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
One of the constant constituents of all plants and plant parts is
water. Hay, flour, and starch contain comparatively large quantities
of water, which can be removed only by heat. The water in green
plants is often very large. In young lucern, for instance, it
reaches 85 per cent, and in young peas nearly 90 per cent, or more
than is found in good cow's milk. The water so held by plants has no
nutritive value above ordinary water. It is, therefore, profitable
for the consumer to buy dry foods. In this particular, again,
dry-farm crops have a distinct advantage: During growth there is not
perhaps a great difference in the water content of plants, due to
climatic differences, but after harvest the drying-out process goes
on much more completely in dry-farm than in humid districts. Hay,
cured in humid regions, often contains from 12 to 20 per cent of
water; in arid climates it contains as little as 5 per cent and
seldom more than 12 per cent. The drier hay is naturally more
valuable pound for pound than the moister hay, and a difference in
price, based upon the difference in water content, is already being
felt in certain sections of the West.
The moisture content of dry-farm wheat, the chief dry-farm crop, is
even more important. According to Wiley the average water content of
wheat for the United States is 10.62 per cent, ranging from 15 to 7
per cent. Stewart and Greaves examined a large number of wheats
grown on the dry-farms of Utah and found that the average per cent
of water in the common bread varieties was 8.46 and in the durum
varieties 8.89. This means that the Utah dry-farm wheats transported
to ordinary humid conditions would take up enough water from the air
to increase their weight one fortieth, or 2.2 per cent, before they
reached the average water content of American wheats. In other
words, 1,000,000 bushels of Utah dry-farm wheat contain as much
nutritive matter as 1,025,000 bushels of wheat grown and kept under
humid conditions. This difference should be and now is recognized in
the prices paid. In fact, shrewd dealers, acquainted with the
dryness of dry-farm wheat, have for some years bought wheat from the
dry-farms at a slightly increased price, and trusted to the increase
in weight due to water absorption in more humid climates for their
profits. The time should be near at hand when grains and similar
products should be purchased upon the basis of a moisture test.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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