WATER STORING AND PLOWING 129 
the soil will thereby be conserved, and whatever 
water may fall during the spring months will be con- 
served also. This is of especial importance in the 
Great Plains region and in any district where the 
precipitation comes in the spring and winter months. 
Likewise, after fall plowing, the land must be well 
stirred in the early spring with the disk harrow or a 
similar implement, to enable the spring rains to enter 
the soil easily and to prevent the evaporation of the 
water already stored. Where the rainfall is quite 
abundant and the plowed land has been beaten down 
by the frequent rains, the land should be plowed 
again in the spring. Where such conditions do not 
exist, the treatment of the soil with the disk and har- 
row in the spring is usually sufficient. 
In recent dry-farm experience it has been fairly 
completely demonstrated that, providing the soil is 
well stored with water, crops will mature even if no 
rain falls during the growing season. Naturally, 
under most circumstances, any rains that may fall 
on a well-prepared soil during the season of crop 
growth will tend to increase the crop yield, but some 
profitable yield is assured, in spite of the season, 
if the soil is well stored with water at seed time. 
This is an important principle in the system of dry- 
farming. 
