DRY-FARMING 



crops that cannot be inter-tilled, such as 

 wheat, oats, and barley, much moisture is 

 wasted by direct evaporation during the 

 growing season; but with crops that can 

 be inter-tilled during the growing sea- 

 son, such as corn (maize), potatoes, and 

 mangels, a much larger amount of mois- 

 ture can be held in the soil by means of 

 the soil mulch or dust blanket, as it is 

 commonly called. 



Depth of Soil. 



Thus it is manifest that the success of 

 dry-farming depends upon the possibil- 

 ity of storing enough water in the soil to 

 carry the crop to maturity; and, conse- 

 quently, the water-holding capacity of 

 any soil becomes a matter of great im- 

 portance. The dry-land farmer should, 

 therefore, carefully survey his fields, and 

 unhesitatingly select the deep, rich, mel- 

 low lands in preference to the poor, light 

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