GROWING GRAIN CROPS IN DRY AREAS 261 







land is more wanted for less rugged crops, as wheat and 

 oats. Where the precipitation will admit of it, this crop 

 is frequently made the second one after summer-fallow 

 or otherwise cultivated land. This rotation, however, 

 should not be attempted where the precipitation is quite 

 low. Where it is below 15 inches per year, speltz should, 

 as a rule, be followed by summer-fallow or a cultivated 

 crop. Speltz may be grown on breaking, but it will not 

 grow so well on such land as some other crops, as, for 

 instance, flax. 



Preparing the soil. When speltz is grown on sum- 

 mer-fallow or after a cultivated crop, the preparation of 

 the land involved is the same as for wheat (see p. 218) 

 and for the other cereals discussed. When it is made 

 the second crop in succession after these, the land should 

 in nearly all instances be plowed in the autumn, and 

 preferably after discing, with an interval between the 

 discing and the plowing, which should be followed at 

 once with the harrow. Early stirring in the spring is 

 also, of course, essential. Should the speltz follow a 

 crop sown on sod, discing autumn and spring without 

 plowing may, in some instances, furnish the most suit- 

 able preparation that may be given to the land. 



Sowing. The introduced varieties of speltz are not 

 many and the introduction has been so recent that they 

 have not been much advertised in the past under dis- 

 tinctive names. Black winter emmer is probably the 

 best of the winter varieties. 



As speltz is very hardy, it would seem safe to say 

 that it may be sown as early in the spring as the land 

 is suitable for working. It will then mature early, but 

 not so early as winter wheat. That autumn-sown should 

 be put into the ground as early as winter wheat. 



The grain is best sown with the drill, but it may 

 be covered with a disc in the absence of a drill. Because 

 of the relatively large size of the grain, it is more easily 



