DRY HARMING 49 



and sandy. They are successfully employed in parts of India, but 

 are not adapted to localities where the soil is of a clayey or hard 

 laterite nature. 



In some countries where large rivers run through low-lying 

 land, as in the case of the Nile in Egypt and the Ganges in India, 

 the river itself is allowed to run over the land when in Hood and 

 full of rich mud. The latter is thus deposited, as the water sub- 

 sides, on the land, which is thus enormously increased in fertility. 

 SIR W. WILLCOCKS considers that one good deposit of slime or mud, 

 brought down by the Nile from the detritus of volcanic rocks, could 

 produce six excellent crops in succession. With the extensive 

 irrigation works which have now been made in the countries 

 named, irrigation becomes less dependent upon the Huctuating 

 rises of the great rivers. Some of the larger irrigation tanks in 

 Ceylon, for example, have an area of over 4,200 acres, and resemble 

 large and beautiful lakes. An important principle of irrigation is 

 that the water supplied must neither be excessive, nor allowed to 

 remain on the land so as to become stagnant. Therefore provision 

 must always be made for overflow and the free movement of the 

 water. 



DRY FARMING 



The term "dry farming" is applied to a system of cultivation 

 adopted for lands in dry districts, the principle being to conserve 

 moisture in the soil, or to increase the capacity of the latter to store 

 water, mainly by the following means : 



(<r) Deep and thorough preparatory tillage ; (/>) packing the soil by a 

 " sub-soil packer " and heavy rolling. A sub-soil packer is an implement, 

 the object of which is to press the soil under the surface, while the 

 surface-soil is left in a loose condition. 



Supplementary to these operations are also measures which 

 secure good intertillage, comparatively thin seeding and wider 

 spacing, thus admitting of perfect development of the plants. In 

 the case of grain crops, the seed should be moistened before sowing 

 so as to assist germination, while planting should be followed by 

 thoroughly pressing the soil round the plants. By observing these 

 rules, good crops are now said to be obtained in parts of India 

 where the annual rainfall is only about 1 5 inches. 



DRAINAGE 



Proper drainage, whether natural or artificial, is essential to all 

 cultivated soils. The objects of drainage are, briefly, to enable the 

 rain to become absorbed by the soil and pass through it ; to 



