178 



SOILS 



tool and careful thought in management until the hot dry 

 months, when it will be raised by capillary attraction to 

 the surface, or better, raised to the point where the 

 root is. 



But the farmer knows about this now. Consequently, 

 he pulverizes the top of the soil and he makes a mulch 



CORN PLANTER WITH DISK FURROW-OPENER ATTACHED 

 A tool that is very popular in dry-land sections 



there, especially after a rain, so that the soil tubes or 

 capillary tubes are broken at the top and the water cov- 

 ered in. 



The meaning of dry farming. Dry farming is not an 

 attempt to grow crops without water. It is simply a con- 

 trast to irrigation and does connect crops with the mini- 

 mum rainfall. The semi-arid belt has a rainfall of from 

 fifteen to twenty-two or three inches, annually. If the 

 soil be treated in such a manner that the greater part of 



