TRACTION ENGINE IN DRY -FARMING 259 



mous cost for power, and its depth increased at will in successive 

 seasons. Those who follow this method usually pack, disk 

 and harrow the new breaking thoroughly and put in a crop of 

 flax the same season. The following year the stubble is well 

 disked and harrowed, and a spring crop put in without plow- 

 ing. The original surface soil is eventually brought again to 

 the top and mixed with the other layers, but not until the old 

 vegetation has been decomposed under the influence of the 

 moisture which this system retains. 



New and more fertile farms underlie the old, and farmers 

 are adding to their acres by doubling the depth of plowing. 

 Not only do they double the feeding ground for the roots of 

 wheat, but they more than double the moisture holding capac- 

 ity of the soil. The dust mulch, and the crust which forms 

 just underneath it, may render four or five inches of the top 

 soil unavailable for the support of plants. Eight-inch plowing 

 gives, then, from 100 to 200 per cent, greater volume of cul- 

 tivated soil and moisture reservoir than six-inch plowing, and 

 ten-inch plowing places the soil water permanently below the 

 evaporating influence of the sun and air. Animals, already 

 limited in number by the crop-cycle which enforces a long, 

 expensive period of maintenance each year with no return, 

 cannot profitably be kept to do this increasingly difficult work. 

 Only the insensate mechanical motor combines the strength, 

 endurance and economy of maintenance necessary to coax 

 satisfactory yields from this region of fertile soil and uncertain 

 rainfall, and convert them into large net profits. 



Further south, in western Nebraska and Kansas, with a rain- 

 fall of eighteen to twenty-two inches, there is reasonable 

 assurance of a yield only every two or three years. Although 

 the moisture may be sufficient, insects or high winds may 

 spoil the crop; consequently, the usual practice is to put as 

 little expense on the land as possible. The loss in case of a bad 

 season is then less, and the yield in a good season compares 

 favorably with areas under more intensive cultivation. Land 



