SUNSHINE FARMING 



in shape to catch and hold all coming later. 

 Then often enough to prevent any part of 

 the surface becoming a crust, incessantly, un- 

 til the crop is a foot or more high, harrow 

 or agitate the surface soil, keeping it in the 

 form of a mulch. You thus entrap every 

 particle of moisture from sky or air, and at 

 the same time, by foiling capillarity, im- 

 prison the water below and keep it from 

 evaporating, or rather, force it, if it gets out 

 into the air at all, to escape through the 

 trunks or branches of the growing plants, 

 giving up to them its life. 



To produce an acre of clover or potatoes 

 at least 400 tons of water are needed for the 

 season. For peas, wheat or oats 375 tons 

 will do; for corn, 300. Sunflowers require 

 6,000 tons a season-acre. 



The main ends which the process is 

 meant to attain are two, the impounding of 

 water and the retention and right use of it 

 after it is impounded. Get the element un- 

 der cover and then retain and employ it in- 

 stead of permitting it to "waste its sweetness 

 on the desert air." Box the liquid and then 



