28 DRY B^ARMING IN THE GREAT BASIN. 



moisture. It is true that a large proportion of the alfalfa seed now 

 produced in this region receives very little, if any, irrigation, since a 

 larger seed crop results when the plants are kept rather drier than is 

 required for the best growth of forage. There needs to be a way 

 devised by which it will be practicable to find recognition in the 

 market for seed of alfalfa that is particularly drought resistant, as 

 distinguished from seed of alfalfa that yields well only under liberal 

 irrigation. If such recognition could be had, there would be an incen- 

 tive for saving seed from the more drought-resistant plants or fields. 



There are practically^ no grass crops grown on the cultivated dry 

 lands of the Great Basin except in an experimental way. The experi- 

 ment farms referred to are carrying on extensive trials with a number 

 of promising grasses, including species of Bromus, Agropyron, 

 Lolimn, and Elymus. There are some indigenous species, particu- 

 larly of Agropyron and Elymus, that are giving some promise under 

 cultivation. 



There is some doubt as to whether any of these grass crops will ever 

 occupy an important position in dry farming, since they are nearly 

 all shallow rooted and can therefore reach but a small j^art of the 

 available soil moisture when it is really needed; and, furthermore, 

 they are not well adapted to growing with intertillage or surface 

 cultivation of any kind, whereas such cultivation is decidedly essential 

 for crop production on these western dry lands. 



TILLAGE FOR WHEAT. 



On the dry lands of the Great Basin it is a common practice to 

 grow wheat after wheat on the same land, sometimes continuously 

 year after year and sometimes with alternate fallow j^ears or with 

 only an occasional fallow year, depending somewhat upon the mois- 

 true condition of the soil. The ideal method of wheat farming and 

 the one that appears to be the most profitable, all things considered, 

 is the method of growing a crop every alternate year, with a year of 

 clean summer fallow intervening. In this case the land is plowed 

 deep, about 7 or 8 inches, very soon after harvest, or, if owing to a 

 press of other work it is not possible to plow at once, the stubble is 

 disked as soon as the grain is cut. The grain is usually harvested 

 with a header, so that there is always a large amount of straw to 

 plow under. During the following summer clean cultivation is 

 given the land and wheat is sown again the following autumn. 



If, as is often the case, the wheat is overripe when harvested, a 

 considerable quantity shells out of the heads and falls to the ground, 

 so that if the autumn rains come early and this wheat starts to grow 

 there is always a strong temptation to leave the land unplowed. Not 

 infrequently this volunteer wheat does very well and yields a good 



103 



