210 DRY FARMING 



or a modification of it, will necessarily form a part of 

 the rotations of the immediate future at least in the 

 prairie area outside southern Manitoba; that corn, po- 

 tatoes, roots or early plowed grass land may become 

 partial substitutes for the fallow or an addition to the ro- 

 tation in some areas ; that alfalfa in the irrigated sections, 

 sweet clover in the prairie area and possibly red clover 

 in some favored humid regions will be the most satis- 

 factory legumes; and that Western rye grass, brome 

 grass and timothy will be the most suitable grasses. 

 What the most profitable cash crops will be— whether 

 wheat, oats, barley, rye, flax, potatoes, alfalfa or tim- 

 othy depends chiefly upon the moisture and temper- 

 ature and to some extent the soil and market conditions 

 found in each climatic zone and on each type of soil. 

 *^-->A rotation designed to store moisture should include 

 ■'<r''^::^^^alio^ipor an intertilled crop, or in more moist parts, a 

 hay^HjrtTAcuj; early, the land to be plowed immediately ; 

 or it may include any two or all three of these. 



If the chief purpose of the rotation is to control soil 

 drifting it should include any one or any combination 

 of the following, — a grass crop which protects the land 

 and at the same time adds fiber to it, a cover crop, such 

 as winter rye which only protects the land, or a crop 

 such as sweet clover which protects the land and adds 

 fiber and nitrogen to it. 



The length of the rotation or the period between 

 fallows or hoed crops will vary with the rainfall. In 

 dry areas one or other of these means of storing moisture 

 in the soil will necessarily come at least every third 

 year but in the more humid regions it need not be used 

 so frequently. In the latter the fallow may eventually 

 be partially or wholly replaced by hoed crops or the 

 early breaking of grass land. 



