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Show STOP ESCAPE OF MOISTURE Farmer In Semi-Arid Regions Should Use Every Endeavor to Prevent Evaporation of Water. The escape of moisture, not the lack of it, is what has done the so-called so-called dry west the greater harm. Today we passed a spot where two men were digging a cellar. It is in a very dry country where all crops must be irrigated, and the subsoil, after going go-ing down a foot or two, is almost as hard as rock and has to be loosened by a sharp, pick or by dynamite. Across this cellar soil an oil road had been made which formed a perfectly impervious crust two or three Inches deep. Through this oil crust no moisture mois-ture could by any possibility go to the soil beneath It, and on the other hand not a particle of moisture could escape from the soil under it Into the air above. As the men slowly dug into in-to the flinty dry subsoil, just beside this hard water-proof surface they remarked re-marked that when they got under the road where no rain moisture could by any possibility come they feared it would be like rod. Curious to see If Just the opposite might not prove to be the case, the writer with a sharp pick succeeded in baring a good ship of the soil under the oil road. To the surprise of the diggers, both soil and subsoil under this air-tight covering was so moist that it could be spaded readily with but very little use of the pick. We cannot cover our farms with an air-tight protector, but in every way in our power we should shut off evap oration. The high winds, the dry air and the hot sun all combine to take the moisture from our soli just when we need It most. That Is one great reason why the 1 forest condition brought about by the cool shady protection of the corn field, leaves our corn land with so much more moisture in It than open roadways road-ways or grain fields. The cultivation, too. tends to take the place of the oiled roadway. For this reason, too, our grains should be put In early and as soon as possible be made to shade and protect the surface soil. The same principle is involved when on some soils some seasons the grain does so much better for being lightly harrowed when two Inches or so high It is why lightly disked or sharply harrowed har-rowed stubble land grows better corn or grain if thus treated the moment the snow is off. Anything and everything every-thing that will tend to prevent the escape es-cape of subsoil moisture will tend just as strongly to give us a good crop and a certain one. Evaporation should be headed off In every way in our power It is like letting our money run to wastfl to let our soil moisture get away from us. |