228 DRY-FARMING 
on the dry-farm when the crops are young. After 
the plants are up so high that the harrow cannot be 
used on them no special care need be given them, 
unless indeed they are cultivated crops like corn or 
potatoes which, of course, as explained in previous 
chapters, should receive continual cultivation. 
Harvesting 
The methods of harvesting crops on dry-farms are 
practically those for farms in humid districts. The 
one great exception may be the use of the header 
on the grain farms of the dry-farm sections. The 
header has now become well-nigh general in its use. 
Instead of cutting and binding the grain, as in the old 
method, the heads are simply cut off and piled in 
large stacks which later are threshed. The high 
straw which remains is plowed under in the fall and 
helps to supply the soil with organic matter. The 
maintenance of dry-farms for over a generation 
without the addition of manures has been made pos- 
sible by the organic matter added to the soil in the 
decay of the high vigorous straw remaining after the 
header. In fact, the changes occurring in the soil in 
connection with the decaying of the header stubble 
appear to have actually increased the available fer- 
tility. Hundreds of Utah dry wheat farms during 
the last ten or twelve years have increased in fertility, 
or at least in productive power, due undoubtedly to 
