Until trials have been made in all these varying
localities, it is not safe to make unqualified recommendations of
any crop or crop variety. At the present we can only say that for
dry-farm purposes we must have plants that will produce the maximum
quantity of dry matter with the minimum quantity of water; and that
their periods of growth must be the shortest possible. However,
enough work has been done to establish some general rules for the
guidance of the dry-farmer in the selection of crops. Undoubtedly,
we have as yet had only a glimpse of the vast crop possibilities of
the dry-farming territory in the United States, as well as in other
countries.
Wheat
Wheat is the leading dry-farm crop. Every prospect indicates that it
will retain its pre?minence. Not only is it the most generally
used cereal, but the world is rapidly learning to depend more and
more upon the dry-farming areas of the world for wheat production.
In the arid and semiarid regions it is now a commonly accepted
doctrine that upon the expensive irrigated lands should be grown
fruits, vegetables, sugar beets, and other intensive crops, while
wheat, corn, and other grains and even much of the forage should be
grown as extensive crops upon the non-irrigated or dry-farm lands.
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