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Show TO CONSERVE WATER Practice Dry -Farming When There is Plenty Rain. 1 Application of Humid Methods in Semi-Arid Semi-Arid Conditions Means Repeated Crop Failures Lessening Profits Prof-its to Farmers. The question Is sometimes raised: "Shall we practice dry farming when there is plenty of rain?" Most assuredly, assured-ly, writes J. H. Worst of the North Dakota Agricultural college in the Wallace's Wal-lace's Farmer. The time to conserve moisture is when there is moisture to conserve. A farmer remarked to me the other day: "I have got the moisture mois-ture on my" farm dowp to a depth of more than three feet already." That farmer's idea is exactly right. He is conserving moisture now for next year's crop, while his neighbors are allowing al-lowing the moisture that has recently fallen in abundance to go its usual way, according to the laws of chance. Next spring his neighbors will plant their wheat and other small grain and depend upon the clouds to furnish moisture as the grain may need it. This famer will get just as much rain from the clouds as they, and will, in addition, have a large quantity of water wa-ter stored up in the subsoil to nourish the crop should a dry spell occur during dur-ing the growing season. And that dry spell Is very apt to come. I will venture ven-ture that this particular farmer will have a big crop next year, whether his neighbors do or not. If they "get a big crop, he will get a bigger crop. It has been fully demonstrated that a considerable portion of the rainfall of any one year can be conserved and carried over in the soil for the benefit of the next year's crop. Where the average rainfall is eighteen Inches, it should be an easy matter to carry four or five inches of autumn rain water over the winter for next season's crop. Four inches of water represents approximately ap-proximately 450 tons of moisture per acre a sufficient quantity to nourish the growing crop during weeks of protracted pro-tracted drought. As long as we apply humid methods to semi-arid conditions, we may expect repeated crop failures, or partial failures fail-ures that will materially lessen the profits which farmers should realize from their business. It requires approximately seven dollars dol-lars per acre to grow a crop. This includes in-cludes interest on Investment, cost of seed, wear and tear of farm machinery, ma-chinery, labor, etc. By adding one additional ad-ditional dollar's worth of labor to each acre, there is little question but that the average profits would be doubled. In other words, as much profit should be realized from the one additional dollar's worth of labor as Is now realized real-ized from the seven dollar's worth or unavoidable labor and Investment. Consequently, if farmers would devote one-third of their land to the growing of corn and alfalfa, neither of which Interferes with the time and labor employed em-ployed in farming wheat, and put one-third one-third more labor, thus made available, on only two-thirds as many acres of wheat, they would grow more wheat than where they spread their energies Ttver the one-third larger area. The kirn and alfalfa fed to live stock would sure them a large additional Income, l.d one that Is not often adversely ln-uenced ln-uenced by climatic conditions, while Ihe fertility deposited upon the farm resulting from feeding the corn and alfalfa to live stock would vastly Improve Im-prove the productiveness of the soil. Corn and alfalfa usually can be attended at-tended to when the wheat needs no care, thus distributing the labor more equitably throughout the season. Another thing, shock-threshing Is generally bad business, for the reason that all cannot thresh at once when the grain Is ready for the machine; consequently, all who cannot thresh early stand a good chance of having their grain injured in the shock and also are hindered from plowing until their grain Is threshed. Fully half tne farmers are thus hindered from plowing plow-ing early, many of them being compelled com-pelled to postpone plowing operations until the following spring. Better to stack the grain as soon as fit and start the plow. , Plow deep, and follow the plow with a drag. The drag will conserve more moisture than will get into the soil from melting snows. Besides, water thus conserved Is where It is needed instead of on the surface, where it will speedily evaporate. |