226 DRY-FARMING 
small, they aid materially in enabling the young plant 
to pass through the winter successfully. The rains 
of fall and spring are accumulated in the furrows and 
made easily accessible to plants. Moreover, many 
of the drills have attachments whereby the soil is 
pressed around the seed and the topsoil afterwards 
stirred to prevent evaporation. This permits of a 
much more rapid and complete germination. The 
drill, the advantages of which were taught two hun- 
dred years ago by Jethro Tull, is one of the most 
valuable implements of modern agriculture. On 
dry-farms it is indispensable. The dry-farmer should 
make a careful study of the drills on the market and 
choose such as comply with the principles of the 
successful prosecution of dry-farming. Drill culture 
is the only method of sowing that. can be permitted 
if uniform success is desired. 
The care of the crop 
Excepting the special treatment for soil-moisture 
conservation, dry-farm crops should receive the 
treatment usually given crops growing under humid 
conditions. The light rains that frequently fall in 
autumn sometimes form a crust on the top of the soil, 
which hinders the proper germination and growth 
of the fall-sown crop. It may be necessary, therefore, 
for the farmer to go over the land in the fall with a 
disk or more preferably with a corrugated roller. 
