45 — 



The farmer should always remember, that every of dry weeds take 

 away 400 to 500 poods of water from his fields- that the root-systems of 

 wild plants develope more rapidly than those of cultured plants; and 

 therefore with simultaneous sprouting, the moister soil horizons will be 

 seized upon the roots of wild plants — and finally that wild plants can 

 absorb from the soil those minute drops left from the reserve useful 

 water, which cultured plants cannot make use of. He should not forget 

 Ihal the bitterest enemy of his field eulture and the liest friend oj drought 

 are the weeds on his field, which by attracting the reserve water left 

 after cultivated plants and by using all the atmospheric water entering 

 the soil in summer and autumn, prepare the way for drought. By ne- 

 glecting his cleaned up field right away to winter and by giving it over 

 to the disposal of weeds, the farmer himself takes a part in creating 

 conditions favourable to drought. In fixing the greatest loss to the farmer, 

 through weeds, at an extent equal to the crop, I do not exaggerate; the 

 loss is undoubtedly far greater. 



The second aim for successfully contending against drought should 

 be the transformation of the greatest possible quantity of insoluble mine- 

 ral constituents of the soil into a dissolved condition and that is only 

 possible when the root-inhabited soil layer holds permanently, as far as 

 possible, a certain, even a small reserve of water which will aid the 

 chemical processes. 



We know that cereal grasses expend all the reserve water in the 

 root-inhabited soil layer, even if that reserve be as large as it is on the 

 field after bare fallow (fig. 18). On the other hand, we know that certain 

 thourough ploughed plants like potatoes, flax and pumpkins do not use 

 up all the reserve water in their root layer. Therefore the organization 

 of the form or in other words the roration of crops, should not de confi- 

 ned exclusively to grain or cereal grasses. It is necessary that one crop 

 should succeed another in the rotation in such a manner that one year 

 of intense expenditure of useful water should be succeded by an year 

 when water, even if only a small quantity, is accumulated. From this 

 is derived the main principle of rotation for our black soil steppe districts- 

 after grass a thourough ploughed plant must be sown, but on no aceount 

 a grass. The simplest of such rotations will be two-coursed: 1) a cereal 

 grass, 2) a thourough ploughed plant. But a combination such as 2, 3, 4, 

 and so on, may be taken, and we get from six and eight course rotations. 

 If we add to our four-course rotation (fig. 30) another thourough 

 ploughed growth and a grass we shall probably get the very best rotation 

 for steppe black soil: 1) bare -fallow 2) winter wheat 3) partly - potatoes 

 and partly beatroot, 4) barley or sprind wheat 5) flax or pumpkins, 6) 

 barley, or oats. Such a rotation besides quaranteeing a fine c re f < . 



