Tillage to Conserve Moisture 127 



wanted or in the amount which the particular crop on the par- 

 ticular soil may at that time need, it cannot be expected that 

 such a regime of chance would on the average develop the con- 

 ditions most favorable to large crops. 



THE METHODS OF TILLAGE TO CONSERVE MOISTURE 

 ARE OFTEN INAPPLICABLE 



If it is urged that better tillage and more systematic rota- 

 tions of crops, coupled with a more rational practice of fertiliza- 

 tion of the soil, would go a long way toward making larger 

 average yields, every one must admit the truth of the assertion. 

 But, while this is true, it must still be recognized that there are 

 some cases in which the methods of tillage to conserve soil mois- 

 ture are either wholly inapplicable or they may be applied only 

 with so great difficulty or with so small an effect, that they have 

 never come into general use for the specific purpose of saving 

 soil moisture. 



The most important illustration in point is that of the hay 

 crop, with which should also be associated that of pasture as 

 well, when these are made from the grasses and from clover. 

 With these two crops, hay and pasture, which together cover a 

 wider acreage than any other single crop grown, there has not 

 been and cannot well be any method of tillage aiming specifically 

 to conserve soil moisture for the use of the crop. 



In the thirteen states referred to when discussing the yields 

 of barley, oats and maize, there were cut 24,439,485 acres of 

 grass, making 28,314,650 tons of hay, or at the mean rate of 

 1.158 tons per acre, in 1879. Nearly all of this hay is made 

 during the months of May and June, when there is a mean rain- 

 fall for the thirteen states amounting to 7.83 inches, of which 

 not less than 2 inches is lost by percolation, and nearly .69 of an 

 inch is ineffective on account of showers giving less than .2 of 

 an inch, thus leaving an effective rain of 5.14 inches 



It has been shown that clover uses 5.089 acre -inches of water 

 in producing one ton of dry matter, and at this rate 5.14 inches 



