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Widtsoe, John Andreas, 1872-1952

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


This review of the question of dry-farm fertility is intended merely
as a forecast of coming developments. At the present time
soil-fertility is not giving the dry-farmers great concern, but as
in the countries of abundant rainfall the time will come when it
will be equal to that of water conservation, unless indeed the
dry-farmers heed the lessons of the past and adopt from the start
proper practices for the maintenance of the plant-food stored in the
soil. The principle explained in Chapter IX, that the amount of
water required for the production of one pound of water diminishes
as the fertility increases, shows the intimate relationship that
exists between the soil-fertility and the soil-water and the
importance of maintaining dry-farm soils at a high state of
fertility.



CHAPTER XV
IMPLEMENTS FOR DRY-FARMING


Cheap land and relatively small acre yields characterize
dry-farming. Consequently Iarger areas must be farmed for a given
return than in humid farming, and the successful pursuit of
dry-farming compels the adoption of methods that enable a man to do
the largest amount of effective work with the smallest expenditure
of energy.


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