CHAPTER XII 
CROPS FOR DRY-FARMING 
THE work of the dry-farmer is only half done when 
the soil has been properly prepared, by deep plowing, 
cultivation, and fallowing, for the planting of the crop. 
The choice of the crop, its proper seeding, and its 
correct care and harvesting are as important as ra- 
tional soil treatment in the successful pursuit of 
dry-farming. It is true that in general the kinds 
of crops ordinarily cultivated in humid regions are 
grown also on arid lands, but varieties especially 
adapted to the prevailing dry-farm conditions must 
be used if any certainty of harvest is desired. Plants 
possess a marvelous power of adaptation to environ- 
ment, and this power becomes stronger as successive 
generations of plants are grown under the given con- 
ditions. Thus, plants which have been grown for 
long periods of time in countries of abundant rainfall 
and characteristic humid climate and soil yield well 
under such conditions, but usually suffer and die or 
at best yield scantily if planted in hot rainless coun- 
tries with deep soils. Yet, such plants, if grown year 
after year under arid conditions, become accustomed 
to warmth and dryness and in time will yield perhaps 
nearly as well or it may be better in their new sur- 
roundings. The dry-farmer who looks for large 
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