The acre-yields of crops on dry-farms, even under the most favorable methods of culture, are likely to be much smaller than in humid sections with fertile soils. The necessity for frequent fallowing or resting periods over a large portion of the dry-farm territory further decreases the average annual yield. It does not follow from this condition that dry-farming is less profitable than humid-or irrigation-farming, for it has been fully demonstrated that the profit on the investment is as high under proper dry-farming as under any other similar generally adopted system of farming in any part of the world. Yet the practice of dry-farming would appear to be, and indeed would be, much more desirable could the crop yield be increased. The discovery of any condition which will offset the small annual yields is, therefore, of the highest importance to the advancement of dry-farming. The recognition of the superior quality of practically all crops grown without irrigation under a limited rainfall has done much to stimulate faith in the great profitableness of dry-farming. As the varying nature of the materials used by man for food, clothing, and shelter has become more clearly understood, more attention has been given to the valuation of commercial products on the basis of quality as well as of quantity. Sugar beets, for instance, are bought by the sugar factories under a guarantee of a minimum sugar content; and many factories of Europe vary the price paid according to the sugar contained by the beets. The millers, especially in certain parts of the country where wheat has deteriorated, distinguish carefully between the flour-producing qualities of wheats from various sections and fix the price accordingly. Even in the household, information concerning the real nutritive value of various foods is being sought eagerly, and foods let down to possess the highest value in the maintenance of life are displacing, even at a higher cost, the inferior products. The quality valuation is, in fact, being extended as rapidly as the growth of knowledge will permit to the chief food materials of commerce. As this practice becomes fixed the dry-farmer will be able to command the best market prices for his products, for it is undoubtedly true that from the point of view of quality, dry-farm food products may be placed safely in competition with any farm products on the markets of the world.
Proportion of plant parts
It need hardly be said, after the discussions in the preceding chapters, that the nature of plant growth is deeply modified by the arid conditions prevailing in dry-farming. This shows itself first in the proportion of the various plant parts, such as roots, stems, leaves, and seeds. The root systems of dry-farm crops are generally greatly developed, and it is a common observation that in adverse seasons the plants that possess the largest and most vigorous roots endure best the drouth and burning heat. The first function of the leaves is to gather materials for the building and strengthening of the roots, and only after this has been done do the stems lengthen and the leaves thicken. Usually, the short season is largely gone before the stem and leaf growth begins, and, consequently, a somewhat dwarfed appearance is characteristic of dry-farm crops. The size of sugar beets, potato tubers, and such underground parts depends upon the available water and food supply when the plant has established a satisfactory root and leaf system. If the water and food are scarce, a thin beet results; if abundant, a well-filled beet may result.
Dry-farming is characterized by a somewhat short season. Even if good growing weather prevails, the decrease of water in the soil has the effect of hastening maturity. The formation of flowers and seed begins, therefore, earlier and is completed more quickly under arid than under humid conditions. Moreover, and resulting probably from the greater abundance of materials stored in the root system, the proportion of heads to leaves and stems is highest in dry-farm crops. In fact, it is a general law that the proportion of heads to straw in grain crops increases as the water supply decreases. This is shown very well even under humid or irrigation conditions when different seasons or different applications of irrigation water are compared. For instance, Hall quotes from the Rothamsted experiments to the effect that in 1879, which was a wet year (41 inches), the wheat crop yielded 38 pounds of grain for every 100 pounds of straw; whereas, in 1893, which was a dry year (23 inches), the wheat crop yielded 95 pounds of grain to every 100 pounds of straw. The Utah station likewise has established the same law under arid conditions. In one series of experiments it was shown as an average of three years' trial that a field which had received 22.5 inches of irrigation water produced a wheat crop that gave 67 pounds of grain to every 100 pounds of straw; while another field which received only 7.5 inches of irrigation water produced a crop that gave 100 pounds of grain for every 100 pounds of straw. Since wheat is grown essentially for the grain, such a variation is of tremendous importance. The amount of available water affects every part of the plant. Thus, as an illustration, Carleton states that the per cent of meat in oats grown in Wisconsin under humid conditions was 67.24, while in North Dakota, Kansas, and Montana, under arid and semiarid conditions, it was 71.51. Similar variations of plant parts may be observed as a direct result of varying the amount of available water. In general then, it may be said that the roots of dry-farm crops are well developed; the parts above ground somewhat dwarfed; the proportion of seed to straw high, and the proportion of meat or nutritive materials in the plant parts likewise high.
The water in dry-farm crops
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.
While it is undoubtedly true that dry-farm crops are naturally drier than those of humid countries, yet it must also be kept in mind that the driest dry-farm crops are always obtained where the summers are hot and rainless. In sections where the precipitation comes chiefly in the spring and summer the difference would not be so great. Therefore, the crops raised on the Great Plains would not be so dry as those raised in California or in the Great Basin. Yet, wherever the annual rainfall is so small as to establish dry-farm conditions, whether it comes in the winter or summer, the cured crops are drier than those produced under conditions of a much higher rainfall, and dry farmers should insist that, so far as possible in the future, sales be based on dry matter.
The nutritive substances in crops
The dry matter of all plants and plant parts consists of three very distinct classes of substances: First, ash or the mineral constituents. Ash is used by the body in building bones and in supplying the blood with compounds essential to the various life processes. Second, protein or the substances containing the element nitrogen. Protein is used by the body in making blood, muscle, tendons, hair, and nails, and under certain conditions it is burned within the body for the production of heat. Protein is perhaps the most important food constituent. Third, non-nitrogenous substances, including fats, woody fiber, and nitrogen-free extract, a name given to the group of sugars, starehes, and related substances. These substances are used by the body in the production of fat, and are also burned for the production of heat. Of these valuable food constituents protein is probably the most important, first, because it forms the most important tissues of the body and, secondly, because it is less abundant than the fats, starches, and sugars. Indeed, plants rich in protein nearly always command the highest prices.
The composition of any class of plants varies considerably in different localities and in different seasons. This may be due to the nature of the soil, or to the fertilizer applied, though variations in plant composition resulting from soil conditions are comparatively small. The greater variations are almost wholly the result of varying climate and water supply. As far as it is now known the strongest single factor in changing the composition of plants is the amount of water available to the growing plant.
Variations due to varying water supply
The Utah station has conducted numerous experiments upon the effect of water upon plant composition. The method in every case has been to apply different amounts of water throughout the growing season on contiguous plats of uniform land. [Lengthy table deleated from this edition.] Even a casual study of . . . [the results show] that the quantity of water used influenced the composition of the plant parts. The ash and the fiber do not appear to be greatly influenced, but the other constituents vary with considerable regularity with the variations in the amount of irrigation water. The protein shows the greatest variation. As the irrigation water is increased, the percentage of protein decreases. In the case of wheat the variation was over 9 per cent. The percentage of fat and nitrogen-free extract, on the other hand, becomes larger as the water increases. That is, crops grown with little water, as in dry-farming, are rich in the important flesh-and blood-forming substance protein, and comparatively poor in fat, sugar, stareh, and other of the more abundant heat and fat-producing substances. This difference is of tremendous importance in placing dry-farming products on the food markets of the world. Not only seeds, tubers, and roots show this variation, but the stems and leaves of plants grown with little water are found to contain a higher percentage of protein than those grown in more humid climates.
The direct effect of water upon the composition of plants has been observed by many students. For instance, Mayer, working in Holland, found that, in a soil containing throughout the season 10 per cent of water, oats was produced containing 10.6 per cent of protein; in soil containing 30 per cent of water, the protein percentage was only 5.6 per cent, and in soil containing 70 per cent of water, it was only 5.2 per cent. Carleton, in a study of analyses of the same varieties of wheat grown in humid and semi-arid districts of the United States, found that the percentage of protein in wheat from the semiarid area was 14.4 per cent as against 11.94 per cent in the wheat from the humid area. The average protein content of the wheat of the United States is a little more than 12 per cent; Stewart and Greaves found an average of 16.76 per cent of protein in Utah dry-farm wheats of the common bread varieties and 17.14 per cent in the durum varieties. The experiments conducted at Rothamsted, England, as given by Hall, confirm these results. For example, during 1893, a very dry year, barley kernels contained 12.99 per cent of protein, while in 1894, a wet, though free-growing year, the barley contained only 9.81 per cent of protein. Quotations might be multiplied confirming the principle that crops grown with little water contain much protein and little heat-and fat-producing substances.
Climate and composition
The general climate, especially as regards the length of the growing season and naturally including the water supply, has a strong effect upon the composition of plants. Carleton observed that the same varieties of wheat grown at Nephi, Utah, contained 16.61 per cent protein; at Amarillo, Texas, 15.25 per cent; and at McPherson, Kansas, a humid station, 13.04 per cent. This variation is undoubtedly due in part to the varying annual precipitation but, also, and in large part, to the varying general climatic conditions at the three stations.
An extremely interesting and important experiment, showing the effect of locality upon the composition of wheat kernels, is reported by LeClerc and Leavitt. Wheat grown in 1905 in Kansas was planted in 1906 in Kansas, California, and Texas In 1907 samples of the seeds grown at these three points were planted side by side at each of the three states All the crops from the three localities were analyzed separately each year.
The results are striking and convincing. The original seed grown in Kansas in 1905 contained 16.22 per cent of protein. The 1906 crop grown from this seed in Kansas contained 19.13 per cent protein; in California, 10.38 percent; and in Texas, 12.18 percent. In 1907 the crop harvested in Kansas from the 1906 seed from these widely separated places and of very different composition contained uniformly somewhat more than 22 per cent of protein; harvested in California, somewhat more than 11 per cent; and harvested in Texas, about 18 per cent. In short, the composition of wheat kernels is independent of the composition of the seed or the nature of the soil, but depends primarily upon the prevailing climatic conditions, including the water supply. The weight of the wheat per bushel, that is, the average size and weight of the wheat kernel, and also the hardness or flinty character of the kernels, were strongly affected by the varying climatic conditions. It is generally true that dry-farm grain weighs more per bushel than grain grown under humid conditions; hardness usually accompanies a high protein content and is therefore characteristic of dry-farm wheat. These notable lessons teach the futility of bringing in new seed from far distant places in the hope that better and larger crops may be secured. The conditions under which growth occurs determine chiefly the nature of the crop. It is a common experience in the West that farmers who do not understand this principle send to the Middle West for seed corn, with the result that great crops of stalks and leaves with no ears are obtained. The only safe rule for the dry-farmer to follow is to use seed which has been grown for many years under dry-farm conditions.
A reason for variation in composition
It is possible to suggest a reason for the high protein content of dry-farm crops. It is well known that all plants secure most of their nitrogen early in the growing period. From the nitrogen, protein is formed, and all young plants are, therefore, very rich in protein. As the plant becomes older, little more protein is added, but more and more carbon is taken from the air to form the fats, starches, sugars, and other non-nitrogenous substances. Consequently, the proportion or percentage of protein becomes smaller as the plant becomes older. The impelling purpose of the plant is to produce seed. Whenever the water supply begins to give out, or the season shortens in any other way, the plant immediately begins to ripen. Now, the essential effect of dry-farm conditions is to shorten the season; the comparatively young plants, yet rich in protein, begin to produce seed; and at harvest, seed, and leaves, and stalks are rich in the flesh-and blood-forming element of plants. In more humid countries plants delay the time of seed production and thus enable the plants to store up more carbon and thus reduce the percent of protein. The short growing season, induced by the shortness of water, is undoubtedly the main reason for the higher protein content and consequently higher nutritive value of all dry-farm crops.
Nutritive value of dry-farm hay, straw, and flour
All the parts of dry-farm crops are highly nutritious. This needs to be more clearly understood by the dry-farmers. Dry-farm hay, for instance, because of its high protein content, may be fed with crops not so rich in this element, thereby making a larger profit for the farmer. Dry-farm straw often has the feeding value of good hay, as has been demonstrated by analyses and by feeding tests conducted in times of hay scarcity. Especially is the header straw of high feeding value, for it represents the upper and more nutritious ends of the stalks. Dry-farm straw, therefore, should be carefully kept and fed to animals instead of being scattered over the ground or even burned as is too often the case. Only few feeding experiments having in view the relative feeding value of dry-farm crops have as yet been made, but the few on record agree in showing the superior value of dry-farm crops, whether fed singly or in combination.
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.
All plants when carefully burned leave a portion of ash, ranging widely in quantity, averaging about 5 per cent, and often exceeding 10 per cent of the dry weight of the plant. This plant ash represents inorganic substances taken from the soil by the roots. In addition, the nitrogen of plants, averaging about 2 per cent and often amounting to 4 per cent, which, in burning, passes off in gaseous form, is also usually taken from the soil by the plant roots. A comparatively large quantity of the plant is, therefore, drawn directly from the soil. Among the ash ingredients are many which are taken up by the plant simply because they are present in the soil; others, on the other hand, as has been shown by numerous classical investigations, are indispensable to plant growth. If any one of these indispensable ash ingredients be absent, it is impossible for a plant to mature on such a soil. In fact, it is pretty well established that, providing the physical conditions and the water supply are satisfactory, the fertility of a soil depends largely upon the amount of available ash ingredients, or plant-food.
A clear distinction must be made between the_ total _and _available _plant-food. The essential plant-foods often occur in insoluble combinations, valueless to plants; only the plant-foods that are soluble in the soil-water or in the juices of plant roots are of value to plants. It is true that practically all soils contain all the indispensable plant-foods; it is also true, however, that in most soils they are present, as available plant-foods, in comparatively small quantities. When crops are removed from the land year after year, without any return being made, it naturally follows that under ordinary conditions the amount of available plant-food is diminished, with a strong probability of a corresponding diminution in crop-producing power. In fact, the soils of many of the older countries have been permanently injured by continuous cropping, with nothing returned, practiced through centuries. Even in many of the younger states, continuous cropping to wheat or other crops for a generation or less has resulted in a large decrease in the crop yield.
Practice and experiment have shown that such diminishing fertility may be retarded or wholly avoided, first, by so working or cultivating the soil as to set free much of the insoluble plant-food and, secondly, by returning to the soil all or part of the plant-food taken away. The recent development of the commercial fertilizer industry is a response to this truth. It may be said that, so far as the agricultural soils of the world are now known, only three of the essential plant-foods are likely to be absent, namely, potash, phosphoric acid, and nitrogen; of these, by far the most important is nitrogen. The whole question of maintaining the supply of plant-foods in the soil concerns itself in the main with the supply of these three substances.
The persistent fertility of dry-farms
In recent years, numerous farmers and some investigators have stated that under dry-farm conditions the fertility of soils is not impaired by cropping without manuring. This view has been taken because of the well-known fact that in localities where dry-farming has been practiced on the same soils from twenty-five to forty-five years, without the addition of manures, the average crop yield has not only failed to diminish, but in most cases has increased. In fact, it is the almost unanimous testimony of the oldest dry-farmers of the United States, operating under a rainfall from twelve to twenty inches, that the crop yields have increased as the cultural methods have been perfected. If any adverse effect of the steady removal of plant-foods has occurred, it has been wholly overshadowed by other factors. The older dry-farms in Utah, for instance, which are among the oldest of the country, have never been manured, yet are yielding better to-day than they did a generation ago. Strangely enough, this is not true of the irrigated farms, operating under like soil and climatic conditions. This behavior of crop production under dry-farm conditions has led to the belief that the question of soil fertility is not an important one to dry-farmers. Nevertheless, if our present theories of plant nutrition are correct, it is also true that, if continuous cropping is practiced on our dry-farm soils without some form of manuring, the time must come when the productive power of the soils will be injured and the only recourse of the farmer will be to return to the soils some of the plant-food taken from it.
The view that soil fertility is not diminished by dry-farming appears at first sight to be strengthened by the results obtained by investigators who have made determinations of the actual plant-food in soils that have long been dry-farmed. The sparsely settled condition of the dry-farm territory furnishes as yet an excellent opportunity to compare virgin and dry-farmed lands and which frequently may be found side by side in even the older dry-farm sections. Stewart found that Utah dry-farm soils, cultivated for fifteen to forty years and never manured, were in many cases richer in nitrogen than neighboring virgin lands. Bradley found that the soils of the great dry-farm wheat belt of Eastern Oregon contained, after having been farmed for a quarter of a century, practically as much nitrogen as the adjoining virgin lands. These determinations were made to a depth of eighteen inches. Alway and Trumbull, on the other hand, found in a soil from Indian Head, Saskatchewan, that in twenty-five years of cultivation the total amount of nitrogen had been reduced about one third, though the alternation of fallow and crop, commonly practiced in dry-farming, did not show a greater loss of soil nitrogen than other methods of cultivation. It must be kept in mind that the soil of Indian Head contains from two to three times as much nitrogen as is ordinarily found in the soils of the Great Plains and from three to four times as much as is found in the soils of the Great Basin and the High Plateaus. It may be assumed, therefore, that the Indian Head soil was peculiarly liable to nitrogen losses. Headden, in an investigation of the nitrogen content of Colorado soils, has come to the conclusion that arid conditions, like those of Colorado, favor the direct accumulation of nitrogen in soils. All in all, the undiminished crop yield and the composition of the cultivated fields lead to the belief that soil-fertility problems under dry-farm conditions are widely different from the old well-known problems under humid conditions.
Reasons for dry-farming fertility
It is not really difficult to understand why the yields and, apparently, the fertility of dry-farms have continued to increase during the period of recorded dry-farm history—nearly half a century.
First, the intrinsic fertility of arid as compared with humid soils is very high. (See Chapter V.) The production and removal of many successive bountiful crops would not have as marked an effect on arid as on humid soils, for both yield and composition change more slowly on fertile soils. The natural extraordinarily high fertility of dry-farm soils explains, therefore, primarily and chiefly, the increasing yields on dry-farm soils that receive proper cultivation.
The intrinsic fertility of arid soils is not alone sufficient to explain the increase in plant-food which undoubtedly occurs in the upper foot or two of cultivated dry-farm lands. In seeking a suitable explanation of this phenomenon it must be recalled that the proportion of available plant-food in arid soils is very uniform to great depths, and that plants grown under proper dry-farm conditions are deep rooted and gather much nourishment from the lower soil layers. As a consequence, the drain of a heavy crop does not fall upon the upper few feet as is usually the case in humid soils. The dry-farmer has several farms, one upon the other, which permit even improper methods of farming to go on longer than would be the case on shallower soils.
The great depth of arid soils further permits the storage of rain and snow water, as has been explained in previous chapters, to depths of from ten to fifteen feet. As the growing season proceeds, this water is gradually drawn towards the surface, and with it much of the plant-food dissolved by the water in the lower soil layers. This process repeated year after year results in a concentration in the upper soil layers of fertility normally distributed in the soil to the full depth reach by the soil-moisture. At certain seasons, especially in the fall, this concentration may be detected with greatest certainty. In general, the same action occurs in virgin lands, but the methods of dry-farm cultivation and cropping which permit a deeper penetration of the natural precipitation and a freer movement of the soil-water result in a larger quantity of plant-food reaching the upper two or three feet from the lower soil depths. Such concentration near the surface, when it is not excessive, favors the production of increased yields of crops.
The characteristic high fertility and great depth of arid soils are probably the two main factors explaining the apparent increase of the fertility of dry-farms under a system of agriculture which does not include the practice of manuring. Yet, there are other conditions that contribute largely to the result. For instance, every cultural method accepted in dry-farming, such as deep plowing, fallowing, and frequent cultivation, enables the weathering forces to act upon the soil particles. Especially is it made easy for the air to enter the soil. Under such conditions, the plant-food unavailable to plants because of its insoluble condition is liberated and made available. The practice of dry-farming is of itself more conducive to such accumulation of available plant food than are the methods of humid agriculture.
Further, the annual yield of any crop under conditions of dry-farming is smaller than under conditions of high rainfall. Less fertility is, therefore, removed by each crop and a given amount of available fertility is sufficient to produce a large number of crops without showing signs of deficiency. The comparatively small annual yield of dry-farm crops is emphasized in view of the common practice of summer fallowing, which means that the land is cropped only every other year or possibly two years out of three. Under such conditions the yield in any one year is cut in two to give an annual yield.
The use of the header wherever possible in harvesting dry-farm grain also aids materially in maintaining soil fertility. By means of the header only the heads of the grain are clipped off: the stalks are left standing. In the fall, usually, this stubble is plowed under and gradually decays. In the earlier dry-farm days farmers feared that under conditions of low rainfall, the stubble or straw plowed under would not decay, but would leave the soil in a loose dry condition unfavorable for the growth of plants. During the last fifteen years it has been abundantly demonstrated that if the correct methods of dry farming are followed, so that a fair balance of water is always found in the soil, even in the fall, the heavy, thick header stubble may be plowed into the soil with the certainty that it will decay and thus enrich the soil. The header stubble contains a very large proportion of the nitrogen that the crop has taken from the soil and more than half of the potash and phosphoric acid. Plowing under the header stubble returns all this material to the soil. Moreover, the bulk of the stubble is carbon taken from the air. This decays, forming various acid substances which act on the soil grains to set free the fertility which they contain. At the end of the process of decay humus is formed, which is not only a storehouse of plant-food, but effective in maintaining a good physical condition of the soil. The introduction of the header in dry-farming was one of the big steps in making the practice certain and profitable.
Finally, it must be admitted that there are a great many more or less poorly understood or unknown forces at work in all soils which aid in the maintenance of soil-fertility. Chief among these are the low forms of life known as bacteria. Many of these, under favorable conditions, appear to have the power of liberating food from the insoluble soil grains. Others have the power when settled on the roots of leguminous or pod-bearing plants to fix nitrogen from the air and convert it into a form suitable for the need of plants. In recent years it has been found that other forms of bacteria, the best known of which is azotobacter, have the power of gathering nitrogen from the air and combining it for the plant needs without the presence of leguminous plants. These nitrogen-gathering bacteria utilize for their life processes the organic matter in the soil, such as the decaying header stubble, and at the same time enrich the soil by the addition of combined nitrogen. Now, it so happens that these important bacteria require a soil somewhat rich in lime, well aerated and fairly dry and warm. These conditions are all met on the vast majority of our dry-farm soils, under the system of culture outlined in this volume. Hall maintains that to the activity of these bacteria must be ascribed the large quantities of nitrogen found in many virgin soils and probably the final explanation of the steady nitrogen supply for dry farms is to be found in the work of the azatobacter and related forms of low life. The potash and phosphoric acid supply can probably be maintained for ages by proper methods of cultivation, though the phosphoric acid will become exhausted long before the potash. The nitrogen supply, however, must come from without. The nitrogen question will undoubtedly soon be the one before the students of dry-farm fertility. A liberal supply of organic matter In the soil with cultural methods favoring the growth of the nitrogen-gathering bacteria appears at present to be the first solution of the nitrogen question. Meanwhile, the activity of the nitrogen-gathering bacteria, like azotobacter, is one of our best explanations of the large presence of nitrogen in cultivated dry-farm soils.
To summarize, the apparent increase in productivity and plant-food content of dry-farm soils can best be explained by a consideration of these factors: (1) the intrinsically high fertility of the arid soils; (2) the deep feeding ground for the deep root systems of dry-farm crops; (3) the concentration of the plant food distributed throughout the soil by the upward movement of the natural precipitation stored in the soil; (4) the cultural methods of dry-farming which enable the weathering agencies to liberate freely and vigorously the plant-food of the soil grains; (5) the small annual crops; (6) the plowing under of the header straw, and (7) the activity of bacteria that gather nitrogen directly from the air.
Methods of conserving soil-fertility
In view of the comparatively small annual crops that characterize dry-farming it is not wholly impossible that the factors above discussed, if properly applied, could liberate the latent plant-food of the soil and gather all necessary nitrogen for the plants. Such an equilibrium, could it once be established, would possibly continue for long periods of time, but in the end would no doubt lead to disaster; for, unless the very cornerstone of modern agricultural science is unsound, there will be ultimately a diminution of crop producing power if continuous cropping is practiced without returning to the soil a goodly portion of the elements of soil fertility taken from it. The real purpose of modern agricultural researeh is to maintain or increase the productivity of our lands; if this cannot be done, modern agriculture is essentially a failure. Dry-farming, as the newest and probably in the future one of the greatest divisions of modern agriculture, must from the beginning seek and apply processes that will insure steadiness in the productive power of its lands. Therefore, from the very beginning dry-farmers must look towards the conservation of the fertility of their soils.
The first and most rational method of maintaining the fertility of the soil indefinitely is to return to the soil everything that is taken from it. In practice this can be done only by feeding the products of the farm to live stock and returning to the soil the manure, both solid and liquid, produced by the animals. This brings up at once the much discussed question of the relation between the live stock industry and dry-farming. While it is undoubtedly true that no system of agriculture will be wholly satisfactory to the farmer and truly beneficial to the state, unless it is connected definitely with the production of live stock, yet it must be admitted that the present prevailing dry-farm conditions do not always favor comfortable animal life. For instance, over a large portion of the central area of the dry-farm territory the dry-farms are at considerable distances from running or well water. In many cases, water is hauled eight or ten miles for the supply of the men and horses engaged in farming. Moreover, in these drier districts, only certain crops, carefully cultivated, will yield profitably, and the pasture and the kitchen garden are practical impossibilities from an economic point of view. Such conditions, though profitable dry-farming is feasible, preclude the existence of the home and the barn on or even near the farm. When feed must be hauled many miles, the profits of the live stock industry are materially reduced and the dry-farmer usually prefers to grow a crop of wheat, the straw of which may be plowed under the soil to the great advantage of the following crop. In dry-farm districts where the rainfall is higher or better distributed, or where the ground water is near the surface, there should be no reason why dry-farming and live stock should not go hand in hand. Wherever water is within reach, the homestead is also possible. The recent development of the gasoline motor for pumping purposes makes possible a small home garden wherever a little water is available. The lack of water for culinary purposes is really the problem that has stood between the joint development of dry-farming and the live stock industry. The whole matter, however, looks much more favorable to-day, for the efforts of the Federal and state governments have succeeded in discovering numerous subterranean sources of water in dry-farm districts. In addition, the development of small irrigation systems in the neighborhood of dry-farm districts is helping the cause of the live stock industry. At the present time, dry-farming and the live stock industry are rather far apart, though undoubtedly as the desert is conquered they will become more closely associated. The question concerning the best maintenance of soil-fertility remains the same; and the ideal way of maintaining fertility is to return to the soil as much as is possible of the plant-food taken from it by the crops, which can best be accomplished by the development of the business of keeping live stock in connection with dry-farming.
If live stock cannot be kept on a dry-farm, the most direct method of maintaining soil-fertility is by the application of commercial fertilizers. This practice is followed extensively in the Eastern states and in Europe. The large areas of dry-farms and the high prices of commercial fertilizers will make this method of manuring impracticable on dry-farms, and it may be dismissed from thought until such a day as conditions, especially with respect to price of nitrates and potash, are materially changed.
Nitrogen, which is the most important plant-food that may be absent from dry-farm soils, may be secured by the proper use of leguminous crops. All the pod-bearing plants commonly cultivated, such as peas, beans, vetch, clover, and lucern, are able to secure large quantities of nitrogen from the air through the activity of bacteria that live and grow on the roots of such plants. The leguminous crop should be sown in the usual way, and when it is well past the flowering stage should be plowed into the ground. Naturally, annual legumes, such as peas and beans, should be used for this purpose. The crop thus plowed under contains much nitrogen, which is gradually changed into a form suitable for plant assimilation. In addition, the acid substances produced in the decay of the plants tend to liberate the insoluble plant-foods and the organic matter is finally changed into humus. In order to maintain a proper supply of nitrogen in the soil the dry-farmer will probably soon find himself obliged to grow, every five years or oftener, a crop of legumes to be plowed under.
Non-leguminous crops may also be plowed under for the purpose of adding organic matter and humus to the soil, though this has little advantage over the present method of heading the grain and plowing under the high stubble. The header system should be generally adopted on wheat dry-farms. On farms where corn is the chief crop, perhaps more importance needs to be given to the supply of organic matter and humus than on wheat farms. The occasional plowing under of leguminous crops would he the most satisfactory method. The persistent application of the proper cultural methods of dry-farming will set free the most important plant-foods, and on well-cultivated farms nitrogen is the only element likely to be absent in serious amounts.
The rotation of crops on dry-farms is usually advocated in districts like the Great Plains area, where the annual rainfall is over fifteen inches and the major part of the precipitation comes in spring and summer. The various rotations ordinarily include one or more crops of small grains, a hoed crop like corn or potatoes, a leguminous crop, and sometimes a fallow year. The leguminous crop is grown to secure a fresh supply of nitrogen; the hoed crop, to enable the air and sunshine to act thoroughly on the soil grains and to liberate plant-food, such as potash and phosphoric acid; and the grain crops to take up plant-food not reached by the root systems of the other plants. The subject of proper rotation of crops has always been a difficult one, and very little information exists on it as practiced on dry-farms. Chilcott has done considerable work on rotations in the Great Plains district, hut he frankly admits that many years of trial will he necessary for the elucidation of trustworthy principles. Some of the best rotations found by Chilcott up to the present are:—
Corn—Wheat—OatsBarley—Oats—CornFallow—Wheat—Oats
Rosen states that rotation is very commonly practiced in the dry sections of southern Russia, usually including an occasional Summer fallow. As a type of an eight-year rotation practiced at the Poltava Station, the following is given: (1) Summer tilled and manured; (2) winter wheat; (3) hoed crop; (4) spring wheat; (5) summer fallow; (6) winter rye; (7) buckwheat or an annual legume; (8) oats. This rotation, it may be observed, includes the grain crop, hoed crop, legume, and fallow every four years.
As has been stated elsewhere, any rotation in dry-farming which does not include the summer fallow at least every third or fourth year is likely to be dangerous In years of deficient rainfall.
This review of the question of dry-farm fertility is intended merely as a forecast of coming developments. At the present time soil-fertility is not giving the dry-farmers great concern, but as in the countries of abundant rainfall the time will come when it will be equal to that of water conservation, unless indeed the dry-farmers heed the lessons of the past and adopt from the start proper practices for the maintenance of the plant-food stored in the soil. The principle explained in Chapter IX, that the amount of water required for the production of one pound of water diminishes as the fertility increases, shows the intimate relationship that exists between the soil-fertility and the soil-water and the importance of maintaining dry-farm soils at a high state of fertility.
Cheap land and relatively small acre yields characterize dry-farming. Consequently Iarger areas must be farmed for a given return than in humid farming, and the successful pursuit of dry-farming compels the adoption of methods that enable a man to do the largest amount of effective work with the smallest expenditure of energy. The careful observations made by Grace, in Utah, lead to the belief that, under the conditions prevailing in the intermountain country, one man with four horses and a sufficient supply of machinery can farm 160 acres, half of which is summer-fallowed every year; and one man may, in favorable seasons under a carefully planned system, farm as much as 200 acres. If one man attempts to handle a larger farm, the work is likely to be done in so slipshod a manner that the crop yield decreases and the total returns are no larger than if 200 acres had been well tilled.
One man with four horses would be unable to handle even 160 acres were it not for the possession of modern machinery; and dry-farming, more than any other system of agriculture, is dependent for its success upon the use of proper implements of tillage. In fact, it is very doubtful if the reclamation of the great arid and semiarid regions of the world would have been possible a few decades ago, before the invention and introduction of labor-saving farm machinery. It is undoubtedly further a fact that the future of dry-farming is closely bound up with the improvements that may be made in farm machinery. Few of the agricultural implements on the market to-day have been made primarily for dry-farm conditions. The best that the dry-farmer can do is to adapt the implements on the market to his special needs. Possibly the best field of investigation for the experiment stations and inventive minds in the arid region is farm mechanics as applied to the special needs of dry-farming.
Clearing and breaking
A large portion of the dry-farm territory of the United States is covered with sagebrush and related plants. It is always a difficult and usually an expensive problem to clear sagebrush land, for the shrubs are frequently from two to six feet high, correspondingly deep-rooted, with very tough wood. When the soil is dry, it is extremely difficult to pull out sagebrush, and of necessity much of the clearing must be done during the dry season. Numerous devices have been suggested and tried for the purpose of clearing sagebrush land. One of the oldest and also one of the most effective devices is two parallel railroad rails connected with heavy iron chains and used as a drag over the sagebrush land. The sage is caught by the two rails and torn out of the ground. The clearing is fairly complete, though it is generally necessary to go over the ground two or three times before the work is completed. Even after such treatment a large number of sagebrush clumps, found standing over the field, must be grubbed up with the hoe. Another and effective device is the so-called "mankiller." This implement pulls up the sage very successfully and drops it at certain definite intervals. It is, however, a very dangerous implement and frequently results in injury to the men who work it. Of recent years another device has been tried with a great deal of success. It is made like a snow plow of heavy railroad irons to which a number of large steel knives have been bolted. Neither of these implements is wholly satisfactory, and an acceptable machine for grubbing sagebrush is yet to be devised. In view of the large expense attached to the clearing of sagebrush land such a machine would be of great help in the advancement of dry-farming.
Away from the sagebrush country the virgin dry-farm land is usually covered with a more or less dense growth of grass, though true sod is seldom found under dry-farm conditions. The ordinary breaking plow, characterized by a long sloping moldboard, is the best known implement for breaking all kinds of sod. (See Fig. 7a a.) Where the sod is very light, as on the far western prairies, the more ordinary forms of plows may be used. In still other sections, the dry-farm land is covered with a scattered growth of trees, frequently pinion pine and cedars, and in Arizona and New Mexico the mesquite tree and cacti are to be removed. Such clearing has to be done in accordance with the special needs of the locality.
Plowing
Plowing, or the turning over of the soil to a depth of from seven to ten inches for every crop, is a fundamental operation of dry-farming. The plow, therefore, becomes one of the most important implements on the dry-farm. Though the plow as an agricultural implement is of great antiquity, it is only within the last one hundred years that it has attained its present perfection. It is a question even to-day, in the minds of a great many students, whether the modern plow should not be replaced by some machine even more suitable for the proper turning and stirring of the soil. The moldboard plow is, everything considered, the most satisfactory plow for dry-farm purposes. A plow with a moldboard possessing a short abrupt curvature is generally held to be the most valuable for dry-farm purposes, since it pulverizes the soil most thoroughly, and in dry-farming it is not so important to turn the soil over as to crumble and loosen it thoroughly. Naturally, since the areas of dry-farms are very large, the sulky or riding plow is the only kind to be used. The same may be said of all other dry-farm implements. As far as possible, they should be of the riding kind since in the end it means economy from the resulting saving of energy.
The disk plow has recently come into prominent use throughout the land. It consists, as is well known, of one or more large disks which are believed to cause a smaller draft, as they cut into the ground, than the draft due to the sliding friction upon the moldboard. Davidson and Chase say, however, that the draft of a disk plow is often heavier in proportion to the work done and the plow itself is more clumsy than the moldboard plow. For ordinary dry-farm purposes the disk plow has no advantage over the modern moldboard plow. Many of the dry-farm soils are of a heavy clay and become very sticky during certain seasons of the year. In such soils the disk plow is very useful. It is also true that dry-farm soils, subjected to the intense heat of the western sun become very hard. In the handling of such soils the disk plow has been found to be most useful. The common experience of dry-farmers is that when sagebrush lands have been the first plowing can be most successfully done with the disk plow, but that after. the first crop has been harvested, the stubble land can be best handled with the moldboard plow. All this, however, is yet to be subjected to further tests.
While subsoiling results in a better storage reservoir for water and consequently makes dry-farming more secure, yet the high cost of the practice will probably never make it popular. Subsoiling is accomplished in two ways: either by an ordinary moldboard plow which follows the plow in the plow furrow and thus turns the soil to a greater depth, or by some form of the ordinary subsoil plow. In general, the subsoil plow is simply a vertical piece of cutting iron, down to a depth of ten to eighteen inches, at the bottom of which is fastened a triangular piece of iron like a shovel, which, when pulled through the ground, tends to loosen the soil to the full depth of the plow.
The subsoil plow does not turn the soil; it simply loosens the soil so that the air and plant roots can penetrate to greater depths.
In the choice of plows and their proper use the dryfarmer must be guided wholly by the conditions under which he is working. It is impossible at the present time to lay down definite laws stating what plows are best for certain soils. The soils of the arid region are not well enough known, nor has the relationship between the plow and the soil been sufficiently well established. As above remarked, here is one of the great fields for investigation for both scientific and practical men for years to come.
Making and maintaining a soil-mulch
After the land has been so well plowed that the rains can enter easily, the next operation of importance in dry-farming is the making and maintaining of a soil-mulch over the ground to prevent the evaporation of water from the soil. For this purpose some form of harrow is most commonly used. The oldest and best-known harrow is the ordinary smoothing harrow, which is composed of iron or steel teeth of various shapes set in a suitable frame. (See Fig. 79.) For dry-farm purposes the implement must be so made as to enable the farmer to set the harrow teeth to slant backward or forward. It frequently happens that in the spring the grain is too thick for the moisture in the soil, and it then becomes necessary to tear out some of the young plants. For this purpose the harrow teeth are set straight or forward and the crop can then be thinned effectively. At other times it may be observed in the spring that the rains and winds have led to the formation of a crust over the soil, which must be broken to let the plants have full freedom of growth and development. This is accomplished by slanting the harrow teeth backward, and the crust may then be broken without serious injury to the plants. The smoothing harrow is a very useful implement on the dry-farm. For following the plow, however, a more useful implement is the disk harrow, which is a comparatively recent invention. It consists of a series of disks which may be set at various angles with the line of traction and thus be made to turn over the soil while at the same time pulverizing it. The best dry-farm practice is to plow in the fall and let the soil lie in the rough during the winter months. In the spring the land is thoroughly disked and reduced to a fine condition. Following this the smoothing harrow is occasionally used to form a more perfect mulch. When seeding is to be done immediately after plowing, the plow is followed by the disk harrow, and that in turn is followed by the smoothing harrow. The ground is then ready for seeding. The disk harrow is also used extensively throughout the summer in maintaining a proper mulch. It does its work more effectively than the ordinary smoothing harrow and is, therefore, rapidly displacing all other forms of harrows for the purpose of maintaining a layer of loose soil over the dry-farm. There are several kinds of disk harrows used by dry-farmers. The full disk is, everything considered, the most useful. The cutaway harrow is often used in cultivating old alfalfa land; the spade disk harrow has a very limited application in dry-farming; and the orchard disk harrow is simply a modlfication of the full disk harrow whereby the farmer is able to travel between the rows of trees and so to cultivate the soil under the branches of the trees without injuring the leaves or fruit.
One of the great difficulties in dry-farming concerns itself with the prevention of the growth of weeds or volunteer crops. As has been explained in previous chapters, weeds require as much water for their growth as wheat or other useful crops. During the fallow season, the farmer is likely to be overtaken by the weeds and lose much of the value of the fallow by losing soil-moisture through the growth of weeds. Under the most favorable conditions weeds are difficult to handle. The disk harrow itself is not effective. The smoothing harrow is of less value. There is at the present time great need for some implement that will effectively destroy young weeds and prevent their further growth. Attempts are being made to invent such implements, but up to the present without great success. Hogenson reports the finding of an implement on a western dry-farm constructed by the farmer himself which for a number of years has shown itself of high efficiency in keeping the dry-farm free from weeds. Several improved modifications of this implement have been made and tried out on the famous dry-farm district at Nephi, Utah, and with the greatest success. Hunter reports a similar implement in common use on the dry-farms of the Columbia Basin. Spring tooth harrows are also used in a small way on the dry-farms.
They have no special advantage over the smoothing harrow or the disk harrow, except in places where the attempt is made to cultivate the soil between the rows of wheat. The curved knife tooth harrow is scareely ever used on dry-farms. It has some value as a pulverizer, but does not seem to have any real advantage over the ordinary disk harrow.
Cultivators for stirring the land on which crops are growing are not used extensively on dry-farms. Usually the spring tooth harrow is employed for this work. In dry-farm sections, where corn is grown, the cultivator is frequently used throughout the season. Potatoes grown on dry-farms should be cultivated throughout the season, and as the potato industry grows in the dry-farm territory there will be a greater demand for suitable cultivators. The cultivators to be used on dry-farms are all of the riding kind. They should be so arranged that the horse walking between two rows carries a cultivator that straddles several rows of plants and cultivates the soil between. Disks, shovels, or spring teeth may be used on cultivators. There is a great variety on the market, and each farmer will have to choose such as meet most definitely his needs.
The various forms of harrows and cultivators are of the greatest importance in the development of dry-farming. Unless a proper mulch can be kept over the soil during the fallow season, and as far as possible during the growing season, first-class crops cannot be fully respected.
The roller is occasionally used in dry-farming, especially in the uplands of the Columbia Basin. It is a somewhat dangerous implement to use where water conservation is important, since the packing resulting from the roller tends to draw water upward from the lower soil layers to be evaporated into the air. Wherever the roller is used, therefore, it should be followed immediately by a harrow. It is valuable chiefly in the localities where the soil is very loose and light and needs packing around the seeds to permit perfect germination.
Subsurface packing
The subsurface packer invented by Campbell is [shown in Figure 83—not shown—ed.]. The wheels of this machine eighteen inches in diameter, with rims one inch thick at the inner part, beveled two and a half inches to a sharp outer edge, are placed on a shaft, five inches apart. In practice about five hundred pounds of weight are added.
This machine, according to Campbell, crowds a one-inch wedge into every five inches of soil with a lateral and a downward pressure and thus packs firmly the soil near the bottom of the plow-furrow. Subsurface packing aims to establish full capillary connection between the plowed upper soil and the undisturbed lower soil-layer; to bring the moist soil in close contact with the straw or organic litter plowed under and thus to hasten decomposition, and to provide a firm seed bed.
The subsurface packer probably has some value where the plowed soil containing the stubble is somewhat loose; or on soils which do not permit of a rapid decay of stubble and other organic matter that may be plowed under from season to season. On such soils the packing tendency of the subsurface packer may help prevent loss of soil water, and may also assist in furnishing a more uniform medium through which plant roots may force their way. For all these purposes, the disk is usually equally efficient.
Sowing
It has already been indicated in previous chapters that proper sowing is one of the most important operations of the dry-farm, quite comparable in importance with plowing or the maintaining of a mulch for retaining soil-moisture. The old-fashioned method of broadcasting has absolutely no place on a dry-farm. The success of dry-farming depends entirely upon the control that the farmer has of all the operations of the farm. By broadcasting, neither the quantity of seed used nor the manner of placing the seed in the ground can be regulated. Drill culture, therefore, introduced by Jethro Tull two hundred years ago, which gives the farmer full control over the process of seeding, is the only system to be used. The numerous seed drills on the market all employ the same principles. Their variations are few and simple. In all seed drills the seed is forced into tubes so placed as to enable the seed to fall into the furrows in the ground. The drills themselves are distinguished almost wholly by the type of the furrow opener and the covering devices which are used. The seed furrow is opened either by a small hoe or a so-called shoe or disk. At the present time it appears that the single disk is the coming method of opening the seed furrow and that the other methods will gradually disappear. As the seed is dropped into the furrow thus made it is covered by some device at the rear of the machine. One of the oldest methods as well as one of the most satisfactory is a series of chains dragging behind the drill and covering the furrow quite completely. It is, however, very desirable that the soil should be pressed carefully around the seed so that germination may begin with the least difficulty whenever the temperature conditions are right. Most of the drills of the day are, therefore, provided with large light wheels, one for each furrow, which press lightly upon the soil and force the soil into intimate contact with the seed The weakness of such an arrangement is that the soil along the drill furrows is left somewhat packed, which leads to a ready escape of the soil-moisture. Many of the drills are so arranged that press wheels may be used at the pleasure of the farmer. The seed drill is already a very useful implement and is rapidly being made to meet the special requirements of the dry-farmer. Corn planters are used almost exclusively on dry-farms where corn is the leading crop. In principle they are very much the same as the press drills. Potatoes are also generally planted by machinery. Wherever seeding machinery has been constructed based upon the principles of dry-farming, it is a very advantageous adjunct to the dry-farm.
Harvesting
The immense areas of dry-farms are harvested almost wholly by the most modern machinery. For grain, the harvester is used almost exclusively in the districts where the header cannot be used, but wherever conditions permit, the header is and should be used. It has been explained in previous chapters how valuable the tall header stubble is when plowed under as a means of maintaining the fertility of the soil. Besides, there is an ease in handling the header which is not known with the harvester. There are times when the header leads to some waste as, for instance, when the wheat is very low and heads are missed as the machine passes over the ground. In many sections of the dry-farm territory the climatic conditions are such that the wheat cures perfectly while still standing. In such places the combined harvester and thresher is used. The header cuts off the heads of the grain, which are passed up into the thresher, and bags filled with threshed grain are dropped along the path of the machine, while the straw is scattered over the ground. Wherever such a machine can be used, it has been found to be economical and satisfactory. Of recent years corn stalks have been used to better advantage than in the past, for not far from one half of the feeding value of the corn crop is in the stalks, which up to a few years ago were very largely wasted. Corn harvesters are likewise on the market and are quite generally used. It was manifestly impossible on large places to harvest corn by hand and large corn harvesters have, therefore, been made for this purpose.
Steam and other motive power
Recently numerous persons have suggested that the expense of running a dry-farm could be materially reduced by using some motive power other than horses. Steam, gasoline, and electricity have all been suggested. The steam traction engine is already a fairly well-developed machine and it has been used for plowing purposes on many dry-farms in nearly all the sections of the dry-farm territory. Unfortunately, up to the present it has not shown itself to be very satisfactory. First of all it is to be remembered that the principles of dry-farming require that the topsoil be kept very loose and spongy. The great traction engines have very wide wheels of such tremendous weight that they press down the soil very compactly along their path and in that way defeat one of the important purposes of tillage. Another objection to them is that at present their construction is such as to result in continual breakages. While these breakages in themselves are small and inexpensive, they mean the cessation of all farming operations during the hour or day required for repairs. A large crew of men is thus left more or less idle, to the serious injury of the work and to the great expense of the owner. Undoubtedly, the traction engine has a place in dry-farming, but it has not yet been perfected to such a degree as to make it satisfactory. On heavy soils it is much more useful than on light soils. When the traction engine works satisfactorily, plowing may be done at a cost considerably lower than when horses are employed.
In England, Germany, and other European countries some of the difficulties connected with plowing have been overcome by using two engines on the two opposite sides of a field. These engines move synchronously together and, by means of large cables, plows, harrows, or seeders, are pulled back and forth over the field. This method seems to give good satisfaction on many large estates of the old world. Macdonald reports that such a system is in successful operation in the Transvaal in South Africa and is doing work there at a very knew cost. The large initial cost of such a system will, of course, prohibit its use except on the very large farms that are being established in the dry-farm territory.
Gasoline engines are also being tried out, but up to date they have not shown themselves as possessing superior advantages over the steam engines. The two objections to them are the same as to the steam engine: first, their great weight, which compresses in a dangerous degree the topsoil and, secondly, the frequent breakages, which make the operation slow and expensive.
Over a great part of the West, water power is very abundant and the suggestion has been made that the electric energy which can be developed by means of water power could be used in the cultural operations of the dry-farm. With the development of the trolley car which does not run on rails it would not seem impossible that in favorable localities electricity could be made to serve the farmer in the mechanical tillage of the dry-farm.
The substitution of steam and other energy for horse power is yet in the future. Undoubtedly, it will come, but only as improvements are made in the machines. There is here also a great field for being of high service to the farmers who are attempting to reclaim the great deserts of the world. As stated at the beginning of this chapter, dry-farming would probably have been an impossibilityfifty or a hundred years ago because of the absence of suitable machinery. The future of dry-farming rests almost wholly, so far as its profits are concerned, upon the development of new and more suitable machinery for the tillage of the soil in accordance with the established principles of dry-farming.
Finally, the recommendations made by Merrill may here be inserted. A dry-farmer for best work should be supplied with the following implements in addition to the necessary wagons and hand tools:—
One Plow.One Disk.One Smoothing Harrow.One Drill Seeder.One Harvester or Header.One Mowing Machine.