296 DRY-r ARMING 



and state governments have succeeded in discovering 

 numerous subterranean sources of water in dry-farm 

 districts. In addition, the development of small 

 irrigation systems in the neighborhood of dry-farm 

 districts is helping the cause of the live stock industry. 

 At the present time, dry-farming and the live stock 

 industry are rather far apart, though undoubtedly 

 as the desert is conquered they will become more 

 closeh^ associated. The question concerning the 

 best maintenance of soil-fertility remains the same; 

 and the ideal way of maintaining fertility is to return 

 to the soil as much as is jjossible of the plant-food 

 taken from it by the crops, which can best be accom- 

 plished by the development of the business of keep- 

 ing live stock in connection with dry-farming. 



If live stock cannot be kej3t on a dry-farm, the 

 most direct method of maintaining soil-fertility is 

 by the application of commercial fertilizers. This 

 practice is followed extensively in the Eastern states 

 and in Euro])e. The large areas of drA'-farms and 

 the high prices of commercial fertilizers will make 

 this method of manuring impracticable on dry-farms, 

 and it may Ije dismissed from thought until such a 

 day as conditions, especially with respect to price 

 of nitrates and potash, are materially changed. 



Nitrogen, which is the most im])ortant plant-food 

 that ma}' be absent from dry-farm soils, may be 

 secured by the proper use of leguminous crops. All 

 the pod-bearing plants commonly cultivated, such as 



