SOWING AND PLANTING IN DRY AREAS 185 



Should the proper time come for sowing and should 

 the moisture be so lacking as to prevent germination, it 

 may be an open question as to whether sowing should 

 be done or deferred for a time, at least until moisture 

 comes. On the whole, it would seem better to sow, 

 trusting to the hope that rain may come. Especially 

 would this seem to be wise in the case of winter wheat, 

 as, should it fail to grow, a crop can be obtained the fol- 

 lowing summer from the same land, the only actual loss 

 being that of the seed and the labor of sowing. In the 

 spring the seed and the crop may also be lost, but this 

 will occur but rarely, so rarely that the hazard from such 

 sowing is not very great. The greatest hazard is in- 

 curred from improper moisture conditions when there 

 is enough moisture to start germination in part but not 

 enough to complete the same. While it is possible to 

 start germination followed by cessation of the same, and 

 this in turn followed by a continuance in growth, and 

 while this may be repeated more than once, growth under 

 such conditions is never satisfactory. 



The seed exercises an important influence on the 

 depth to which it should be planted. When the mois- 

 ture conditions are correct it may be said without hazard 

 that the larger the seed the more deeply as a rule may it 

 be buried with safety. In humid climates, the aim is to 

 bury small seeds, as timothy, shallow. In some instances 

 they are given no other covering than that which rain 

 brings ; in the same areas wheat is buried to the depth of 

 two or more inches. This method of covering timothy 

 and other small seeds in the semi-arid country would 

 almost certainly fail because of the dry conditions that 

 come later. While, therefore, the difference in the depths 

 to which the various kinds of seed are to be planted be- 

 cause of a difference in size, is not to be ignored, when 

 planting them in dry areas the necessity is imperative to 

 plant all seeds far enough below the surface to shield the 



