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Show ALFALFA AND DRY FARMING Humus arts Nitrogen Ars Very Essential Essen-tial to Successful Wheat Culture Legume I Needed. (By U C AirHKIt. :iiprtn(.nWnt Atrd-n Kauxtimvnt Notion.) If dry tanning I to become a per. j manent system of agriculture it la ab 1 solutely essential that humus and a I- j trogen be put into tbe soli. There are , hundred of thuuxafid of acre In the Inter-iiiountala west where no other system of agriculture will ever prevail. pre-vail. Tbe constant growing of wheat on summer fallowed laud must ceaae for such a system la sure to deplete the soil of its plant food. At tbe present, pres-ent, our wheat farming method largely large-ly consist of robbing tbe soil of Ita temporarily accumulated fertility and then letting It lie Idle until for a season sea-son or until such time as enough plant food baa been made available and enough water baa been atored to Insure In-sure another good crop. Humus and nitrogen are very essential to successful success-ful wheat farming and In order to secure se-cure these tbe dry farmer must make use of green manure crops that will supply these necessary plant food. By doing this be la Improving the soil texture a well as tbe water holding capacity, and in dry farming that Is the greatest essential. Beneficial effects from plowing under un-der alfalfa previously grown in rows for seed production have been noticed on succeeding wheat crop for a long as ten year. At tbe present time alfalfa is conceded con-ceded to be our best legume for the dry lands, its deep rooting system fitting fit-ting It admirably to seek stored wster at great depths. Deep rooted plant are decidedly preferable to shallow rooted one because they penetrate Into the aubsoll. In thl way air and water find entrance, especially after the roots decay. It 1 supposed that alfalfa when plowed under enriches tbe turface aoll with potash and phosphorus phos-phorus from the subsoil, thus bringing these substancea within reach of the succeeding shallow rooted crops. Tbe summer fallow simply prolongs the time when smaller crop and consequently con-sequently smaller returns must inevitably inevit-ably come from constant Soil depletion. deple-tion. It is eaaler to keep a soil up to Its fertility If aoll building la atarted when tbe first crop Is taken off, than if it la prolonged until tbe farmer is forced to it due to small returns. Thus far alfalfa planted In row for both seed and forage production ha proven more aucceisful, than the broadcast stand or closely drilled yows. In regions where the moisture la not plentiful. While it will most probably resolve itself Into a problem of seed production due to this lack of sufficient moisture for forage production, produc-tion, nevertheless it can be made a paying crop both financially and as a soil improver. |