. Agriculture and the farming business . rye and emmer are also suc-cessful cereals for dry-farming regions. Corn can beprofitably grown under semi-arid conditions if propervarieties are selected, as can the sorghums, feterita and mil-let. Alfalfa and other legumes.—On account of its deeprooting system alfalfa can be made a successful forage cropwhere the rainfall is as much as twelve to fifteen peas, beans and other legumes are also adapted todry-farming. Potatoes.—Potatoes are one of the most promisingof dry-farming crops. They can be profitably raised witha rainfall of fifteen
. Agriculture and the farming business . rye and emmer are also suc-cessful cereals for dry-farming regions. Corn can beprofitably grown under semi-arid conditions if propervarieties are selected, as can the sorghums, feterita and mil-let. Alfalfa and other legumes.—On account of its deeprooting system alfalfa can be made a successful forage cropwhere the rainfall is as much as twelve to fifteen peas, beans and other legumes are also adapted todry-farming. Potatoes.—Potatoes are one of the most promisingof dry-farming crops. They can be profitably raised witha rainfall of fifteen inches. The following- varieties have 174 AGRICULTURE AND been recommended as dry-farm varieties: Ohio, Mammoth,Pearl, Rural Nezv Yorker and Bitrhank. Conserving soil fertility.—Dry-farming areas possesssoil of unusual fertility. Nor does the fertility exhaust asfast as under humid conditions. Dry-farms in many sec-tions that have been continuously cropped for many yearsshow but little loss of fertility or decrease in the yield of. Cultivating a young oiaugo gruvc i>j cuusurw nmislurL. crops. Yet this fertility will finally be exhausted if careis not used to conserve or replace it. Intelligent dry-farming will therefore plan from thefirst to maintain fertility. The farms hould be stocked andthe manure returned to the soil. Straw left from theheader, and stubble, should be plowed under. Legumesshould be grown to aid in maintaining the supply of nitro-gen. A careful system of rotation of crops should beadopted and carefully followed. THE FARMING BUSINESS 175 Dry-farm machinery.—Dry-farming usually employsa large acreage of tilled land. It also demands frequentand thorough cultivation. These facts suggest the needof plenty of good machinery, adapted to the work re-quired. Plowing is often done by the gang-plow drawn by asteam or gasoline tractor. Grain is cut by a combinationheader and thrasher. Large disks, harrows and drills areused. The intelligent dry-farmer will no
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