WHAT IS MEANT BY DRY FARMING 5 



enough to meet the needs of the crops were it properly 

 conserved. Nearly all areas, howsoever large the rain- 

 fall may be, have a dry period more or less prolonged 

 during the season of growth in the crops. To provide 

 for such periods, more or less moisture should be con- 

 served, and the methods for conserving it are essentially 

 the same as for conserving moisture in dry areas. 



All the species of crops that may be grown success- 

 fully in a certain latitude where- the rainfall is ample 

 cannot be grown with the same success, if, indeed, they 

 can be grown at all, under dry farming methods. The 

 same is true of varieties of the species. The crops grown 

 must be special, as it were ; that is, those must be given 

 the right of way which show the highest adaptation, as 

 it were, for the conditions under which they are grown, 

 nor can these be grown by the same methods as obtain 

 in the growing of the same varieties when moisture is 

 abundant. These special crops and the special methods 

 of growing them will be discussed at length in another 

 place (see chapter X). 



Growing special crops. The crops grown by dry 

 farming methods must in a sense be special. This means 

 they must to some extent at least be special with refer- 

 ence: (1) to class and to variety; (2) to drought-resist- 

 ing qualities ; (3) to capacity to gather food ; (4) to early 

 maturity, and (5) to methods of cultivation. 



All classes of crops that have adaptation for being 

 grown in a certain latitude have not by any means the 

 same adaptation for being grown under semi-arid condi- 

 tions. It would be vain to try to make a marked suc- 

 cess of growing such species in these, (1) as flourish 

 best in a moist atmosphere; (2) that call for much pre- 

 cipitation relatively while they are growing, and (3) that 

 make the larger portion of their growth late in the 

 season. The 'common vetch furnishes an example of the 

 first, clover of the second and certain field roots of the 



