Show NEW ORY FARMING central idea of the practice Is capillary attraction broken under soil soll fatal io to moisture conservation avoidance of water waste another simple rule thin seeding needed there are arc many in any who do not concede anything new in what Is called dry farming but there seems to he be enough now new in it to transform minions 1 s upon millions of acres of land that tha t was once considered next to useless into the most highly productive wheat land in the world there ther e Is no doubt but that the idea had an empirical rather thon a scientific origin as practice usually precedes scientific interpretation terp the practice of 0 cultivation for the production of prolific crops and for the destruction of weeds stood in good esteem long before the term dry farming farm ing was heard but cultivation had quite a different significance nill ance cance being synonymous with general fertility the scientific reason beason for which was not well understood it was thought that the changing of soil parti particles clOs made a greater store of plant food available to the plant whose position was fixed but it was not understood that cultivation was putting the lid on against free evaporation and hence was a limiting of the upward traveling ng of moisture with all its store of plant food the central idea of the practice of dry farming Is capillary r attraction the exponents of the dry farming system since the underlying science of the art has become known have been favorable to changing the name of the practice to scientific soil culture but as its central idea is moisture con and economy and the practice presumes the need of such economy it is not W inappropriate that the original title should beal be allowed to stick almost coincident with the dry farming movement came the diffusion of the knowledge of nitrogen forming bacteria and hence the need of a abood good condition of porosity in the soil to allow a free circulation of air to the roots of the plant this has been incorporated corpord corp orated ted into the body of science which constitutes the rationale of dry farming practices there are a number of minor practices of a more or less mechanical cr physical sort for example deep plowing increases the moisture receiving power or volume ot 0 the soil the texture of soil should be improved by the use of the subsurface packer by which capillary connection is secured after it has been rudely broken by the furrow A broken under soil is fatal to moisture conservation or at least to proper moisture conditions in the root area of the soil the avoidance of water waste through the growth of weeds is another simple rule and thin seeding is imperative whore where moisture supply is 19 very light it is also found advisable to use two years moisture for a single crop and in the best of conditions three years mols ture for two crops jt it if but natural that the study of crops and varieties of plants suited to dry farm culture should become part of the interest and activity of the dry farming expert feho lof he developing of plants of heavy feeding capacity through large root systems will naturally follow from the recognized zed need of selecting deep feeding plants right now there is a chance for the investigator to explain the 64 bushel wheat fields in alberta dry farming results have not simply demonstrated that what were called dry lands are useful but that in crop production they have surpassed lands that have hitherto been looked upon as being altogether more favorably situated for practically all kinds 0 of crop production tio n it looks as though the concentrated soil solution was away ahead of the much diluted one and moreover it should seem reasonable to expect that parallel paralleling ln the results obtained in the production of the highest types and nd varieties in animal biology by concentrated foods the practice of dry farming will contribute correspondingly high plant products to general agriculture it does seem as though the latest and best word spoken in agricultural science will be spoken by the dry farming exponent or at least the dry farming exponent is doing his part in bringing into wider ken what the investigators vesti gators are finding and so malting farm farm practice better by the light of science |