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Show UNCERTAINTY OF DRY FARMS Can Be Eliminated to Extent of Making Method as Sure as That of Other Farming. Can the element of uncertainty In dry land farming be eliminated? I Some say no, some say yes. I am of the number who say yes. I believe it can be ellminateed, and to the extent of making dry land farming as sure as any other line of farming, writes Prof. Thos. Shaw In the Dakota Farmer. Farm-er. How shall it be done? I had rather say first, perhaps, how It should not be done before saying how It may be done. It should not be done by depending on spring plowed land to produce a crop. In a season of an average amount of moisture the result will be lavoraoie rrom spring plowed land, but in a very dry year the outcome from such cropping may be almost a total failure. In much of Dakota and also In much of Montana last season, such was the outcome from sowing grain on spring plowed land. In many instances the crop never germinated at all. In many other Instances It germinated and then so dried up that it did not come to fruition. Such farming will not eliminate the element ele-ment of uncertainty. How, then, is II to be eliminated? By the method submitted sub-mitted below. The element of uncertainty may be removed, first, by properly summer-fallowing summer-fallowing the land and by growing a crop of grain on the summer-fallow. It may also be eliminated by growing a cultivated crop and following the cultivated crop with a crop of grain. Where this system Is faithfully carried car-ried out, it will enable the farmer to grow three crops in four years and with considerable certainty. He will follow, for instance, the summer-fallow with grain. The grain will be followed with corn and the corn in turn with grain, thus furnishing three safe croDs in four vears. The summer-fallowing will be done in outline as follows: The ground will be plowed when it has the largest amount of moisture in it, that is in April, May or June. It will be plowed deeply and firmed by planking or rolling roll-ing or discing the day that it is plowed, plow-ed, to prevent the escape of moisture. It is then harrowed to prevent the further escape of moisture. The harrow har-row follows every considerable rain until winter wheat is sown in the autumn, au-tumn, and if winter wheat is not sown, one or two harrowings are given giv-en later. The winter or the spring crop sown on such land will not be a failure, even in a dry season. Likewise, suppose land is plowed in the fall for fodder corn. In the spring the land is stirred quite early with disc or harrow to keep in the moisture and in due time it Is planted to fodder fod-der corn. The corn is properly harrowed har-rowed and then cultivated and it is followed with a grain crop sown in due season. That grain crop will give considerable of a yield even though the season should prove dry. Here then are two methods by which the element of uncertainty may be removed re-moved when handling the lands in dry areas. Tho nne plement of hazard is to get the farmers to adopt those methods. They are so wedded as a rule to the methods of farming practiced" in the east, that they do not like to change them. But there is only one way open. If the bench lands are to be depended on to produce a crop, they must be farmed on those lines that will conduce to such a result. |