Dry farming is a method which has been recently developed and which is coming into even wider use. The United States Department of Agriculture, through its experiment stations, has made a careful study of the conditions, possibilities and limitations of the practice, and the following is a brief abstract of the results:

In defining the term dry farming it is explained that the practice includes (1) deep plowing before the rainy season sets in, in order to provide in the soil a capacious water storage reservoir and an ample space for root development; (2) light, deep, even seeding or planting in a well-prepared, moist soil; (3) frequent, thorough, level cultivation before as well as after sowing or planting; (4) the use of seed bred and selected for the conditions prevailing; (5) the use of machinery of large capacity; (6) the adoption of methods for the concentration of crops.

Crops must be selected or developed that will fit the environment, and there is ample field for investigation in the improvement and development of crops suitable to dry lands. Wheat stands at the head among cereal crops. The durum or macaroni wheats do especially well; but other varieties are also grown, as are oats, rye, barley and spelt. The millets are among the best paying dry-farming crops. There are few legumes that have shown value on dry lands, but peas, beans and alfalfa are the most promising of development. Vegetables and both shade and fruit trees are being grown in districts where dry farming is practiced.

Fall seeding of cereals, wherever the conditions will permit, is preferable to spring seeding, and it is important to retain the snow upon the land, especially in sections where it forms the chief part of the total precipitation. The snowfall may be retained by leaving the ground rough after the late fall plowing, by throwing up borders across the field at right angles with the prevailing winds, or by planting hedge rows or shrubbery across the field at short intervals. Usually less seed should be planted per acre under dry-farming conditions than is used in humid sections. The less precipitation, the smaller should be the amount of seed planted.