USE OF THE GRAIN DRILL IN IRRIGA 



TION DISTRICTS 



BY 



HERBERT M. THOMAS 



T F THERE is one agricultural im- 

 plement of the humid east which 

 is eminently adapted to the irrigation 

 farmer, it is the grain drill, and it is 

 perhaps the least used of all 

 the ordinary implements of the farm, 

 for over the greater part of the irri- 

 gated west, grain is either broadcasted 

 by machinery or by hand, and harrow- 

 ed into the soil. 



Irrigated soil has the faculty of bak- 

 ing on the surface, in many districts, 

 and it is a peculiar fact that such soils 

 are the ones in which the grain is 

 broadcasted and where the first irriga- 

 tion so bakes the surface that the ten- 

 der little plans have a struggle for life. 

 This can largely be avoided by differ- 

 ent methods of procedure. In Utah, 

 where the small farmer is the rule and 

 where the average farm in certain 

 counties is about 25 acres, the grain 

 drill is in use, and there is never heard 

 the statement that the drill is "too 

 slow." In California, where the grain 

 farms are large, seed is either broad- 

 casted or sowed just behind the plow 

 by a contrivance which resembles in 

 its operation the grain drill. 



The method of grain land manage- 

 ment, which seems most successful in 

 soils which bake, is something like the 

 the following: The land is irrigated 

 and plowed ; if it seems too dry for the 

 seeding of grain, a second irrigation 

 is then given it, and when the amount 

 <f moisture is just right, grain is sow- 

 ed with the drill. The seeds are de- 

 posited in a moist soil and the drill 

 leaves the surface in a cultivated con- 

 lili< m so that the top crust cannot form 

 io choke down the seedlings. Ger- 

 mination results promptly, and the 

 little plants find themselves in the 



proper depth of soil with the roots in 

 moist, compacted material in capillary 

 contact with the subsoil, while a mel- 

 low surface does not hamper the de- 

 velopment of stem or leaves, and be- 

 fore the soil's store of moisture is de- 

 pleted the plants are so far developed 

 that the next irrigation does no harm, 

 and the shade produced prevents the 

 baking of the surface of the ground. 



( )n the other hand, the customary 

 method is something like the follow- 

 ing : The land is plowed ( some- 

 times), harrowed (sometimes), and 

 grain is sowed by a broadcaster ; a 

 harrow or drag then goes over the 

 surface, leaving part of the seed for 

 the birds, another part in shallow soil, 

 and none of it in the most favorable 

 condition for the sturdy growth so 

 necessary in a young plant. The ma- 

 jority of the germinating seeds find 

 it necessary to send the rootlets down 

 an inch or two through half-dried soil 

 to find moisture, while the leaves push- 

 ing upward have a like amount of dry 

 material to penetrate before air and 

 sunshine can be reached. Plants strug- 

 gling along under such conditions have 

 a weakness bred in them from the 

 start, and in the growth which fol- 

 lows are not so well enabled to resist 

 the difficulties which may beset them. 



Farming under irrigation is fast los- 

 ing the extensive character so charac- 

 teristic of American agriculture, and 

 taking on the intensive character 

 which means getting all out of the soil 

 there is in it. The grain drill is one 

 important instrument in this progress. 

 Irrigation is developing many new 

 tools, but there is none so well adapted 

 to the needs of the irrigation farmer 

 as the grain drill. 









