ARID AGRICULTURE. 43 



ing is the foundation upon which the superstruc- 

 ture of farming is built. It is the matter of 

 first concern to the farmer. Plowing seems to 

 be a simple and easy process, but both the science 

 of the why and the art of the how, are deep sub- 

 jects. The character of his plowing displays the 

 knowledge of the dry farmer and underlies his 

 success. 



DEPTH OF 

 PLOWING 



With hardly an exception the recommenda- 

 tion to the dry farmer is to plow deep. Ordi- 

 narily this means to plow as deep as possible 

 which will generally be from seven to ten inches. 

 This first commandment for dry farming is prob- 

 ably the one most often broken. It is not al- 

 ways possible to plow deep. The soil may be 

 hard. The farmer more often does not have suf- 

 ficient power to pull his plow. A common con- 

 dition on w r estern farms is small horses, few of 

 them and lack of that care which gets the most 

 out of a horse. Sometimes the right kind of 

 plows are not at hand or are not kept in best con- 

 dition. 



WHY PLOW 

 DEEP 



The first reason we plow deep is to make a 

 large enough reservoir to absorb and hold the 

 moisture. Our soils have been pounded down 

 for centuries by the patter of rains and the feet 

 of animals. They are too compact and have per- 

 haps never been wet to a depth of more than a 

 few inches. When in tilth some of these soils 



