Use of the Bare Fallozv. 109 



with almost equally good results. Where 

 winter wheat is not grown, the length of 

 the season left for working this sort of fal- 

 low is much increased, and such a bare fal- 

 low, coming after any of the crops above 

 mentioned, will be very effective in 

 destroying weeds. It should be remarked 

 that this mode of fallowing so nearly 

 resembles what has been previously 

 described as ''autumn cultivation" that it 

 may better be referred to by that designa- 

 tion. 



The costliness of the bare fallow does 

 not all arise from the fact that a great 

 amount of labor is expended without get- 

 ting a crop the same season; especially in 

 seasons when much rain falls, there is also 

 a serious loss incurred from nitrates leach- 

 ing out of the soil — a loss which would 

 be almost entirely prevented if a crop were 

 grown upon the land. Inasmuch as the 

 bare fallow reduces the humus in the soil, 

 the soil becomes more compact in conse- 

 quence. The bare fallow entails, therefore, 

 (i) the loss of a crop; (2) a certain loss 

 of fertility by reason of the leaching out 

 of nitrates; and (3) increased impaction of 

 the soil. It is obvious, then, that in our 



