178 DRY LAND FARMING 



excess of the moisture present to meet their needs in best 

 form, their complete and perfect development is hindered. 

 When the moisture supply is not sufficient, the plants 

 will not grow to the usual size. The heads will be 

 dwarfed in their development and the kernels in the 

 heads will be deficient in number and also in size. 

 .Should the weather be excessively hot while the grain is 

 nearing maturity, a thick stand of the plants is almost 

 certain to result in shrunken grain and diminished yields. 



The greater tendency in plants to stool under the 

 conditions of growth in dry areas as compared with those 

 in humid areas, furnishes a second reason why a less 

 amount of seed should be sown. Under normal condi- 

 tion in humid areas, only a limited number of stems will 

 be produced by each plant; in dry areas the number will 

 be much larger. The relative thickness of the plants 

 in both instances affects the stooling. The fewer the 

 plants of course the greater is the tendency in them to 

 stool. The strong root system which is developed in 

 plants relatively early in dry areas doubtless encour- 

 ages abundant stooling. In humid areas such stooling 

 arises in a considerable degree from a relatively small 

 number of plants growing on the ground. Under some 

 conditions this would lead to an excessive growth of 

 straw, which would probably result in a diminished yield 

 of grain. The tendency would also be present in some 

 seasons to induce rust. These hazards are but little 

 present in dry areas. Very large yields may frequently 

 be obtained in the latter from a very light seeding of 

 grain. 



It would not be possible to state the amounts of 

 seed that will best meet the conditions in all instances 

 in dry areas. The precipitation is of varying degrees in 

 different localities and of varying amounts in the same 

 locality. What would be a sufficiency of seed in one lo- 

 cality would be an excessive amount in another. The 



