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 differences in the chemical composition of plants and plant
products induced by differences in the water-supply and climatic
environment appear in the manufactured products, such as flour,
bran, and shorts. Flour made from Fife wheat grown on the dry-farms
of Utah contained practically 16 per cent of protein, while flour
made from Fife wheat grown in Lorraine and the Middle West is
reported by the Maine Station as containing from 13.03 to 13.75 per
cent of protein. Flour made from Blue Stem wheat grown on the Utah
dry-farms contained 15.52 per cent of protein; from the same variety
grown in Maine and in the Middle West 11.69 and 11.51 per cent of
protein respectively. The moist and dry gluten, the gliadin and the
glutenin, all of which make possible the best and most nourishing
kinds of bread, are present in largest quantity and best proportion
in flours made from wheats grown under typical dry-farm conditions.
The by-products of the milling process, likewise, are rich in
nutritive elements.
Future Needs
It has already been pointed out that there is a growing tendency to
purchase food materials on the basis of composition. New discoveries
in the domains of plant composition and animal nutrition and the
improved methods of rapid and accurate valuation will accelerate
this tendency. Even now, manufacturers of food products print on
cartons and in advertising matter quality reasons for the superior
food values of certain articles. At least one firm produces two
parallel sets of its manufactured foods, one for the man who does
hard physical labor, and the other for the brain worker. Quality, as
related to the needs of the body, whether of beast or man, is
rapidly becoming the first question in judging any food material.
The present era of high prices makes this matter even more
important.
In view of this condition and tendency, the fact that dry-farm
products are unusually rich in the most valuable nutritive materials
is of tremendous importance to the development of dry-farming. The
small average yields of dry-farm crops do not look so small when it
is known that they command higher prices per pound in competition
with the larger crops of more humid climates. More elaborate
investigations should be undertaken to determine the quality of
crops grown in different dry-farm districts. As far as possible each
section, great or small, should confine itself to the growing of a
variety of each crop yielding well and possessing the highest
nutritive value. In that manner each section of the great dry-farm
territory would soon come to stand for some dependable special
quality that would compel a first-class market. Further, the
superior feeding value of dry-farm products should be thoroughly
advertised among the consumers in order to create a demand on the
markets for a quality valuation. A few years of such systematic
honest work would do much to improve the financial basis of
dry-farming.
CHAPER XIV
MAINTAINING THE SOIL FERTILITY
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