222 DRY-FARMING 
Quantity to sow 
Numerous dry-farm failures may be charged 
wholly to ignorance concerning the quantity of seed 
to sow. In no other practice has the custom of 
humid countries been followed more religiously by 
dry-farmers, and failure has nearly always resulted. 
The discussions in this volume have brought out the 
fact that every plant of whatever character requires 
a large amount of water for its growth. From the 
first day of its growth to the day of its maturity, 
large amounts of water are taken from the soil 
through. the plant and evaporated into the air 
through the leaves. When the large quantities of 
seed employed in humid countries have been sown 
on dry lands, the result has usually been an excellent 
stand early in the season, with a crop splendid in 
appearance up to early summer. A luxuriant spring 
crop reduces, however, the water content of the soil 
so greatly that when the heat of the summer arrives, 
there is not sufficient water left in the soil to support 
the final development and ripening. A thick stand 
in early spring is no assurance to the dry-farmer of 
a good harvest. On the contrary, it is usually the 
field with a thin stand in spring that stands up best 
through the summer and yields most at the time of 
harvest. The quantity of seed sown should vary with 
the soil conditions: the more fertile the soil is, the 
more seed may be used; the more water in the soil, 
