126 DRY LAND FARMING 



seed bed is not firm enough to grow the crop planted on 

 it in best form, should a dry season follow. (3) The 

 seed bed is less warm for early sown crops, hence early 

 growth in these will be less vigorous than on autumn 

 plowed land. (4) No time has been given between the 

 plowing and the sowing for the unlocking of inert plant 

 food through weathering influences. In dry areas crops 

 will suffer much more as a rule on spring than on au- 

 tumn plowed land, should the rainfall be less than nor- 

 mal. Among the crops that will be the least harmed un- 

 der these conditions when sown or planted on spring 

 plowed land, are flax, corn and potatoes. Where rain 

 falls chiefly in the late autumn and winter months, 

 the aim should be to grow winter rather than spring 

 crops. If the latter are grown, the only hope of success 

 comes from planting them early. 



When land is plowed in the summer it is for fallow 

 rather than for growing a crop that season. The best time 

 *for such plowing is dependent to a considerable degree on 

 the time of the greatest precipitation. When rain falls 

 chiefly in the late autumn and winter, the time for plow- 

 ing fallow land should begin as early as such plowing 

 is practicable, even in the autumn and winter months, 

 that it may open the soil for the easier penetration of 

 moisture into it when it falls. The plowing of such 

 fallow land should not take place later than early spring, 

 as subsequently much of the moisture would have es- 

 caped from it and more would not fall to take the place 

 of what had been lost. Where the bulk of the precipi- 

 tation falls during the growing period, as in much of the 

 Plains country, the best time to plow fallow land as a rule 

 is in the months of May and June, as then it usually has 

 the largest amount of moisture in it. The plowing is 

 then more easily done than at any other time. Much 

 of the moisture then in the soil may be retained by judi- 

 cious management, and it may thus be made to aid the 



