The fertilizing of lands with proper
plant-foods, as shown in the last sections, tends to check
transpiration and makes possible the production of dry matter at the
lowest water-cost.
The recent practice in practically all dry-farm districts, at least
in the intermountain and far West, to use the header for harvesting
bears directly upon the subject considered in this chapter. The high
stubble which remains contains much valuable plant-food, often
gathered many feet below the surface by the plant roots. When this
stubble is plowed under there is a valuable addition of the
plant-food to the upper soil. Further, as the stubble decays, acid
substances are produced that act upon the soil grains to set free
the plant-food locked up in them. The plowing under of stubble is
therefore of great value to the dry-farmer. The plowing under of any
other organic substance has the same effect. In both cases fertility
is concentrated near the surface, which dissolves in the soil-water
and enables the crop to mature with the Ieast quantity of water.
The lesson then to be learned from this chapter is, that it is not
aufficient for the dry-farmer to store an abundance of water in the
soil and to prevent that water from evaporating directly from the
soil; but the soil must be kept in such a state of high fertility
that plants are enabled to utilize the stored moisture in the most
economical manner.
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