HISTORY OF DRY-FARMING 



barley, rye and alfalfa, and then when 

 they are established go on to others. 



The first dry-farmers on the bench ^ 

 lands of Utah soon learned to plow 

 deeply and to cultivate often hi order to 

 provide a natural soil reservoir for their 

 scanty rainfall and, at the same time, to 

 retain it as long as possible. They also 

 found out, through long experience, that 

 light seeding and the cropping of the 

 land every second year gave the biggest 

 harvests on dry soils. This particular 

 practice led to the development of mois- 

 ture-saving summer fallows, of which I 

 shall speak later. 



Other States. 



Although I have only touched upon 

 three States, it must not be supposed that 

 dry-farming is purely a local problem. 



^ In agriculture a "bench" is "the nearly level or 

 gently sloping land rising above the adjacent low region 

 and forming a part of a terrace or wash, disunited from 

 the remainder by erosion. — Century Dictionary. 



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