108 



THE PRINCIPLES OF DRY-FARMING. 



As the writer has elsewhere pointed out^ the English agricul- 

 turist, Jethro Tull, is entitled to be called the "Founder of the 

 Principles of Dry- farming." It is true that Tull saw as through 

 "a glass darkly." Today we see more clearly. But the principles 

 which we have adopted are merely the amplification, nothing 

 more, of those fundamental methods of tillage so plainly set 

 forth, one hundred and eightv-two years ago, by the genius of 

 Jethro Tull. 



In his agricultural classic (1731) entitled The Neiv Horsc- 

 Hocing Husbandry, or An Essay on the Principles of Tillage and 

 Vegetation, the inventor of the corn drill wrote: I'For the finer 

 land is made by tillage the richer will it become and the more 

 plants will it maintain." This axiom has received ample con- 

 firmation on the arid lands of the United States and the British 

 Empire, where the deep plowing of the virgin prairie and the 

 thorough pulverization of the stubborn veldt sets free aeons of 

 fertility. 



It was Tull who first enunciated the three great j^rinciplcs of 

 the new farming: (1) Drilling; (2) Reduction of seed; (3) 

 Absence of weed. And he left a happy epigram which at least is 

 true for the sunlit lands oversea: "Tillage is manure." 



The principles which we have adopted in our ex])erimcnts on 

 the Government Dry-Land Station at Lichtenburg. in the Trans- 

 vaal, and which are now being extended to the other dry land 

 stations throughout the Union of South Africa, are eight in num- 

 ber, namely: (1) Deep plowing; (2) Pure Seed; (3) Thin 

 seeding; (4) Drilling; (5) Frequent harrowing; (6) Weedlcss 

 lands; (7) Few varieties; (8) ]\Ioisture-saving fallows. 



MOISTURE-FALLOWS AND THE SOIL-MULCII. 



We believe that our success has been due mainlv to the use of 

 moisture-saving fallows, in which the rain is stored u\) in the 

 soil for the use of subsequent crops. Hie supreme need of South 

 African agriculture is not fertility but moisture. Conseciuently. 

 all our cultivation is directed to establishing a moisture-saving 

 fallow which may be maintained for periods of three months, 

 six months, or one year. Such a fallow is deeply plowed in the 

 first place, and then kept constantly tilled to prevent the forma- 

 tion of a soil-crust which would permit the moisture to evaporate. 

 This treatment results in four things: (a) Storage of rainfall; 

 (b) Destruction of weeds which are moisture-robbers; (c) Ad- 

 mission of sunshine and air; (d) Encouragement of beneficial 

 soil -germs. 



Messrs. Russell and ITutchinson. of Rothamstcfl, rccentlv dc- 



f Bulletin No. 10;5, Union of Agriculture. 



