The Raymer enterprise., 1915-06-03
DRY FARMING SUCCESS
Two Distinct Systems Are Now
Being Employed.
Deep Flowing insures Larger Crop
Yield and Also Saves Humus,
Which IL important In Con. a
serving Soil Moisture.

letin.)
There are two distinct schools Of
dry farming.
\, One relies more on the intensive
tillage Of the top five or six inches
rather than on systematic deep work.
ing Of the soil.
The other might be termed sub.
soil farming. for the results are OBJ.
tanned by deep plowing. deep roofing
and a reservoir of moisture from two
to six feet under the surface where
practically nothing can extract the
moisture but the roots Of crops.
Anyone who plants trees two feet
deep in the subsoil Of well cultivated
farm and watches them grow can at
once appreciate the difference be-
tween the two systems.
In the intensive surface system the
farmer plows his sod two or three
inches, rolls 1t fiat and runs a slanted
harrow over 1t. He plants a crop on
It. The next season he backsets 1t.
sets 1t back where 1t was before, and
plants crop on the other side Of 1t.
The least said about the yield the
better
In the deep blowing or subsoil sys-
tenn Of farming. as advocated by the
writer and such men as Farrell of
Utah. Spalding Of Denver, Colonel
Bester Of the Transvaal. ETC., ETC., we
first disk the sod in wet weather as
deeply as possible, then turn 1t under
from eight to ten inches deep, and
disk the underside, which Is now up.
permost.
In grandfather's time they used to
plow the sod shallow and leave 1t to
rot. Nowadays We do most Of this rot.
ting with the disk. and alternate the
disk with the harrow until the whole
thing is reduced to a mellow seed
bed.
A seed bed prepared in this manner
and allowed time to soak up and set
tie with the precipitation of winter or
spring, is good for 40 or so bushels Of
corn or three tons of sorghum feed
the first year.
Deep work also saves the humus,
which is as important as conserving
moisture, for when sod is worried to
pieces on the surface until 1t is worn
out its fertiizing value (estimated at
about $100 an acre. 1t is almost en-
tirely lost-burned up by the atmos-
phere.
The next season we do not back.
set 1t. The modern way is to cross
plow 1t, which cross chops the whole
field. making the tilth finer yet. An
other reason we prefer cross plowing
is that the plow, instead of following
and skidding along the same ruts, at.
tacks them at the side, going under
them and through them, and works up
all the cut and cover slices in the
hard streaks left by the first break.
ing.
II this were thoroughly understood
there would be no more backsetting,
for the second year should produce
the finest crop In the life of the field,
rather than a catch crop of nubbins
on two or threeinch backset.
A delusion cherished by the shallow
school Of dry farming is that water
may be caused to rise from the sub.
soil to the seed bed in dry weather by
packing, and that. therefore. there Is
no reason to plow deeply.
The professors of physics tell US
that within certain well understood
limits the densest. most compact soil
has the stronger capillary pull, so
even II there was free water present
the seed bed would have to be com.
pacted until more solid than the sub
soil in order to obtain rise OF mols.
ture from down below. For instance,
a brick will take moisture from a
sponge, but the sponge will not take
moisture from a brick.
1t can also be readily understood
that when man Is farming over
hundred feet Of dry subsoil, there is
no free water, for 1t is all absorbed
and converted into film water as fast
as 1t falls.
The idea, of course, has been i'm.
ported from the humid states where
free water in the soil is rather the
rule than the exception.
1t is quite true, however, that after
narrowing newly plowed field In
spring weather, moisture seems to
come to the surface. 1t does, so long
as there is any free water In the top
six inches which has not had time to
be absorbed into the subsoil. but this
is simply the top inch robbing the
second and third and does not come
from any depth.
As all dry farmers know-who
have ever plowed field-that in.
stead Of moisture coming up from be.
low In dry weather, the seed bed com.