174 DRY FARMING 



in some areas and on some soil types in occasional years. 

 The fallow either in an extreme or modified form may, 

 however, be defended in spite of its numerous short- 

 comings. 



If frost cuts down the yield or quality of the crop, the 

 cause of the low yield is not the shortage of water but 

 the shortage of heat, in which case the practices of 

 '^northern farming", thsse that promote early maturity, 

 should be given first consideration, and not t)he practices 

 of dry farming which are primarily concerned with con- 

 trolling the moisture supply. Among the methods of 

 northern farming may be mentioned: the use of early 

 classes of grain, early maturing varieties within the 

 class, early seeding, thick seeding, packing the land, less 

 frequent fallowing, later and shallower plowing of the 

 i fallow, and the use of frost resistant crops. 



If it isn't 'good business' to let the fallow field be 

 *idle' then it should be cropped. But one should first 

 be sure it is not good business. It frequently does not 

 pay on heavy, moist lands and on some soils that blow, 

 but under present economic conditions it is good business 

 in the warmer sections of the dry parts of the West 

 that are not subject to early fall frosts. When land 

 becomes more expensive and capital, equipment and 

 labor less costly some substitute such as corn or a pasture 

 fallow may be used where it can be grown and utilized 

 satisfactorily. It is possible that in some sections the 

 time for a change has come. 



If the, fallow dissipates organic matter and nitrogen — 

 and it does to a very serious degree — then we shall have 

 to dissipate organic matter and nitrogen until we find 

 a better way, because we must have water in the soil and 

 the fallow is the best way to get it there. As soon as 



