This is an important principle in the system of dry-farming.
CHAPTER VIII
REGULATING THE EVAPORATION
The demonstration in the last chapter that the water which falls as
rain or snow may be stored in the soil for the use of plants is of
first importance in dry-farming, for it makes the farmer
independent, in a large measure, of the distribution of the
rainfall. The dry-farmer who goes into the summer with a soil well
stored with water cares little whether summer rains come or not, for
he knows that his crops will mature in spite of external drouth. In
fact, as will be shown later, in many dry-farm sections where the
summer rains are light they are a positive detriment to the farmer
who by careful farming has stored his deep soil with an abundance of
water. Storing the soil with water is, however, only the first step
in making the rains of fall, winter, or the preceding year available
for plant growth. As soon as warm growing weather comes,
water-dissipating forces come into play, and water is lost by
evaporation. The farmer must, therefore, use all precautions to keep
the moisture in the soil until such time as the roots of the crop
may draw it into the plants to be used in plant production.
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