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Widtsoe, John Andreas, 1872-1952

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


Of recent years the combined harvester and thresher has come into
general use. It is a large header combined with an ordinary
threshing machine. The grain is headed and threshed in one operation
and the sacks dropped along the path of the machine. The straw is
scattered over the field where it belongs.
All in all, the question of sowing, care of crop, and harvesting may
be answered by the methods that have been so well developed in
countries of abundant rainfall, except as new methods may be
required to offset the deficiency in the rainfall which is the
determining condition of dry-farming.



CHAPTER XII
CROPS FOR DRY-FARMING


The work of the dry-farmer is only half done when the soil has been
properly prepared, by deep plowing, cultivation, fallowing, for the
planting of the crop. The choice of the crop, its proper seeding,
and its correct care and harvesting are as important as rational
soil treatment in the successful pursuit of dry-farming. It is true
that in general the kinds of crops ordinarily cultivated in humid
regions are grown also on arid lands, but varieties especially
adapted to the prevailing dry-farm conditions must be used if any
certainty of harvest is desired.


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