244 DRY LAND FARMING 



of live stock, and in some countries it is extensively used 

 in making bread. The yields vary greatly. The yield 

 will be about 15 to 18 bushels per acre. Maximum yields 

 run as high as 40 bushels. 



When harvested for hay it should be cut from the 

 time of early bloom until the grain has neared the dough 

 stage. At the latter stage the hay will probably contain 

 more nutriment, but it will be less palatable because of 

 increase in woodiness. It does not make first-class hay. 

 It may be cut for hay with the mower, but preferably 

 with the binder and cured in long rather than in round 

 shocks. 



For green manure. In the semi-arid country, rye 

 may be buried for green manure with greatest advantage 

 when the land is to be summer-fallowed. When buried 

 so that a spring crop may follow it the same season, the 

 burial will take place too late to meet the needs of the 

 crop if the rye is to be buried at that stage which will 

 be most helpful to the land. The crop should usually 

 be buried when it is nearing the earing stage, but before 

 the ears appear, as, if the rye is allowed to reach a stage 

 of growth too advanced, it will not decay quickly enough 

 in a dry soil. Impaction should follow the burial of 

 the crop to hasten its decay. 



GROWING FLAX 



Next to wheat, flax will be the most important cash 

 crop grown on the bench lands of many parts of the 

 semi-arid west, and more especially in the Great Plains 

 region, where much of the rain falls during the period 

 of growth. It will grow on a relatively small amount 

 of rainfall, and it may be grown with more success than 

 any other cereal on spring-plowed land in a season when 

 the moisture supply is not plentiful. 



Soils. Flax will grow well on any of the soils of 

 the semi-arid west that will grow goods crops of wheat. 



