126 DRY FARMING CONGRESS. 



cropping, cannot be economically used. This is true where the soil is so 

 light and open in texture as not to be able to hold a large quantit}^ of 

 water. Only the heavier soils are capable of holding enough water to 

 justify the expense of summer fallowing. Where the soil is light there 

 is also great danger of serious injury through wind erosion. There 

 have been cases, in fact, where fallow soil has been blown entirely off a 

 field to a depth of several inches. In other cases, where the land is 

 rolling and the rains are frequently torrential, there is danger in leaving 

 land exposed in a fallow condition on account of the erosion by water 

 that will result. These and other similar possibilities must be kept in 

 mind in discussing the applicability of practicing summer fallowing and 

 alternate year croppng for any region or any soil type. 



This much is certain, however, that on most of the mesa and high 

 valley lands of Utah, where the rainfall is too light to produce an ordinary 

 crop every year, it has been demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt 

 that the practice of summer fallowing and growing crops every other year 

 is sufficiently profitable to justify an enormous extension of the cultivated 

 acreage of this state. 



It remains to be seen just what the ultimate effect of this practice 

 will be on the continued fertility of these soils and on their mechanical 

 condition. It may be found, for instance, that this practice of growing 

 wheat, or some other grain crop, continuously would, in the course of a 

 generation or half a century, seriously reduce the fertility of these naturally 

 rich soils or result in a change in their mechanical condition that would 

 sooner or later make a continuation of this practice impossible. If this 

 is the case, the sooner it is discovered and some means taken to postpone 

 or avoid the result, the better it will be for all concerned. For this reason, 

 it is highly desirable that the future as well as the present effect of this 

 practice be considered rather critically. It would be perfectly natural 

 to assume that here in Utah it will be found, as it has l^een found in 

 many cases elsewhere, that the continuous growth of any one crop on 

 the land will only result in a decreased yield, due either to the actual 

 depletion of the plant food needed for that crop or to some other modifi- 

 cations resulting from such continuous culture. 



While the practice under consideration has not been generally applied 

 over a large area for a sufficiently long period to give conclusive results, 

 it is very gratifying to observe that the present indications are that ro- 

 tation of crops is apparently by no means so necessary under dry farming 

 conditions here in Utah as it might be supposed to be, or as it has been 

 found to be in other regions for the maintenance of a high state of pro- 

 ductiveness. If this inference be correct, it is a matter of no little interest 

 and importance to this whole section and to others having similar condi- 

 tions. As a matter of fact, it has been found that in the Cache Valley, 

 for instance, where dry farming has been carried on for about one-third 

 cf a century and where some fields have been used exclusively for grov.-- 

 ing wheat, that the yields obtained at present are quite as good, if not 

 better, than when these fields were first broken up. This continued pro- 



