Under conditions of high aridity, or where the store of
soil-moisture is low, such treatment frequently stands between crop
success and failure, and it is not unlikely that methods will be
devised which will permit of the cheap and rapid cultivation between
the rows of growing wheat. Meanwhile, the dry-farmer must always
remember that the margin under which he works is small, and that his
success depends upon the degree to which he prevents small wastes.
Dry-farm potatoes, Rosebud Co., Montana, 1909. Yield, 282 bushels
per acre.
The conservation of soil-moisture depends upon the vigorous,
unremitting, continuous stirring of the topsoil. Cultivation!
cultivation! and more cultivation! must be the war-cry of the
dry-farmer who battles against the water thieves of an arid climate.
CHAPTER IX
REGULATING THE TRANSPIRATION
Water that has entered the soil may be lost in three ways. First, it
may escape by downward seepage, whereby it passes beyond the reach
of plant roots and often reaches the standing water. In dry-farm
districts such loss is a rare occurrence, for the natural
precipitation is not sufficiently large to connect with the country
drainage, and it may, therefore, be eliminated from consideration.
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