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Show THE FARM BELOW There's another farm underneath yours that you are owner of. I wonder won-der If you aro using much of It. You own clear down to tho melted Btulf and you arc paying taxes on It, so you might as well get somo good out of It. Plants can't uso ono bit moro of fertility than you and tho weather make available. You and tho weather can work wonders If you pull togetlu-r. In soma sections tliero has been veiy little snow or rainfall, and that on top or n very dry summer nnd fall. Tho cold dry nlr has drawn tho moisture out until tho ground has cracked open llko In a summer drouth. There will bo n wonderful capacity for water in such soil If you will mako it possible for tho wnter to go down and stay down. Oct busy with the disc Just as soon ns spring opens, for you want to prevent puddling of tho surface soil, which will prevent wntcr going down very fast. A crumbly soil will tako wntdr rap-Idly, rap-Idly, will hold it well nlso. Keep u mulch on tho surface and tno wntcr below can't escape. You need It. If we get plenty ot rain that comes gently this spring, then you will see somo good crops, far tho giound In this baro part of tho country lias frozen deep. Freezing is ns good ns plowing for tho soil. Ilut look out for killed trees became or excessive dryness of the ground. Wlntor-kllllng means lack of wnter for tho roots. They must replace whnt evaporates from tho tree above ground dr they will perish with thirst. Mulch around tho trees to catch and hold tho first water that comes. Moybo you havo land that Is too wet. That part below tho surfaco Is responsible for crop failure It needs nlr, and heat, and bacteria of tho fcoit that mako plants grow. Tho thing to do Is to tile It out so theso favorable conditions can oxlst. It costs money to drain n wet spot, but It costs moro In loss of crops to let it stay wet, so tako your choice. You can't farm tho upper surface to best advantage unless you furm well tho subsurface. That means deep plowing, oven to subsolllng If necessary, neces-sary, or growing deep rooted crops llko clover or alfalfa or sweet ciovor that will break up tho subsurface below be-low tho plowllno. That means tiling, or breaking up tho bardpnn with dynamite. dyna-mite. That means putting lots of wntor down deep so that you Have a supply to draw on when tho sky Is cloudless and tho crops maturing seed. Don't buy more land until you havo used the farm beneath yours to tho limit of Its capacity. Deseret Farmer |