June 1907.] 371 Scientific Agriculture. 



credited with adding fertility to the soil, but the conservation of the moisture 

 which weeds take out of the soil in a dry region is considered more valuable 

 than anything else in the improvement of the coming crop. The point to be 

 kept in view then, in adopting the Campbell system is that the greater amount 

 of water we can store in the soil before sowing or planting, as well as during 

 growth, and the greater care we take in the cultivation of the surface of 

 the land in order to retain and economise the moisture so conserved, the 

 better will be the yield of the crop that follows. Jn parts of Nebraska where 

 land is cheap and the rainfall very poor, the plan has been successfully adopted 

 of securing two year's water supply for one year's crop, by cultivating " the land 

 through a year without a crop, and thus allowing what may be termed a " moisture 

 fallow." 



A number of experiment stations in the Western States of Australia 

 are now demonstrating the possibilities of dry cultivation. Au average of 

 about 15 inches of rain per annum is considered sufficient if all details are care- 

 fully attended to. Under the most unfavourable conditions it is possible for the 

 farmer to raise crops on a portion of his land every year, keeping the balance 

 uncropped, but cultivated, to conserve moisture, so that the rainfall of two years 

 is given to every crop grown. It is found that if this practice is followed, with strict 

 attention to the care of the idle soil, the farmer takes practically no risk of failure. 

 In favourable years he will of course be able to get two crops in two years. 



In recommending dry cultivation it is necessary to remember that it is not 

 quite applicable to heavy soils, sandy soils aud loams beiug best adapted; nor is it 

 suitable for hilly land, level and gently sloping situation being best. Again a gravelly 

 subsoil will prevent the moisture rising up from below as it should. But on the other 

 hand in the regions where dry cultivation will be found most serviceable, other 

 conditions (except the absence of moisture), are generally favourable. As a rule the 

 soil is light, and there is a good depth of it ; there is no impermeable substratum ; 

 while such humus as is present is 3 or 4 times richer in nitrogen than that in wet 

 regions. 



The distribution of the rainfall is another point. Its precipitation during 

 the growing season when it can be taken advantage of for cultivation is much to 

 be preferred to even distribution throughout the year. The selection of suitable 

 crops and, if possible, drought resistant varieties, will of course require careful 

 attention. 



From the above description one would think that dry farming is applicable 

 to annual crops only, but it is on record that in Santa Clara Valley an 

 annual rainfall of 15 inches has produced the finest fruits of dry farming, as the 

 result of the whole of this being absorbed by the soil and then conserved by proper 

 cultivation. In the Transvaal the question of establishing an experimental farm 

 is being discussed, to demonstrate the possibility of farming in districts where 

 the rainfall is scanty or irregular and where irrigation is impossible. It is there 

 considered that in dry land farming will be found the key note to settlement in the 

 uninviting and waterless parts of the country. In view of the attention which this 

 subject is receiving in the United States as well as South Africa it is only right that 

 the Ceylon Agricultural Society should consider its applicablity to the drier parts of 

 this Island. 



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