Dry land farming - Tapa blanda

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1909 Excerpt: ...are not distant, a source of supply will be always accessible. Under other conditions, fence posts may be grown. Among the trees that are found suitable are the willow, the catalpa and the locust. The willow has highest adaptation for the Great Plains country, the catalpa for the middle regions of the semi-arid belt, and the locust for those central and south. All these will grow more slowly than in humid climates. Cultivated crops that may be grown.--The discussion will include the following classes of crops that may be cultivated with more or less profit in dry areas: (1) cereals; (2) fodder crops; (3) legumes, and (4) various other crops. These may be cultivated with more or less profit. Such cultivation will prove relatively more profitable under dry than under humid conditions, and chiefly because of the influence which it exercises on moisture conservation. The cultivation has reference to stirring the soil above and around the plants as shown in chapter XII, the implements used being the harrow and some form of cultivator. There is no kind of cereal grown in the semi-arid country that will not be profited by some form of cultivation given to it during the period of growth. As a rule such cultivation will be given to cereals included under the head of small grains, by the aid of the harrow. More commonly these are sown by the grain drill in the ordinary way and the harrowing is done chiefly after the crops have reached the surface of the ground. Planting cereals in spaced rows has been tried, that is in rows wide enough to admit of cultivating between them, but the results obtained do not seem to justify the expense of such cultivation. This at least is true of the increase that such cultivation brings to the crop. It is doubtful, however, in such ins...