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Widtsoe, John Andreas, 1872-1952

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

It
exists as spring and winter varieties. is with the other small
grains, the success of emmer will depend largely upon the
satisfactory development of winter varieties.
Corn
Of all crops yet tried on dry-farms, corn is perhaps the most
uniformly successful under extreme dry conditions. If the soil
treatment and planting have been right, the failures that have been
reported may invariably be traced to the use of seed which had not
been acclimated. The American Indians grow corn which is excellent
for dry-farm purposes; many of the western farmers have likewise
produced strains that use the minimum of moisture, and, moreover,
corn brought from humid sections adapts itself to arid conditions in
a very few years. Escobar reports a native corn grown in Mexico with
low stalks and small ears that well endures desert conditions. In
extremely dry years corn does not always produce a profitable crop
of seed, but the crop as a whole, for forage purposes, seldom fails
to pay expenses and leave a margin for profit. In wetter years there
is a corresponding increase of the corn crop. The dryfarming
territory does not yet realize the value of corn as a dry-farm crop.


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