28 DRY FARMING 



other part of the West and that the number of 

 days between frosts decreases in all directions from 

 there but less rapidly in an easterly direction. The 

 driest part of the West is also the warmest. Too great 

 heed cannot be given to these facts. They suggest that 

 extreme dry farming practices are applicable in the dry 

 warm area, but that "northern farming" or a system 

 that will lessen the danger from frost should be practised 

 in the more humid parts that have but a short time be- 

 tween spring and fall frosts. 



The records of the Provincial Department of Agri- 

 culture at Regina for the ten years ending 1917 show 

 that in the Province of Saskatchewan the soil was suf- 

 ficiently thawed out by April 18th that the seeding of 

 wheat became general on that date. During these ten 

 years the earliest date on which wheat seeding was gen- 

 eral was April 9th and the latest date, May 10th. No 

 reliable records are available to show the average date 

 at which tillage of the soil is prevented by freezing in 

 the fall. Generally in the central west plowing may be 

 continued till the end of October, sometimes till early 

 December, but in exceptional years the ground has 

 frozen hard as early as the first week of October. When 

 the ground is dry in the fall low temperatures do not 

 harden it as they do moist soil, consequently tillage may 

 be continued much later than when the soil is wet. 



The temperature records for Sasckatchewan for the 

 twelve years 1904 to 1915 report only one July frost. It 

 is known, however, that in some low spots in at least 

 two of these years small patches of wheat were frosted 

 when the plants were in bloom in July. The only July 

 frost that did serious harm to grain crops over a large 

 area occurred in 1918, when a considerable percentage 



