Show DRY FARM principles BENEFITS RESULTING SOON BECOME EVIDENT TO FARMER importance of packer and other implements clements ts fully realized by early settlers summer rains supply needed moisture there are few districts in the vest west ern provinces and very few farmers in any district but what would be greatly benefited by a more careful and intel legent application of dry farming prin chiples to their operations on the land these principles embody the essen ual elements of all good cultural meth oda thoroughness and system and are am based on an experimental and scientific tift knowledge of the nature and requirements of the soil and the variety and dependability of the climatic conditions peculiar to ones one s own local ity writes john trumbull ol 01 bask sask katch ewan in farmers advocate the tle benefits resulting from the em ein cloying dry farming methods in the handling of western eolla soils soon became evident to many of the early settlers in the arid and and semi arid districts dur ing dry seasons and dry spells in many seasons they sought to follow these methods in measure as far as the means at their disposal would permit this was before the fame of mr camp bell had reached their ears or bis his doctrines bad had been as clearly expounded as they now are while the packer and other dry farming implements nee essary to fully carry out the were lacking it was evident they fully realized their importance by the many schemes and homemade home made contrivances tried and used in cultivating and pack ing for the control and eradication of weeds and the receiving and conservation of moisture in the soli soil moisture supply the cardinal principles of dry farm ing are now so universally understood that little explanation is required seeing we are dependent upon the sum mer rains as the greatest source ot of our moisture supply it Is surely wis dom on our part to endeavor to take the greatest possible advantage of ot what Is offered in this way by having a goodly portion of our land under summer tillage each year whether it be breaking the virgin prairie thus preparing new land for next season s crop or summer fallowing following land that has already been in crop the plowing should be done well as early in june as possible and from five to six inches deep we do our breaking as early in june as an we can and do not favor breaking much after july is in as for various reasons the eod sod does not rot so well except in uni un i usually wet seasons this we put into good and texture with disk bar rows and plank drag we prefer the plank drag to the packer on breaking as it fills up holes and levels it off bet ter facilitating the rotting process and is handy for hauling off stray stones the land intended for eummer summer till age should as far as possible have had some kind of surface cultivation the previous fall in fact all stubble land should be so treated if possible as this prevents undue loss lose of what moisture may yet be in the soil by evaporation during the dry tall fall days and at the same time mingles the stubble roots and fiber with moist earth so that they more readily rot and decay when turned under by the plow hitherto the disk harrow barrow has been about the only implement we could use at this job this at times how ever where the grain had been lodged and a heavy stubble bad had been left did not do very good work in such cases it was necessary to plow or await a convenient opportunity to burn the stubble I 1 have often tried to figure out something that would cut underneath the stubble roots from the rear as the over cut principle of the disk harrow requires much pressure and angle to turn them out and has a bad habit of riding over the patches etc |