IN WESTERN STATES 51 



Wheat as a dry-farm crop. Wheat is at present the 

 most important dry-farm crop, and will probably retain 

 this preeminence. Experimentation is still going on to de- 

 termine the best varieties for dry-farming conditions 

 Among the hard spring wheats, Common or Durum is at 

 present regarded the best, while among the winter wheats 

 the semi-hard and the soft wheats take the lead. 



Other grains. Oats, especially such varieties as 

 Sixty-day, Kherson, Burt and Sivedish Select, are a profit- 

 able dry- farm crop. Barley, rye and emmer are also suc- 

 cessful cereals for dry-farming regions. Corn can be 

 profitably grown under semi-arid conditions if proper 

 varieties are selected, as can the sorghums, feterita and mil- 

 let. 



Alfalfa and other legumes. On account of its deep 

 rooting system alfalfa can be made a successful forage crop 

 where the rainfall is as much as twelve to fifteen inches. 

 Field" 4 peas, beans and other legumes are also adapted to 

 dry- farming. 



Potatoes. Potatoes are one of the most promising 

 of dry-farming crops. They can be profitably raised with 

 a rainfall of fifteen inches. The following varieties have 

 been recommended as dry-farm varieties : Ohio, Mammoth, 

 Pearl, Rural New Yorker and Burbank. 



Conserving soil fertility. Dry-farming areas possess 

 soil of unusual fertility. Nor does the fertility exhaust as 

 fast as under humid conditions. Dry-farms in many sec- 

 tions that have been continuously cropped for many years 

 show but little loss of fertility or decrease in the yield of 

 crops. Yet this fertility will finally be exhausted if care 

 is not used to maintain it. 



Intelligent dry-farming will therefore plan from the 

 first to conserve fertility. The farm should be stocked and 

 the manure returned to the soil. Straw left from the 



