342 DRY FARMING 



and adaptability give it a great value as a pioneer 

 leguminous crop, but its coarseness and short life lessen 

 its value. Red clover is only grown successfully in 

 limited areas and can hardly be recommended for gen- 

 eral use ; the same is true of Alsike. Neither of these are 

 really dry farming crops. 



DRY FARMING PRACTICES IN THE PARK BELT 

 OF ALBERTA 



BY G. H. BUTTON, B.S.A., SUPERINTENDENT OF AGRI- 

 CULTURE AND ANIMAL INDUSTRY, C.P.R., CALGARY. 



291. The Place of the Summerf allow. As a general 

 proposition it is not necessary to summerfallow in Central 

 Alberta. The average precipitation during the year is 

 in the neighbourhood of seventeen inches, sixty per cent, 

 of which falls during the growing months. Other con- 

 ditions than the amount of rainfall influence crops, such 

 as the kind of soil on which the rain falls, its depth, and 

 character of subsoil, velocity of prevailing wind, and 

 amount of protection against such winds afforded by 

 trees. The soil in the Park Belt of Alberta is a heavy 

 black loam as much as three or four feet deep in many 

 places, resting on a clay subsoil ; there is therefore, 

 practically no loss of moisture below, while the rate of 

 evaporation is slow because of the fact that wind is not 

 a serious factor to be reckoned with, also the large 

 amount of humus in the soil holds the moisture ten- 

 aciously. Under such conditions a summerfallow stores 

 such a large amount of moisture and liberates such a high 

 percentage of nitrogen that the following crop lodges 

 ninety per cent, of the time, fails to fill well, and is dif- 

 ficult to harvest. 



