Show ALFALFA AND DRY FARMING fc A humus ana ano nitrogen are auevery very essen tia to successful wheat culture legume Is needed fr 4 by L C superintendent aberdeen eador meat S aaion if dry farming Is to become a per manent system of agriculture it Is db ab sol essential that humus and ni trogen be put into the soil there are hundreds of thousands ol 01 01 acres in the inter mountain west where no other system of agriculture will ever prevail Theton the constant stant growing of wheat on summer allowed fallowed land must cease for such a system Is ture to deplete the eoll of its plant food at the pres ent our wheat farming me hods cods large ly IY consist of jobbing the soil of its temporarily accumulated fertility and then letting it lla liet idle until for or a sea eon son or until such timer time as enough plant food has been made available and enough water has been stored to in sure another good crop humus and nitrogen are very esip essential to success tul ful wheat farming and in arder to se so cure thee theoe the dry farmer must make use of green manure crops that will supply these necessary plant foods by doing this he Is improving the soil R 1 texture as well as the water holding 14 capacity and in dry farming that is ir the greatest essential beneficial effects from plowing un der alfalfa previously grown in rows for seed production have been noticed on succeeding wheat crops tor for as long as ten years at the present time alfalfa Is con ceded to be our best legume for the dry lands its deep rooting system fit ting it admirably to seek stored water at great depths deep rooted plants are decidedly preferable to shallow rooted ones because they penetrate into the subsoil in this way air and find entrance especially after 1 the roots decay it Is supposed that R alfalfa when plowed under enriches richea en the surface soil with potash and plies chorus from the subsoil thus bringing these substances within reach of the succeeding shallow rooted crops the summer fallow simply prolongs pro onga the time when smaller crops and con smaller returns must ably come from constant soil aeple tion it Is easier to I 1 beep a soil up to its fertility if soil building Is started iv ahen hen the first crop is taken off than it if it is prolonged until the farmer la is forced to it due to small returns ihus far alfalfa planted in rows for both seed and forage production has proven more successful ful than the broadcast stand or closely drilled bows in regions where the moisture is not plentiful chile it mill ft ill most probably re revive olve itself into a problem of seed production due to this lack of sufficient moisture tor for forage prodoc alon nevertheless it can be made a paving crop both financially and as a soil improver |