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Widtsoe, John Andreas, 1872-1952

"Dry-Farming : a System of Agriculture for Countries under a Low Rainfall"

In the Great Plains district, therefore,
spring sowing is usually recommended, though fall-sown crops nearly
always, even there, yield the larger crops. In the intermountain
states, with wet winters and dry summers, fall sowing has almost
wholly replaced spring sowing. In fact, Farrell reports that upon
the Nephi (Utah) substation the average of six years shows about
twenty bushels of wheat from fall-sown seed as against about
thirteen bushels from spring-sown seed. Under the California
climate, with wet winters and a winter temperature high enough for
plant growth, fall sowing is also a general practice. Wherever the
conditions are favorable, fall sowing should be practiced, for it is
in harmony with the best principles of water conservation. Even in
districts where the precipitation comes chiefly in the summer, it
may be found that fall sowing, after all, is preferable.
The right time to sow in the fall can be fixed only with great
difficulty, for so much depends upon the climatic conditions. In
fact the practice varies in accordance with differences in fall
precipitation and early fall frosts.


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