. Dry land farming in the Southwest ... Dry farming; Agriculture. 36 DRY LAND FARMING IN THE SOUTHWEST MANURE. Manure is usually wasted on dry land farms, though the land needs it even more than that in the rainbelt. Manure adds to the decayed animal and vege- table matter in the soil, increasing its holding capacity for water. Where much manure has been added to the soil and it has become thor- oughly decayed and mixed with the soil, the soil will absorb and hold twice as much water as soil devoid of it. After it becomes well decayed and closely mixed through the soil, manure greatly improves
. Dry land farming in the Southwest ... Dry farming; Agriculture. 36 DRY LAND FARMING IN THE SOUTHWEST MANURE. Manure is usually wasted on dry land farms, though the land needs it even more than that in the rainbelt. Manure adds to the decayed animal and vege- table matter in the soil, increasing its holding capacity for water. Where much manure has been added to the soil and it has become thor- oughly decayed and mixed with the soil, the soil will absorb and hold twice as much water as soil devoid of it. After it becomes well decayed and closely mixed through the soil, manure greatly improves the mechanical condition of the land. It makes hard lands more mellow and loose sandy soil more compact. The manure, of course, is needed to furnish food for the growing plants. The best way to apply manure on dry land fields is as a top dressing on small grains or for- age crops like alfalfa and sweet clover. The manure should be applied as a top dressing dur- ing the fall and winter. The fertilizing materials which it contains will be absorbed by the soil without injury to crops and most of the coarse stalks will decay and much of them be absorbed. Twenty loads to the acre can be used with safety. Manure applied in this way adds to the fertility of the soil and acts as a mulch to hold the mois- ture in the soil. On ground that blow badly heavy applications of coarse' manure or even straw to fields of growing'wheat will frequently stop the blowing. Where the wind is strong it is a good plan to run over the coarse manure as fast as it is spread with a weighted disc harrow, the discs being set nearly straight. This will tie down the trash in places with soil and help to hold the top dressing against the wind. A manure spreader is one of the dry land farm- er's best tools when he has the money to pay for it. This machine spreads the manure so much more evenly than it is possible to spread by Map showing rainfall and length of growing season in portion of great plains area
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectagriculture, bookyear
