Dry-Farming : A System of Agriculture for Countries under a Low RainfallWidtsoe, John Andreas
Science
Dry-Farming : A System of Agriculture for Countries under a Low Rainfall
Widtsoe, John Andreas
Dry farming
The work of the dry-farmer is only half done when the soil has been
properly prepared, by deep plowing, cultivation, fallowing, for the
planting of the crop. The choice of the crop, its proper seeding,
and its correct care and harvesting are as important as rational
soil treatment in the successful pursuit of dry-farming. It is true
that in general the kinds of crops ordinarily cultivated in humid
regions are grown also on arid lands, but varieties especially
adapted to the prevailing dry-farm conditions must be used if any
certainty of harvest is desired. Plants possess a marvelous power of
adaptation to environment, and this power becomes stronger as
successive generations of plants are grown under the given
conditions. Thus, plants which have been grown for long periods of
time in countries of abundant rainfall and characteristic humid
climate and soil yield well under such conditions, but usually
suffer and die or at best yield scantily if planted in hot rainless
countries with deep soils. Yet, such plants, if grown year after
year under arid conditions, become accustomed to warmth and dryness
and in time will yield perhaps nearly as well or it may be better in
their new surroundings. The dry-farmer who looks for large harvests
must use every care to secure varieties of crops that through
generations of breeding have become adapted to the conditions
prevailing on his farm. Home-grown seeds, if grown properly, are
therefore of the highest value. In fact, in the districts where
dry-farming has been practiced longest the best yielding varieties
are, with very few exceptions, those that have been grown for many
successive years on the same lands. The comparative newness of the
attempts to produce profitable crops in the present dry-farming
territory and the consequent absence of home-grown seed has rendered
it wise to explore other regions of the world, with similar climatic
conditions, but long inhabited, for suitable crop varieties. The
United States Department of Agriculture has accomplished much good
work in this direction. The breeding of new varieties by scientific
methods is also important, though really valuable results cannot be
expected for many years to come. When results do come from breeding
experiments, they will probably be of the greatest value to the
dry-farmer. Meanwhile, it must be acknowledged that at the present,
our knowledge of dry-farm crops is extremely limited. Every year
will probably bring new additions to the list and great improvements
of the crops and varieties now recommended. The progressive
dry-farmer should therefore keep in close touch with state and
government workers concerning the best varieties to use.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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