SUMMER FALLOWING 197 



Idaho, Colorado, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ne- 

 braska, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Russia, Turkey, the 

 Transvaal, Brazil, and Australia. Each of these many 

 districts was represented by one to ten or more 

 representatives. The only state to declare somewhat 

 vigorously against it was from the Great Plains area, 

 and a warning voice was heard from the United States 

 Department of Agriculture. The recorded practical 

 experience of the farmers over the whole of the dry- 

 farm territory of the United States leads to the con- 

 viction that fallowing must be accepted as a practice 

 which resulted in successful dry-farming. Further, 

 the experimental leaders in the dry-farm movement, 

 whether working under private, state, or governmental 

 direction, are, with very few exceptions, strongly in 

 favor of deep fall plowing and clean summer fallow- 

 ing as parts of the dry- farm system. 



The chief reluctance to accept clean summer fal- 

 lowing as a principle of dry-farming appears chiefly 

 among students of the Great Plains area. Even there 

 it is admitted by all that a wheat crop following a 

 fallow year is larger and better than one following 

 wheat. There seem, however, to be two serious rea- 

 sons for objecting to it. First, a fear that a clean 

 summer fallow, practiced every second, third, or 

 fourth year, will cause a large diminution of the or- 

 ganic matter in the soil, resulting finally in complete 

 crop failure ; and second, a belief that a hoed crop, 

 like corn or potatoes, exerts the same beneficial effect. 



