ARID AGRICULTURE. 39 



SUITABLE Xot all soils are suitable for dry farming. 



Unless a soil is sufficiently deep and sufficiently 

 retentive of moisture, or can be made so, to store 

 the water that falls on it from one season to the 

 next, it will not be a good soil for this system of 

 farming. The soil must be looked upon as a 

 reservoir for water. If the reservoir is too shal- 

 low or too hard the storm water will not soak 

 into it. If it leaks at the bottom .or cannot be so 

 protected that too much of the moisture will not 

 be lost by evaporation from the top, attempts to 

 reclaim it will meet with failure. Many of our 

 soils are hard or compact at the surface in their 

 natural state, but may be made to absorb all the 

 moisture that comes by a single plowing. Heavy, 

 compact clay absorbs water slowly, and loses it 

 rapidly by evaporation. Such a soil, especially 

 if underlaid with a shallow hardpan, should be 

 avoided. Sandy loams are the best soils, and the 

 more sandy they are, as a rule, the more retent- 

 ive they are. They will hold water better if 

 they contain a supply of well decomposed veg- 

 etable mold. Such soils two or more feet deep 

 can usually be successfully worked, other condi- 

 tions being favorable. We believe it no detri- 

 ment if the soil is underlaid with pure sand or 

 small gravel, unless such sand or gravel contains 

 cement which makes it hardpan. 



Sandy soils are kindly soils. They are easy 

 and pleasant to work. They give the farmer 

 time to get around to his necessary tillage opera- 



