter you get into that soil, and
therefore, the more root fiber the less
it is likely to blow. There are soils
that are now considered good, which,
if they are kept growing corn for a
few years. until the vegetable fiber is
decomposed, cannot be well held even
by warranty deed.