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Show PRINCIPLES OF DRY FARMING Subsoiling or Deep Plowing Needed to Allow Moisture to be Absorbed and Given Up Later.. The idea of dry-farming carries with it usually also the idea of arid or at least semi-arid climate conditions. Ana it was in and for such conditions that the idea of scientific dry-farming was riginated. But almost every region in America has its "dry spell." Every summer it can be expected in theWill-amette theWill-amette valley in Oregon, once in awhile early and sometimes of long duration. And when either of these conditions prevail we hear complaint of short crops. Irrigation has been talked of and experiments are being made. If may be questioned whether irrigation is practical for some parts of the valley, but it certainly is practical prac-tical to conserve the moisture by scientific scien-tific dry-farming methods. The basic principles of this system are simple. To give the ground a chance to absorb the water we must have deep plowing in time to receive the precipitation. Many farms in this naturally rich valley are plowed only a few inches deep year after year, and a hard pan or cemented strata seems to form, preventing the percolation per-colation of the water to the lever stratas, where it can be drawn up and used by the roots of the plants when warm weather comes on. The remedy is subsoiling, or deep plowing In the fail or also early in the spring, to allow the moisture to be absorbed and given up again later. Then the waste of moisture must be stopped by pulverizing the surface soil and by frequent stirring to break up the capillary. In other words a dust mulch Is needed where crops are cultivated, cul-tivated, to hold the moisture for use of the plant roots. The conditions which Dr. Worst has described as applying to North Dakota Da-kota seems to be much the same as some of the eastern Oregon and other semi-arid sections in the northwest, and the suggestions he has made to utilize dry-farming methods apply with equal force. But, as already suggested, if dry-farming is good in regions where the rainfall Is deficient, how much more caL it be useful where there i3 an ample sufficiency of moisture to conserve. The Rival Spirit. Portland, Ore. |