DRY-FARMING 



capacity of most soils; admits sunlight 

 and air; extends the root-feeding area; 

 prevents light soils from being blown 

 away ; encourages the growth of soil-bac- 

 teria; prevents surface washing after 

 heavy rains, and, lastly, enables plants to 

 successfully withstand long periods of 

 drought. Broadly speaking, a soil that is 

 best suited to dry-farming is also one 

 that may be plowed deeply, but the most 

 successful results have been obtained in 

 the case of deep uniform sandy loams. 

 Deep plowing is strongly advocated by 

 the dry-farmers of Utah, Montana, Kan- 

 sas as well as by their brethren in South 

 Africa. 



In some cases, however, deep plowing 

 is undesirable, as for example where the 

 soil is very shallow or consists of a cold 

 and heavy clay. Turning up this sort of 

 sub-surface soil may result in retarding, 

 if not entirely checking, the germination 

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