DRY-FARMING ZONES 



even in the most trying drought. Be 

 that as it may, the settlers in this region 

 are fast learning the great lesson of dry- 

 farming, namely,— thorough tillage. 



Better Methods. 



A simple but important new practice 

 is now being widely advocated. It has 

 been known for long that the loss of 

 moisture from a field of stubble left bare 

 by harvesting the crop is greater than 

 at any other time. This is especially true 

 of semi-arid districts where the tempera- 

 ture and wind velocity are usually very 

 high at this time of the year. To pre- 

 vent this waste of moisture it is cus- 

 tomary to disc and plow the land as soon 

 as possible after the crop has been har- 

 vested. 



The better methods of farming, as out- 

 lined in a previous chapter, consist in 

 storing as much of the rainfall as pos- 

 171 



