OCR Text |
Show DRY FARM METHODS Good Results Obtained in Montana Mon-tana and North Dakota. Brought About by Keeping Top Soil Loose In Sort of Mulch, Sealing Ground and Preventing Escape Es-cape of Moisture. 1 received a letter recently from ono of my valued friends, who writes concerning the good results obtained obtain-ed this season lu portions of North Dakota and Moutunu, by tho practice of those methods which ure known today as dry funning methods, writes O. C. Gregg in tho Northwestern Agriculturist. Ag-riculturist. This system of soil ban-dllng ban-dllng will soon come to bo regarded as manifestly correct and as absolutely absolute-ly necessary to be observed In the many portions of our great west. Tho reason for It is quite manifest to , tlniHo who will give it thought. This' Is in substance the constant keeping of the top soli loose, 'litis loose top soil Is sometimes culled a mulch. This, as wo have stated before, seals the ground against the escape of the moisture that lies beneath. We can think of It as bottling up tho mobi-ture mobi-ture that we need so that It cannot em ape us. This loosening of the soil Is made early in the spring so tliei-e will be no escape of moisture befoi planting or sowing Is done, and Is still kept up after the plants are sown or planted. In that way the moisture Is held In the soil and only escapes, practically, by ascending through the system and leaf of the plants that we desire to grow. When water so ascends It acts upon the plant very much Illto water that may be held In the dam but Is allowed to escuix? through a sluice and over the water wheel and so turns the machinery of the mill. When we have an abundance abun-dance of water why then we let nature na-ture do as It should without our Interference, In-terference, but when we are short of water wo can stop the escaie, very much as the mill man closes the running run-ning stream and makes the water accumulate ac-cumulate In a pond where It shall be used at his will. With this principle prin-ciple In mind wo also can unite another an-other fact which will become more prominent as time foes by. There will lie a growing of those plants which havo a tendency to resist drought more than others. Our experiment ex-periment stations are working in developing de-veloping this class of plants which will 10 decidedly helpful to us in the future. The outlook now is, that that plant which has become so prominent prom-inent In recent years In dry regions, vU: alfalfa, will be grown by a variety va-riety that has In it a good measure of drought resisting qualities. It should go without saying, that we also use implements upon the farm that are favorable to the growing of plants during the dry season. The best of drills will be used and we will riot regard for one moment the use of broadcasting. We will also sow our grass seeds In drills, rather than to cast It upon the ground to be dragged In at a subsequent time. Tho hoed field crops will be grown with flat culture. The hilling up of potatoes and corn will be regarded as a wasteful and costly method. Such hills or mounds are easily dried out, while surface cultivation favors i a system of loose soil that we have before referred to. Wo will plow , deeper than when we have abundant, rainfall, so as to give ample storago for ti e water that we wish to descend Into the soil for future use. That soil too will be repacked to that extent ex-tent that there will be good capillary action fo the water can readily ascend as-cend when drought comes, and then i be stored or retained near the surface sur-face by this mulch or loosened soil. I |