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Show DRY FARMING RULES Past Two Years in Texas Well Adapted as Test. Sreatett Trouble 6eems to B That Wind Blow In Spring Each Locality Lo-cality Muit, to Large Extent, Work Out Own Problem. We can better understand the prln-rlples prln-rlples of dry farming. If we consider lhat the soil l.s a huge spuiigo. It lakes iu water In proportion to lt looseness and water I evaporated from It in the same way. A well-plowed well-plowed held takes up a great deal more water than a pasture. If the rain is of short duration. Llut the grass roots will hold water longer than the plowed Held. unless the field has been treated proK-rly. A sponge, soaked in water and hung In the open air. will dry out very ipilckly. but If a newspaper Is tied round the sponge the water In t lie sponge will remain there a long time. The underlying principle of dry farming Is to put something over the laud which will act as the newspaper does around the sponge, and still not Interfere with the growing crops. It has been found that a shallow coat of finely pulverized, dry soil will do the same work as the new spaer does. That Is why ono of the cardinal principles prin-ciples of dry farming is "cultivate constantly." Another principle is "plow deep before the rains come." The reason Is easy to si-e. Deep plowing plow-ing loosens the tight soil and allows It to soak up more water. The past two years in Texas have been well adapted to testing dry farming farm-ing methods. Last winter, for Instance, In-stance, we had good rains and they continued In many sections well up Into the spring. Hut the summer wiib dry and hot. On land Ihat had been prepared by deep plowing for the winter win-ter rains, the moisture soaked In deep, and when that land was further fur-ther protected by constant cultivation cultiva-tion and the keeping of a dry blanket Of fine dirt over it, crops sent their roots clown into the moist soil underneath under-neath ami produced yields In spite of the lack of rain. No hard and fast rules can be laid down for dry farming, any more than rules can be laid down which will apply ap-ply to any other kind of farming for all localities. Writing to the Pry Farming Hnlle-Mn, Hnlle-Mn, Anders I,. Mordt of (iuyinon, Okla., Illustrates thla as follows: There Is a Norwegian colony In Hanford county. Texas, brought In from the best settlements of the north and northwest. These men have adopted adopt-ed the dry farming method as the only way to farm In thla country, and they intend to keep this up regtrdlesa of rainy or droughty yeara. A4 a result, re-sult, if they have a rainy yet", they can store away enough moist ire to raise a crop that year and leave enough to supply a second year when they add the ordinary rainfall to the supply that they have stored away. The greatest trouble seems to he clue to the fact that the wind blows In the spring. The farmers have learn id that they cannot afford to work the dust blanket too fine as the wind In the spring season will carry Inches of dirt away from one field over on another. If they leave the field too lumpy there will be too many cracks and the evaporation evap-oration will be too large. We must find a middle way. There Is also a doubt ns to whether or not deep plowing plow-ing Is a good thing. Some state that five Inc hes is nil anyone must plow at any time, while others claim that right, ten and twelve Inch plowing Is nc t too much. Wo are as yet in the experimental stage, and It will take some time before we can do very much In laying down rules for farming. Each locality must, to a large extent, solve its own dry farming problems, but when we know that dry farming produces crops alongside Holds that are barren when cultivated by other methods, we ought to be willing to make the necessary experiments In order to find out the best principles for our respective localities. The man who can help himself by dry farming and who will cling to other plans Is standing In his own light. |