290 DRY-FARMING 



farm clays farmers feared tliat under conditions 

 of low rainfall, the stubble or straw plowed under 

 would not decay, but would leave the soil in a loose 

 dry condition unfavorable for the growth of plants. 

 During the last fifteen years it has been abundantly 

 demonstrated that if the correct methods of dry 

 farming are followed, so that a fair lialance of water 

 is always found in the soil, even in the fall, the heavy, 

 thick header stubble may he plowed into the soil 

 with the certaint}^ that it will decay and thus enrich 

 the soil. The header stubble contains a very large 

 proportion of the nitrogen that the crop has taken 

 from the soil and more than half of the potash and 

 phosjjhoric acid. Plowing under the header stul:)ble 

 returns all this material to the soil. Moreover, the 

 bulk of the stul)l:)le is carbon taken from the air. 

 This decays, forming various acid substances which 

 act on the soil grains to set free the fertilit}" which 

 the)' contain. At the end of the process of decay 

 humus is formed, which is not only a storehouse of 

 plant-food, but effective in maintaining a good 

 ph3''sical condition of the soil. The introduction of 

 the header in dr}'-farming «'as one of the big steps 

 in making the practice certain and profitable. 



Finally, it must be admitted that there are a great 

 man}^ more or less jjoorly understood or unknown 

 forces at work in all soils which aid in the mainte- 

 nance of soil-fertility. Chief among these are the low 

 forms of life known as bacteria. Alany of these. 



