Miscellaneous. 



70 



[January, 1910. 



Ploughing. — From the evidence above- 

 mentioned, there seems to be no question 

 of the desirability of having the plough- 

 ing done some considerable period 

 before the time of planting, and that 

 the land should be so handled during the 

 fallow period as to render it capable 

 of taking up and holding every particle 

 of moisture possible. Autumn plough- 

 ing is recommended, where it can be 

 practised, for spring crops and for seed- 

 ing the following autumn. Whenever 

 autumn ploughing is done, the ground 

 should be left as rough as it can be, in 

 order that it may catch the snow (that 

 is in Wyoming). For summer tilling, 

 land ploughed in autumn is better ; but a 

 summer-tilled ground for an autumn- 

 sown crop may be ploughed early in 

 spring. Where possible, a depth of 8 in. 

 should be maintained, while some advo- 

 cate ploughing 10 in. 



Harrowing, — As a rule, all land should 

 be harrowed almost immediately after 

 it is ploughed, the only exception being 

 autumn-ploughed land, which should 

 lie rough during the winter. As a rule, 

 summer-tilled land should be ploughed 

 after each shower of heavy rain, es- 

 pecially when the storm has compacted 

 the soil in any degree. The harrow 

 should be used on cereal grains in the 

 spring and on cultivated crops, should 

 the ground become encrusted before the 

 crop is sufficiently far advanced to 

 cultivate. The disc or lucerne harrow 

 should be used on permanent meadows 

 and lucerne fields early in the growing 

 season to aerate the soil and mellow 

 the surface to as great an extent as 

 possible. 



The Roller.— The roller and the sub" 

 surface packer are valuable implements 

 in the hands of the dry farmer, if used 

 with caution. The ordinary smooth 

 roller should be discarded for the cor- 

 rugated roller, which serves to pack the 

 ground ; at the same time it leaves a 

 roughened surface from which the mois- 

 ture does not readily evaporate. The 

 sub-surface packer performs the same 

 kind of work, and, on fresh-ploughed, 

 mellow soil, may be more desirable. 

 The corrugated roller serves many pur- 

 poses, and does not leave the hard, 

 smooth surface which seems to encour- 

 age rapid evaporation. 



Weeder — The most useful of imple- 

 ments for rapid work in light cultiva- 

 tion is the weeder. This cultivates the 

 surface of the ground to a depth of 1 

 or 2 in., is operated very easily, and 

 one team can cultivate a large surface 

 in a short space of time. It is practi- 

 cally a light harrow, and does the work 



much more cheaply than the ordinary 

 harrow, wherever the ground is in such 

 condition that the weeder will penetrate 

 the ground to the necessary depth: 

 For the cultivation of cereal crops, the 

 first process would naturally be to 

 harrow with the ordinary spike-tooth 

 harrow. Following this, one or two 

 cultivations should be made with the 

 weeder, which may operatb on fields 

 of grain until the growth is 1 ft. on 

 more in height. It serves to preserve 

 the soil mulch, break the crust, and pro- 

 mote ventilation. 



Drills and Seeding.— While all the re- 

 ports mentioned indicate that a variety 

 of drills have proved successful, it is 

 universally conceded that some form 

 of press drill is necessary to get the 

 best results from dry-land farming. Any 

 means whereby the soil is well com- 

 pacted around the seed produces the 

 desired result. Rolling the land, how- 

 ever, should be followed by the harrow 

 or weeder, in order that the surface 

 may be roughened and evaporation 

 checked. Where one is compelled to 

 sow broadcast, the corrugated roller 

 is recommended. Even the ordinary 

 smooth roller may be employed to com- 

 pact the ground after seeding, but the 

 process should be followed at once by 

 some sort of light cultivation. 



Cryps. — The dry farmer, more than 

 the humid or irrigation farmer, must 

 select and grow crops adapted to his 

 local conditions. The developing of 

 varieties capable of contending with 

 aridity is progressing rapidly. Rotating 

 of crops, conserving and utilising of 

 farm manures, and maintaining a full 

 complement of live stock are essentials 

 to the highest degree of success in dry- 

 land farming. Some of the crops which 

 have demonstrated their adaptability 

 to Wyoming dry-land conditions are — 

 Beardless Barley, Macaroni Wheat, 

 Turkey Red Winter Wheat, Winter and 

 Spring Ryes, Oats, Spelt, Broom Grass, 

 Lucerne, Potatoes, Sugar Beets, and, 

 in the lower latitudes, Indian Corn 

 and Milo Maize. 



General Conclusions. 



The dry-land farmer must continu- 

 ally bear in mind that, in order to 

 succeed, he must study the physical 

 characteristics of his soil, and take 

 advantage of every possible means of 

 conserving all the moisture that falls, 

 whether it comes during the prepar- 

 ation of the laud for seeding, during the 

 growing period of the crop, or after 

 a crop has been harvested. The found- 

 ation principle of conservation of mois- 

 ture is to provide and maintain at the 



