Show dn r t i 4 I r ui9 i Lf CROI S ON DRY LAND 7 k q I DroughtResistant Plants MayBe May-Be Divided Into Three r i t y Groups I 1 l ri t i They Ale Able to Stop Crowing During st Dur-ing Unfavorable Weather and V With Dad Soil Condition j s Renew Growth When flfi t Rain Fnlls it t I I i Tn a recent address lieforo tho Western I it West-ern Kansas Farmers conferonco nt tl Hays Knn Prof A M Ton Kyck of the Fort Hays branch experiment station t sta-tion spoke on the subject of Drought I t p + Resistant Crops In the course of his remarks ho said I ii Drought reslslant crops or crops f ° which are adapted to dryland farming farm-ing may bo divided Into threo quite distinct groups as follows l nil 1 Earlymaturing crops which grow Iy rapidly and ripen before tho available t Il 1 loll moisture Is used up or Inforo the i t tF t hot dry weather begins nuch as winter 1 win-ter wheat and early miring grains t I u 2 Crops which root deeply and gather gath-er their moisture mipply from a large 4 volume of soil such as alfalfa sad cer flj j tain grasses 3 Hardy vigorousgrowing crops which are able to cease growth when r 4 tho soil becomes too dry or conditions + d t jf4 become too unfavorable and remain xl a In a dormant stnto until the rain comes when thoy make quick use of tho favorable conditions growing rapIdly rap-Idly simply reaching maturity a llttlo t later than would have been the case I 49 s If thoy had been subject to no unfavorable un-favorable conditions during tho period rah rt of growth These last arc truo drought n resistant crops such as Icaflr corn t 4f d lorghum buffalo grass and othor nat na-t s tlvo grasses of tho western plains t + Tho crops which belong to the class last named as a rule do not root t c Jcoply but tho plants dovolop an f abundant and extensive growth of r + t t 1t roots In tho surface soil which enables t en-ables them to take nilvanlncrn of Unlit ji rains and to quickly absorb a largo part of the water which enters tho c if + loll thus securing o greater supply of tq t t j water under certain conditions and allowing t 1 b al-lowing less wasto by mirfaco ovapora t lkr s p tion than occurs with a deeperrooting s rr crop or with crops which make a loss m r > gn growth of fibrous roots In tho surface I i toll It appears also that certain of y 1 these crops actually require less water wa-ter to produce growth than somo other A t I crops which are not considered especially tri j r J espe-cially droughtresistant Aside from tho character which v such cropn possess of taking advantage n S c advan-tage of the conditions under which they grow these droughtresistant rt 4 ii + r crops are different In some ways n gr from ordinary crops In tho quality named above In that boy are able to stop growing during unfavorable 1 weather and with unfavorable nail lhr t conditions renewing their growth ngaln when conditions become better lr This character tn a plant Is not wall I to understood It seems to bo a characteristic l ° v charac-teristic whlcl leas been bred Into they the-y plant by continual exposure to the i conditions under which It In able to + t = grow Wo find that most of tho crops 1h 6 adapted for growing on the western plains have been Imported from foreign s k t t for-eign countries which have n semiarid f r climate similar to the climate of tho + western plains ThMio crops havo been > bred and grown for centuries perhaps > a < 1 per-haps In the countries from which they ty have been brought and tho character of being drought reslstrtnt has become U be-come quality of tho plant tho same ns tho character being hardy In a cold climate has becomo tho nature s 1 ky of certain varieties of fruit and of tg r many crops t 1t Without 1 doubt u therefore certain j + crops are more drought roslatant than njj t It others but successful dryland farmIng y ° 1 je farm-Ing depends largely upon tho character charac-ter of the poll the preparation of tho f 1 seedbed and tho culture which tho s crop receives Tho only soils which r may be made to produce crops without I1 + 1 with-out Irrigation In tho somlarld regions ore soils which have great moisture i t nommg capacity n canes water to produce drought rosisla t crops as well j w as to produco crops grown under ordinary ordi-nary circumstances and a thin Roll t underlaid by n gravelly or coarse t Bandy Hub oll will produce If nt all only WIJOH water Is supplied In sum 1 y i clent quantity during tho period of QIa crop growth while soil which retains tt moisture well may produco crops oven without much rainfall during theo the-o d growing season Prof II n Linflold of tho Montana experiment station r says on this subject I have seen n y paying crop grown without Irrigation I on land ranging from a clayey loam to t almost sandy when tho subsoil was Y i not porous t In tho growth of plants water Is a ° needed in tho soil for tho following reasons k t 1 To dissolve tho plant food IJ 2 To carry tho food to tho plants t and through the plants 3 It Is food In Itself to the plants 1 t 4 A certain amount of water In the h j n Roll Is necessary to give the proper o texture favorable for the growth of t the plant roots ri fi Water also acts as a regulator of the temperature of the soil tending t to raise tho temperature of cold soil by reason of warm rains and by evaporation evap-oration to keep down the temperature of the soil during the hot summer weather C Tho bacteria in tho soil which as elst In decay and In chemical changes t i x by which tho plantfood In the soil Is made available to the plant thrive and C multiply in the soli only with a favorable r favor-able condition of soil moisture heat hnd < air I 1 n we L |