GROWING GRAIN CROPS IN DRY AREAS 223 



the rainfall averages 15 inches per annum the soil will 

 contain enough moisture after a cultivated crop to pro- 

 duce a reasonable crop of wheat or other small grain, 

 even in a very dry season. The average annual precipi- 

 tation that is necessary to insure a profitable return in 

 wheat or other small grain after a cultivated crop has 

 not yet been determined. Of course it can only be de- 

 termined approximately, but on many soils it would seem 

 safe to say that such a result may be looked for where the 

 annual precipitation is even less than 15 inches, as low 

 probably as 12 to 13 inches. 



Sowing. The following methods of sowing winter 

 wheat are somewhat hazardous, notwithstanding that 

 they are frequently tried in the semi-arid belt: (1) Sow- 

 ing on plowed or disced land after a crop of small grain ; 

 (2) sowing amid the stubbles without plowing; (3) 

 sowing very late in seasons when moisture is much 

 deficient in the land. 



In the coldest portions of the dry belt, as the Dakotas 

 and portions of Canada, wheat cannot be depended on 

 to pass the winter safely on stubble land, either disced or 

 plowed. In areas less cold it may not germinate prop- 

 erly, nor indeed at all, before the following spring. Of 

 course, if the ground is moist when the seed is sown, it 

 may produce a good crop, but this seldom happens. The 

 practise is defended on the ground that though the 

 seed should not germinate properly the only loss is the 

 seed, which is usually not more than three pecks per 

 acre, and the labor of sowing it. In this justification 

 there is some force, and yet the practise is hazardous. 



When wheat is drilled in amid the stubbles after 

 the grain has been cut, a reasonably good crop is some- 

 times secured even in the colder portions of the semi- 

 arid belt, but the hazard is present, first, that the seed 

 may not germinate sufficiently early in the autumn be- 

 cause of the lack of moisture, and, second, that the 



