A Rainless Wheat 



had amply compensated the agriculturist of the 

 arid regions by giving him in many parts of 

 the globe great depth of soil combined with an 

 almost inexhaustible fertility. Such, at least, 

 is the lesson of history. 



Summing up, we may say that desert regions 

 are specially adapted to dry-farming, because 

 as a general rule desert lands are deep lands, in 

 which the scanty rainfall can be stored for a 

 long period ; and, though arid soils are usually 

 poor in humus, they are much richer in nitrogen 

 than the soils of humid regions. It has been 

 shown that the nitrogen-fixing germs are actively 

 present in large numbers in dry soils. Finally, 

 desert lands are usually free from malaria, and 

 are thus well suited to colonisation. 



The Principles of Dry-Farming 



As the writer has elsewhere pointed out, 1 the 

 English agriculturist Jethro Tull is entitled to 

 be called the " Founder of the Principles of 

 Dry-Farming." It is true that Tull saw as 

 through " a glass darkly." To-day we see 

 more clearly. But the principles which we have 

 adopted are merely the amplification, nothing 



1 Bulletin No. 103, Union Department of Agriculture. 

 g 97 



