North Dakota Professor Points Out
Methods for Successful Dry Farming
Recently at the Farmers' In
stitute, held atMbtt, N. D., Prof.
W. C. Palmer, of the State Agri
culture College and Experiment
Station, gave an address that
was somewhat in the nature of
an A, B, C on .dry-farming. He
used simple illustrations explain
ing the theories of scientific
farming that also may be help
ful to many readers. Some of
Prof. Palmer's statements were:
"Dry-farming is simply mak
ing the best use of the rain that
falls getting it into the soil -and
keeping it there till the crop
needs it.
"This kind of soil management
started in the West, in the regions
where the rainfall was so small
that crops could not be grown
when given the handling in prac
tice in the humid states. The
crops that were raised by this
new kind of soil management
were surprising, and set even the
farmers and experimenters in
the East to taking notice. The
result was that even they saw
that this system of saving the
moisture could be applied in their
farming. While they had rain
enough, it did not always come
when wanted, with the result)
that the crops often suffered dur
ing August and September, some
times even resulting in crop fail
ure. "The rainfall here varies from
15 to 18 inches a year, while the
evaporation from a water surface
during the growing season is
about 30 inches. From this it is
easy to see that it is necessary
to make some effort to get the
rain into the ground and to keep
it from evaporating. To do this,
the soil must be handled accord
ing to the principles that will
save the moisture. A ,15-inch
rainfall is sufficient for growing
a 30-bushel crop of wheat, if
properly taken care of; while it
can be so wasted through im
proper soil tillage or through let
ting weeds grow that it will not
.produce 10 bushels per acre."
The professor, in explaining
this, dipped a piece of loaf sugar
into some ink and the ink quickly
went through the sugar. He
then took another lump and put
some POWDERED sugar on top
of it and put this in the ink. The
ink went through the solid lump
qiu'ckly, as it had through the
other, but when it came to the
powdered sugar it stopped. He
then drew a diagram with large
circles on the blackboard, repre
senting the soil grains, the lower
one in water. He stated that the
water would mount over the
grains as long as they were as
close together as they were in
the lump sugar. He then repre
sented grains that were apart, as
in the case of the powdered sugar.
Here there was a little space be
tween the sugar grains, and the
ink could not jump across the
space. The same holds with soil.
Leaving the surface soil loose
puts the particles so far apart
that the moisture cannot get from
one grain the next. Consequent
ly all it can do is to stop. The
amount of moisture that passes
up through a soil is beyond be
lief, till one tries to keep track
of it. When there is a good
moisture content in the soil and
the soil is compact to the surface
as much as an inch of moisture
can evaporate in a week, hence
the need of loosening up the soil
after a rain, as that packs the
soil grains together, so that the
moisture can again climb up to
surface. He then lit a lamp and
called attention to the amount of
soil that passes up through the
wick, and that water passes up
through the soil a good deal the
The
Shamrock
In order to reduce my large stock, the following prices on
I I II I 1 I Ml ! f . 1 . .
g high grade Darrei and case goods win prevail ior a snort time:
Old Crow, bottled in bond, 5 years old $1.75
Hermitage, bottled in bond, 5 years old 1.75
Hunter Rye 1.50
Cream Rye 1.50
Billy Taylor 1.50
Gughenimer Rye 1.50
Burke's Dublin Irish 1.75
Cane Spring, bonded, 5 years old 1.50
Myers Special, 8 years old 1.75
Old Kentucky Club, 5 years old 1.50
Watson's Malt 1.25
Duffy's Malt 1.00
Black and White Scotch Whisky 1.75
Old Pot Still Imported Irish 1.75
McBryar 1.25
Pine Ridge, bonded, 5 years old 1.50
Frazier Ridge, bonded, 5 years old 1.75
Green River, bonded, 5 years old 1.75
Nelson County Bourbon .60
Old Government, bonded 1.50
O. F. O. High Grade, bonded, 5 years old 1.50
Bourbon and Rye Whisky, per gallon 3.50
Port Wine and Sherry, per bottle .75
Claret, per quart .50
Port, per gallon 2.50
Hennessy 3 Star Imported, par bottle 2.50
Sparkling Burgandy, extra dry 2.00
Johnson's Dry Gin, per bottle 1.50
Grape Brandy 1.50
Cognac 3 Star Domestic 1.50
Guiness Stout, 3 bottles for .50
Weinhard's Columbia Beer, quart .25-
Weinhard's Columbia Beer, pints, 2 for .25
Grape Juice, bottle .30
Gin Ale Imported .10
The
Shamrock
TOMMY McCORMACK, Prop.
Cuttimr the wiok
would stop the oil from going up
Loosening up the soil does to it
as cutting the wick it breaks
the connection so that the water
cannot get up.
The teacher next called atten
tion to the fact that the plant
feeds in the soil that is turned
with the plow. To show this he
drew a picture of a plant grow
ing in the dead furrow and one
growing outside of it. He ex
plained that the small growth of
the plant in the dead furrow was
due to the fact that it was grow
ing in the sub-soil, and that the
plant food in the sub-soil is not
available, hence the small plant
in the dead furrow. He also
billed attention to the fact that
the largest plant grows on the
back furrow, and here there is
more plowed soil than elsewhere
in the field. This teaches that
the soil should be plowed deep
so that there will be a lot of soil
that has been turned up to the
weathering agencies to make its
plant food available. The deep
plowed soil will also take in more
water when it rains, so that the
plant on the deep-plowed soil will
have both more food and more
moisture. Then it can make a
better growth, and it can also
stand a hot wind much better.
As stated above, the plant food
that is available is in the soil
that has been turned with the
plow. That is where the moisture
is needed by the plant. It can
only take up the plant food in so
lution, hence it must have its
water where the food is. The
professor also illustrated how the
moisture might fail to get up into
the plowed soil. He had two
lumps of sugar that he placed
one on ton of the other, and
touched the lower one to the ink,
which went through the lower
lump, but into the top lump very
little. He said this was' due to
the slight break between the
lumps. Likewise, when the soil
is plowed, the plowed soil is apt
to lay loosely on the sub-soil, so
that the moisture may not pass
up into it. In that case the plant
might starve and yet there be
plenty of food in the plowed soil
and plenty of moisture in the
sub-soil. The way to remedy
this is to sub-surface pack the
soil. This will only he necessary
where the soil does not pack
down naturally, as it will on
most heavy land. The sub-surface
packer does not disturb the
surface soil, but packs the lower
portion of the furrow slice, pres
sing it into good contact with the
sub-soil, permitting the moisture
to pass up freely. He used the
homely illustration to make it
plainer. If a lady was to make
soup and put the meat in one
kettle and the water in another
kettle, it would not make very
good soup. That is just what is
done when the soil is left in such
a condition that the moisture in
the sub-soil cannot pass up into
the furrow slice and dissolve the
plant food there for the plant.
In a good many places, when
the soil is put in a condition to
keep moisture from evaporating,
the soil is so loose that it will
blow. This is a serious problem,
and it will get worse. The first
thing to do is to keep the soil full
of roots, as of grasses and alfalfa.
The roots hold the soil grains to
gether into soil granules or little
lumps, and then it cannot drift.
They act a good deal as the band
about a bunch of shingles. As
long as it is in place the bunch
cannot blow, but if the band' is
broken then the wind can take
the singles one at a time and
scatter them over a 40-acre lot.
Organic matter of any kind is
helpful; spreading manure, and
especially putting it on thin with
the manure spreader, is helpful.
In case a crop has been sown and
the land begins to drift, then
putting on a thin covering of
straw will help.
On soil that is inclined to drift
avoid using the roller or the
planker when the soil is bare.
These two implements pack the
soil near the surface, where it is
wanted loose. Worse yet, their
action is to break up the soil
mnmi1nc Dl 9111! ill lumns. leaving
i, nifio snil irrain bv itself so
CilV.lt nvv.v tn -
that the wind can get hold of it
i .
and carry it away, in narrowing
this kind of land, do it when the
soil is moist to the surface. The
action of the harrow is then to
Kvnnb nn f hn soil into small lumps,
while if the soil is dry on top it
may break up the soil into uie
individual soil grains that can
blow away.
Plow deep, keep the surface
loose but the bottom of the fur
row slice compact, in good con
tact with the sub-soil, and plenty
of roots or other organic matter
in the soil to hold the soil grains
together.
l.nmo back Is one of tlio most common
forma of muscular rheumatism. A Tew
applications of Chamberlain'' l.liilmenl
will Kive relief. For sale by M. K. .Snook.
ITEMS OF INTEREST
FOR RENT Six rooms for lij,'ht
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WOOD-Slnb wood, JG.G0 per cord;
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jy 20-tf
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FOR RENT For a term of years,
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OF PRINEVILLE, OREGON "
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Will Wokiwkii.kr Vice I'rCH.
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a IV I l-K I I V -X - ' T
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