CULTIVATORS FOR DRY-FARMING 315 



season. Potatoes grown on dry-farms should be 

 cultivated throughout the season, and as the potato 

 industry grows in the dry-farm territory there will be 

 a greater demand for suitable cultivators. The cul- 

 tivators to be used on dry-farms are all of the riding 

 kind. They should be so arranged that the horse 

 walking between two rows carries a cultivator that 

 straddles several rows of plants and cultivates the soil 

 between. Disks, shovels, or spring teeth may be used 

 on cultivators. There is a great variety on the mar- 

 ket, and each farmer will have to choose such as meet 

 most definitely his needs. 



The various forms of harrows and cultivators are of 

 the greatest importance in the development of dry- 

 farming. Unless a proper mulch can be kept over the 

 soil during the fallow season, and as far as possible 

 during the growing season, first-class crops cannot be 

 fully expected. 



The roller is occasionally used in dry-farming, es- 

 pecially in the uplands of the Columbia Basin. It is 

 a somewhat dangerous implement to use where water 

 conservation is important, since the packing resulting 

 from the roller tends to draw water upward from the 

 lower soil layers to be evaporated into the air. Wher- 

 ever the roller is used, therefore, it should be followed 

 immediately by a harrow. It is valuable chiefly in 

 the localities where the soil is very loose and light and 

 needs packing around the seeds to permit perfect 

 germination. 



