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Show SUMMER FALLOW AS AM AID Man Who Is Thorough Enough tc Treat Land While Idle Will Be Able to Secure Annual Crop. I am not an advocate of summer fallowing for wheat except in regions of very scant rainfall. In most years and in most wheat growing sections the rainfall Is sufficient to produce a good yield when the ground Is properly prop-erly handled. The man who Is thor ough enough to conduct a good summer sum-mer fallow will give his 6oil proper preparation for annual cropping, says a writer In the Kansas Farmer. There are exceptional seasons when the rainfall Is insufficient to grow a crop of wheat. The land can be thoroughly thor-oughly prepared early and If at seeding seed-ing time conditions make It Inadvisable Inadvis-able to sow, seeding can be put ofl and the land can lie fallow for the season. Land that has become very weedy, seeded with mixed varieties, or where the volunteer crop becomes seriously detrimental, may be summer sum-mer fallowed to advantage. In some states, where the average annual rainfall Is ten Inches or less, the rainfalj of a single year Is seldom sel-dom sufficient to produce even a small yield of wheat. There the farmers sow wheat once In two years, giving the land thorough tillage during dur-ing the fallow year. This results in a yield of 20 to 40 bushels of wheat In alternate years, making the cash returns in each alternate year much more than twice as great as in many sections of good rainfall, where wheat Is sown annually. Alternate cropping crop-ping and fallowing collects all tbe moisture that can be saved from two years' rainfall, greatly Increasing the available plant food In the soil and doubling the efficiency of this moisture. mois-ture. While this plan has 'jeen frequently advocated for much of the winter and spring wheat territory, I believe that better results are obtained here by proper handling of the ground under an annual cropping system. I do not believe summer fallowing Is necessary neces-sary In anything but an abnormal year In any section where the annual an-nual rainfall Is above 15 inches. |