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
Carleton has recommended _emmer _as a crop peculiarly adapted to
semiarid conditions. Emmer is a species of wheat to the berries of
which the chaff adheres very closely. It is highly prized as a stock
feed. In Russia and Germany it is grown in very large quantities. It
is especially adapted to arid and semiarid conditions, but will
probably thrive best where the winters are dry and summers wet. It
exists as spring and winter varieties. is with the other small
grains, the success of emmer will depend largely upon the
satisfactory development of winter varieties.
Corn
Of all crops yet tried on dry-farms, corn is perhaps the most
uniformly successful under extreme dry conditions. If the soil
treatment and planting have been right, the failures that have been
reported may invariably be traced to the use of seed which had not
been acclimated. The American Indians grow corn which is excellent
for dry-farm purposes; many of the western farmers have likewise
produced strains that use the minimum of moisture, and, moreover,
corn brought from humid sections adapts itself to arid conditions in
a very few years. Escobar reports a native corn grown in Mexico with
low stalks and small ears that well endures desert conditions. In
extremely dry years corn does not always produce a profitable crop
of seed, but the crop as a whole, for forage purposes, seldom fails
to pay expenses and leave a margin for profit. In wetter years there
is a corresponding increase of the corn crop. The dryfarming
territory does not yet realize the value of corn as a dry-farm crop.
The known facts concerning corn make it safe to predict, however,
that its dry farm acreage will increase rapidly, and that in time it
will crowd the wheat crop for preëminence.
Sorghums
Among dry-farm crops not popularly known are the sorghums, which
promise to become excellent yielders under arid conditions. The
sorghums are supposed to have come grown the tropical sections of
the globe, but they are now scattered over the earth in all climes.
The sorghums have been known in the United States for over half a
century, but it was only when dry-farming began to develop so
tremendously that the drouth-resisting power of the sorghums was
recalled. According to Ball, the sorghums fall into the following
classes:--
THE SORGHUMS
1. Broom corns
2. Sorgas or sweet sorghums
3. Kafirs
4. Durras
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