Ogden Evening Standard | 1911-07-13 | Page 4 | When Drouth Comes

I "'W81 M II M M a 1 WHEN DROUTH OOMES. I Farm ore whose crops are suffering owing to a scarcity of water I should follow the advice of Horry B. Shaw, government patholo- I gist, who. writing to this paper, says: , I "U. S. Agricultural Experiment Station, Ogden, Utah. July 11. I "The Editor, Standard: In view of the excessive drouth and the - nmronted shortage of water, warnings of which have from time I to time appeared, in your columns, might it not he well to remind the I farmers of this vicing of the urgent need to keep a dust mulch I wherever it is practicahle in their fields. "The formation of even the slightest crust greatly hastens the m ' evaporation of the soil moisture. Especially is this true of the warm, ' sandy soils of this vicinity. The rows should be cultivated as specd- ily as possiblo after each irrigation to break up the crust. In this r manner less frequent irrigations may suffice. I, "These facts arc well known; it is simply needful to emphasize ! the matter now. Very truly yours, I (Signed.) "H1ARRY B. SHAW, Assistant Pathologist." Tliero aro fields of alfalfa on the uplands, to the north of the mouth of Ogden canyon, where the plants must get their moisture from the winter and spring storms, as thcro is no flowing stream to J feed them. The farmers in that section conserve the moisture in H j earl' summer by reducing the surface of the land to a dust mulch. I They harrow east and west and north and south, and, in the severe I cultivating, no attention is given to the alfalfa plants. In cultivat- tog beet fields, care must be exercised to avoid damaging the tonder plants, but, with the breaking up of the crust, as suggested H by Mr. Shaw, excellent results in moisture conservation arc to be " obtained.