Show CROPS CROP SON ON DRY LAND drought resistant plants may be divided into three groups they are able to stop growing du during unfavorable weather and with bad sol soil conditions renew growth whan rain falls fall in a recent address before the west ern era kansas farmers conference con terenca nt at hays han prof A M ten eyck of the fort hays branch experiment station spoke on the subject of drought resistant crops in the course ot of hla his remarks he said drought resistant crops or crops which are adapted to dryland dry land farm arming may be divided into three quite als distinct groups as all follows 1 early maturing crops which grow rapidly anti and ripen before the aval available lable boll holsti moisture re la Is used up tip or before tho the hot dry weather begins such as am winter wheat and early spring grains 2 crops which root deeply anti and gather their moisture supply from a large volume of soil such mich as alfalfa and certain grasses 3 hardy ardy growing crops which are able to cease growth when the soil becomes too dry or conditions become too unfavorable and remain in a dormant state until the rain bomea when they make quick use of the favorable conditions growing rapidly simply reaching maturity a little later than would have been the case it if they had been subject to no unfavorable conditions during the period at f growth these last fire are true drought resistant crops such as kafar corn sorghum lorg hum buffalo grass and other native grasses of the western plains the crops which belong to the class last name named as a r ule rule do not root deeply but the plants develop an and extensive growth of roots lit in the lie surface soil which en bibles them to take advantage of light rains and to quickly absorb a large part of the water which enters the soil oll thus securing a greater supply of water under certain conditions anil and allowing less waste by surface evaporation than occurs with a deeper rooting crop or with crops which make a less growth of fibrous roots in the surface oll boll it appears also that certain of these crops actually require less lesa avd wa ter ler to produce growth than some other crops which are not considered especially drought resistant aside from the character which uch such crops possess of taking advantage of the conditions under which they grow these drought resistant are different in some ways from ordinary crops in the quality named above in that they are able to top stop growing luring during unfavorable weather and with unfavorable soli soil conditions ons renewing their growth again when conditions become better this character in a plant Is not well understood it seems to be a characteristic te which has been bred into the plant by continual exposure to the conditions under which it Is able to grow we find that most of the crops adapted for growing on the western plains have been imported from foreign countries which have a semiarid semi arid arld climate similar to the climate of the western plains thie crops have been bred and grown for centuries perhaps in the countries from which they have been brought and the character of being drought resistant has become a quality of the plant the same its as the character of being hardy in a cold climate has become the nature of certain varieties of fruit and 0 many crops without doubt therefore certain crops are more drought resistant than others but successful dryland dry land farming I 1 ng depends largely upon the character of the soil the preparation of the seed seedbed beit and the culture which the crop receives the only soils which may be made to produce crops without irrigation in the semiarid semi arid regions onil are soils which have great moisture holding capacity it takes water to produce drought resistant crops as aa well as to produce crops grown under ordinary circumstances and a thin soll boll by a gravelly or coarse sandy subsoil will produce it if at all only when water Is supplied in sufficient quantity during the period of crop growth while soil which retains moisture mo liture wall w 11 may produce crops even without much rainfall luring during the growing season prof if D linfield of the montana experiment station says on this subi pet 1 I have seen a paying crop grown without irrigation on land ranging from a clayey loan loam to almost sandy when the subsoil was waa not porous in the growth of plants water Is needed in the soil for the following reasons 1 to dissolve the plant food 2 to carry the food to the pants anti and through the plants 3 it Is food in itself to the he plants 4 A certain amount of water in fit the roll Is necessary to give the proper texture favorable for the growth of the plant roots 5 i water also acts as a regulator of the temperature of the soil tending lending to lo raise the temperature of cold foil eoll by reason of warm rains anc and by evaporation to keep town down the temperature of the soil luring during the hot summer weather 0 the bacteria in tho the soil which assist in decay and tn in chemical changes by which the plant food in the soil Is made available to the plant thrive and multiply lit in the soil only with a favorable condition of soil mo moisture latuE heit heat und air |