194 DRY LAND FARMING 



All of these may be grown with more or less success 

 under semi-arid conditions. The winter wheat crop will 

 always be the leading money crop among small grains 

 in many semi-arid areas. This is owing to the fact, first, 

 that it always finds a ready market, and usually at good 

 prices; second, that the yields are generally more sure 

 than from the spring varieties, since it ripens in advance 

 of the hottest, and especially of the driest, weather, and 

 they are also considerably larger; third, owing to the 

 time when it is sown and harvested, it aids in the better 

 distribution of the labor of the farm, and, fourth, it aids in 

 the cleaning of the land through the specific methods of 

 preparing the soil which it calls for. This does not 

 mean that spring wheat may not be grown in the same 

 areas, and in some instances even more successfully than 

 winter wheat, but it does mean that in a very large por- 

 tion of the semi-arid area winter wheat will be a safer 

 crop than spring wheat. The winter wheat crop has 

 special adaptation for following summer-fallow, as 

 it begins to use the moisture that has been stored up in 

 the soil at a much earlier period than it can be drawn 

 upon by any spring crop, should the same be planted on 

 the land. Where the winter temperatures are very ex- 

 treme, however, winter wheat may not be successfully 

 grown in the dry country, unless some kind of winter 

 protection is furnished to the crop. 



Spring wheat will be an important crop in all time 

 in the dry country, but in the larger portion thereof it 

 will be relatively less important than winter wheat. It 

 will be less important than the former in proportion as 

 the winters are mild and in proportion to the extent to 

 which the precipitation falls in the autumn and winter 

 months. As previously intimated, the winter climate in 

 some parts of the semi-arid belt is so severe that winter 

 wheat is not an assured success without it is in some 

 way protected in winter. Spring wheat, therefore, 



