" In recent days we have learned the value of
tillage in conserving moisture and in enabling plants to reach
maturity with the least amount of water, and we may be tempted to
believe that "tillage is moisture." This, like Tull's statement, is
a fallacy and must be avoided. Tillage can take the place of
moisture only to a limited degree. Water is the essential
consideration in dry-farming, else there would be no dry-farming.
CHAPTER XI
SOWING AND HARVESTING
The careful application of the principles of soil treatment
discussed in the preceding chapters will leave the soil in good
condition for sowing, either in the fall or spring. Nevertheless,
though proper dry-farming insures a first-class seed-bed, the
problem of sowing is one of the most difficult in the successful
production of crops without irrigation. This is chiefly due to the
difficulty of choosing, under somewhat rainless conditions, a time
for sowing that will insure rapid and complete germination and the
establishmcnt of a root system capable of producing good plants. In
some respects fewer definite, reliable principles can be laid down
concerning sowing than any other principle of important application
in the practice of dry-farming.
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