I 5 o AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



surface with a light harrow after every rain that occurs during the fall, 

 and, in the southern portion of the area, in the winter. In the spring 

 the soil should be thoroughly harrowed until seeded. 



Seeding of small grains should be much lighter in the arid districts 

 than in the humid districts. It is probable that as little as one- 

 half bushel of wheat per acre can be profitably used in the drier 

 portions. After the seeding has been done in the spring the land 

 should be harrowed after every rain until the grain has reached the 

 height of 3 or 4 inches. This will tend to conserve the moisture and 

 will also destroy many weeds. The seeding should be done with 

 some kind of a drill that will distribute the seed evenly and deeply 

 and pack the soil around it thoroughly. Various types of press drills 

 are upon the market, nearly all of which give satisfaction. 



The practice of alternate cropping and summer fallowing is a 

 common one in the semiarid region. Where this is done the land is 

 kept thoroughly tilled during the year of summer fallow so as to store 

 up the moisture of two years for the use of one crop. The value of 

 this practice of allowing the soil to remain bare during the entire 

 season is questionable, for, though it may serve to give good results 

 for a few years, it must necessarily result in an almost complete 

 destruction of the organic matter in the soil. This will bring about 

 such a physical condition of the soil that it will no longer retain 

 moisture as it did when it contained an abundant supply of organic 

 matter. A much better practice is to raise some kind of legume crop 

 which can be turned under before it becomes hard and woody and 

 while there is still a sufficient amount of moisture in the plants and 

 in the soil to cause rapid decomposition. The physical as well as the 

 chemical composition of the soil will be improved by this practice 

 instead of injured, as is the case where the bare summer tillage is 

 practiced. 



It will therefore be seen that dry farming depends upon the utiliza- 

 tion of what has long been known, but insufficiently practiced, rather 

 than upon any new discoveries; upon the adaptation of well-known 

 means to a definite end, rather than upon the establishment of any 

 new system. It is the return to time-tested methods of intensive 

 cultivation for the purpose of moisture conservation in place of the 

 shiftless and superficial methods of extensive farming which sprang 

 up upon the rich and easily tilled prairies of the subhumid belt. 



How successful these intensive methods will be in overcoming the 

 effects of severe and long-continued drought remains yet to be deter- 



