GROWING GRAIN CROPS IN DRY AREAS 249 



cloddy, or soddy on the surface, or covered with no 

 little trash, as when strong stubbles are prepared by 

 discing for receiving the seed, the harrow can seldom 

 or never be used on such land after the crop is up, with- 

 out doing more harm than good. This means that the 

 harrow cannot be used on a flax crop sown, as it so fre- 

 quently is, on land plowed shallow and on which pieces 

 of broken sod are strewn. The harrow may be used, 

 however, in some instances, if the land becomes much 

 encrusted on the surface soon after sowing the flax, or 

 even at a later period. When the surface is smooth 

 and fine, the harrow may, in many instances, be used 

 with advantage when the plants are, say, 3 to 4 inches 

 high. When the ground is cloddy, the roller or the 

 planker should be run over 'the land before sowing the 

 seed. The weeder will, in many instances, serve a better 

 purpose than the harrow on a growing crop. 



Harvesting. The crop is ready for harvesting when 

 the greater portion of the bolls have turned brown. The 

 stems will still be green. The cutting should be promptly 

 done in dry areas, as the crop usually ripens up quickly, 

 and if not cut until over-ripe, much loss may result from 

 the shedding of the bolls during the process of har- 

 vesting. 



The crop is best cut with a reaper that will lay the 

 grain in loose sheaves of suitable size for easy lifting. 

 The grain will dry quickly, and is best threshed from 

 the sheaf. But in case of necessity it may be stacked. 

 Should the straw be unusually long, it may be bound 

 while being cut. 



The crop is threshed as other grain is threshed. The 

 yields in the semi-arid country run all the way from no 

 return on poorly prepared land in a dry season to 30 

 bushels per acre in a bountiful season. The average 

 crop should be not far from 10 to 12 bushels in dry areas. 



