276 DRY FARMING 



x 



stage of tho- blowing. The drifting particles that leave 



such light areas may during the course of several days 

 of blowing affect several parts of the field, since they 

 move readily from one place to another, doing injury at 

 every move. It thus happens that from one small patch 

 of poor land a large acreage may be severely damaged 

 if drastic measures are not taken in the early stage of 

 the storm. 



231. Conclusion. The fallow is the worst to suffer 

 from soil drifting and the danger is greatest in May but 

 may occur in winter. The damage is increased when 

 such surface tillage" as disking and harrowing, which 

 tend to make the soil fine and loose on top, is practised ; 

 it is lessened by deeper tillage with cultivators which 

 leave the soil in a rough, more or less lumpy condition, 

 and preferably in shallow ridges. If this treatment is 

 not sufficient to control the drifting a thin seeding of 

 oats may be sown on the fallow in July and August, or 

 in some districts corn may be used as a partial substi- 

 tute for the fallow. In case one or other of these fails to 

 produce the desired results, winter rye, which establishes 

 itself in the fall and which has possession of the ground 

 in May, and is therefore likely to prevent the blowing, 

 may be used. Under more serious conditions of soil 

 drifting it may be necessary to grow perennial or bien- 

 niel crops and sow cereals only on the sod land, or to so 

 build up the organic matter content of the soil by using 

 hay and pasture crops and. farmyard manure, that when 

 intelligently tilled the land will not be likely to blow. 



ALKALINE SOILS 



The "Alkali" spots so familiar in some districts, and 

 which produce low returns or none at all are the result 



