ARID AGRICULTURE. 



177 



ish Select. Some most excellent short-season 

 varieties also are Scottish Chief, Lincoln, Black 

 Beauty, Big Four, and Clydesdale. The best 

 yielding varieties are those which take the longer 

 season to mature. The White Russian side-oat 

 has produced heavier yields, perhaps, than any 

 other in general cultivation. 



Wheat is one of the most important grain 

 crops for the western dry farm and has its place 

 in crop rotations under irrigation. The average 

 yield of wheat in the arid region approximates 

 twenty-five bushels per acre. In round numbers 

 this is twice the average, yield of the humid 

 states. Good farmers, however, are not satisfied 

 with yields of less than forty or fifty bushels per 

 acre. Wheat should give a net profit over and 

 above the expense of producing it, of from 

 twelve to fifteen dollars per acre. 



Wheats succeed best on heavier soils, provid- 

 ing they have good drainage and do not contain 

 too much alkali. Light soils are not so favora- 

 ble for wheat, but under dry farming loamy soils 

 which are somewhat more retentive of moisture 

 will give best results. Our soils are sufficiently 

 rich in mineral plant foods, the only fertilizing 

 needed being tillage and rotation with peas, al- 

 falfa or potatoes. Wheat ought never to follow 

 other grains and there should seldom be raised 

 two successive crops of wheat on the same land. 



