REQUIREMENTS FOR PRODUCING PROFITARLE CROPS. 11 



the small amount of rainfall. At that time certain companies were 

 enabled to secure large tracts of this land at a nominal price. These 

 companies discovered that this land would produce good yields of 

 grain and it was cropped on a very large scale. Since that time there 

 has been a gradual breaking up of these large farms into smaller 

 ones. However, there are still too many large ones to make probable 

 the general use of improved methods of grain production. Until 

 the farms are so reduced in size that they may be properly handled 

 we may look for continued low production and further depletion in 

 the soil fertility of the wheat lands. 



Another feature of much of the grain production in California is 

 the practice of renting the lands from year to year to men who are 

 not interested in the building up of the soil. The desire of the 

 tenant is to get all that is possible out of the land at the least expense 

 to himself during the time which he holds it. As long as this condi- 

 tion exists there will be a continued decrease in the value of the wheat 

 lands. The remedy for this is the direct supervision by the owner 

 of the methods of cultivation and cropping. He has a real interest 

 in the future condition of his soil and will undoubtedly give it better 

 attention than the tenant who is interested only in the crop he pro- 

 duces each year. 



IMPROVED METHODS. 



Improvement in the methods of wheat culture is essential to the 

 production of more profitable crops. These improvements include 

 the practice of deeper plowing, the increase of soil humus and 

 nitrates by turning under green-manure crops, and the cleaning of 

 the land of weeds by better methods of cultivation. 



Deep Plowing. 



At the present time we can not place too much stress upon the 

 importance of deep plowing. The few inches of soil at the surface 

 have been skimmed for so long that they are practically devoid of 

 plant food in available form. For this reason alone it becomes nec- 

 essary to turn up fresh soil. This will necessitate cutting below 

 that stratum of soil commonly known as the "plow pan," which has 

 been formed by the practice of plowing year after year at the same 

 depth. In many localities plowing at a depth of from 8 to 12 inches 

 is advisable. Unless green-manure crops are to be turned under, 

 this depth should be reached by a gradual increase in depth for two 

 or three years. By this gradual increase in depth the subsoil will 

 become properly mixed with the surface soil. 



Deep plowing requires more power than is needed for the ordinary 

 method, and the first deep plowing is more difficult than subsequent 



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