Dry-Farming : A System of Agriculture for Countries under a Low Rainfall Part 9

Seventh, transpiration varies also with the age of the plant. In the young plant it is comparatively small. Just before blooming it is very much larger and in time of bloom it is the largest in the history of the plant. As the plant grows older transpiration diminishes, and finally at the ripening stage it almost ceases.

Eighth, transpiration varies greatly with the crop. Not all plants take water from the soil at the same rate. Very little is as yet known about the relative water requirements of crops on the basis of transpiration. As an ill.u.s.tration, MacDougall has reported that sagebrush uses about one fourth as much water as a tomato plant.

Even greater differences exist between other plants. This is one of the interesting subjects yet to be investigated by those who are engaged in the reclamation of dry-farm districts. Moreover, the same crop grown under different conditions varies in its rate of transpiration. For instance, plants grown for some time under arid conditions greatly modify their rate of transpiration, as shown by Spalding, who reports that a plant reared under humid conditions gave off 3.7 times as much water as the same plant reared under arid conditions. This very interesting observation tends to confirm the view commonly held that plants grown under arid conditions will gradually adapt themselves to the prevailing conditions, and in spite of the greater water dissipating conditions will live with the expenditure of less water than would be the case under humid conditions. Further, Sorauer found, many years ago, that different varieties of the same crop possess very different rates of transpiration. This also is an interesting subject that should be more fully investigated in the future.

Ninth, the vigor of growth of a crop appears to have a strong influence on transpiration. It does not follow, however, that the more vigorously a crop grows, the more rapidly does it transpire water, for it is well known that the most luxuriant plant growth occurs in the tropics, where the transpiration is exceedingly low.

It seems to be true that under the same conditions, plants that grow most vigorously tend to use proportionately the smallest amount of water.

Tenth, the root system--its depth and manner of growth--influences the rate of transpiration. The more vigorous and extensive the root system, the more rapidly can water be secured from the soil by the plant.

The conditions above enumerated as influencing transpiration are nearly all of a physical character, and it must not be forgotten that they may all be annulled or changed by a physiological regulation. It must be admitted that the subject of transpiration is yet poorly understood, though it is one of the most important subjects in its applications to plant production in localities where water is scaree. It should also be noted that nearly all of the above conditions influencing transpiration are beyond the control of the farmer. The one that seems most readily controlled in ordinary agricultural practice will be discussed in the following section.

Plant-food and transpiration

It has been observed repeatedly by students of transpiration that the amount of water which actually evaporates from the leaves is varied materially by the substances held in solution by the soil-water. That is, transpiration depends upon the nature and concentration of soil solution. This fact, though not commonly applied even at the present time, has really been known for a very long time. Woodward, in 1699, observed that the amount of water transpired by a plant growing in rain water was 192.3 grams; in spring water, 163.6 grams, and in water from the River Thames, 159.5 grams; that is, the amount of water transpired by the plant in the comparatively pure rain water was nearly 20 per cent higher than that used by the plant growing in the notoriously impure water of the River Thames. Sachs, in 1859, carried on an elaborate series of experiments on transpiration in which he showed that the addition of pota.s.sium nitrate, ammonium sulphate or common salt to the solution in which plants grew reduced the transpiration; in fact, the reduction was large, varying from 10 to 75 per cent. This was confirmed by a number of later workers, among them, for instance, Buergerstein, who, in 1875, showed that whenever acids were added to a soil or to water in which plants are growing, the transpiration is increased greatly; but when alkalies of any kind are added, transpiration decreases. This is of special interest in the development of dry-farming, since dry-farm soils, as a rule, contain more substances that may be cla.s.sed as alkalies than do soils maintained under humid conditions. Sour soils are very characteristic of districts where the rainfall is abundant; the vegetation growing on such soils transpires excessively and the crops are consequently more subject to drouth.

The investigators of almost a generation ago also determined beyond question that whenever a complete nutrient solution is presented to plants, that is, a solution containing all the necessary plant-foods in the proper proportions, the transpiration is reduced immensely.

It is not necessary that the plant-foods should be presented in a water solution in order to effect this reduction in transpiration; if they are added to the soil on which plants are growing, the same effect will result. The addition of commercial fertilizers to the soil will therefore diminish transpiration. It was further discovered nearly half a century ago that similar plants growing on different soils evaporate different amounts of water from their leaves; this difference, undoubtedly, is due to the conditions in the fertility of the soils, for the more fertile a soil is, the richer will the soil-water be in the necessary plant-foods. The principle that transpiration or the evaporation of water from the plants depends on the nature and concentration of the soil solution is of far-reaching importance in the development of a rational practice of dry-farming.

Transpiration for a pound of dry matter

Is plant growth proportional to transpiration? Do plants that evaporate much water grow more rapidly than those that evaporate less? These questions arose very early in the period characterized by an active study of transpiration. If varying the transpiration varies the growth, there would be no special advantage in reducing the transpiration. From an economic point of view the important question is this: Does the plant when its rate of transpiration is reduced still grow with the same vigor? If that be the case, then every effort should be made by the farmer to control and to diminish the rate of transpiration.

One of the very earliest experiments on transpiration, conducted by Woodward in 1699, showed that it required less water to produce a pound of dry matter if the soil solution were of the proper concentration and contained the elements necessary for plant growth.

Little more was done to answer the above questions for over one hundred and fifty years. Perhaps the question was not even asked during this period, for scientific agriculture was just coming into being in countries where the rainfall was abundant. However, Tschaplowitz, in 1878, investigated the subject and found that the increase in dry matter is greatest when the transpiration is the smallest. Sorauer, in researches conducted from 1880 to 1882, determined with almost absolute certainty that less water is required to produce a pound of dry matter when the soil is fertilized than when it is not fertilized. Moreover, he observed that the enriching of the soil solution by the addition of artificial fertilizers enabled the plant to produce dry matter with less water. He further found that if a soil is properly tilled so as to set free plant-food and in that way to enrich the soil solution the water-cost of dry plant substance is decreased. h.e.l.lriegel, in 1883, confirmed this law and laid down the law that poor plant nutrition increases the water-cost of every pound of dry matter produced. It was about this time that the Rothamsted Experiment Station reported that its experiments had shown that during periods of drouth the well-tilled and well-fertilized fields yielded good crops, while the unfertilized fields yielded poor crops or crop failures--indicating thereby, since rainfall was the critical factor, that the fertility of the soil is important in determining whether or not with a small amount of water a good crop can be produced. Pagnoul, working in 1895 with fescue gra.s.s, arrived at the same conclusion. On a poor clay soil it required 1109 pounds of water to produce one pound of dry matter, while on a rich calcareous soil only 574 pounds were required. Gardner of the United States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Soils, working in 1908, on the manuring of soils, came to the conclusion that the more fertile the soil the less water is required to produce a pound of dry matter. He incidentally called attention to the fact that in countries of limited rainfall this might be a very important principle to apply in crop production. Hopkins in his study of the soils of Illinois has repeatedly observed, in connection with certain soils, that where the land is kept fertile, injury from drouth is not common, implying thereby that fertile soils will produce dry matter at a lower water-cost. The most recent experiments on this subject, conducted by the Utah Station, confirm these conclusions. The experiments, which covered several years, were conducted in pots filled with different soils. On a soil, naturally fertile, 908 pounds of water were transpired for each pound of dry matter (corn) produced; by adding to this soil an ordinary dressing of manure'

this was reduced to 613 pounds, and by adding a small amount of sodium nitrate it was reduced to 585 pounds. If so large a reduction could be secured in practice, it would seem to justify the use of commercial fertilizers in years when the dry-farm year opens with little water stored in the soil. Similar results, as will be shown below, were obtained by the use of various cultural methods. It may therefore, be stated as a law, that any cultural treatment which enables the soil-water to acquire larger quant.i.ties of plant-food also enables the plant to produce dry matter with the use of a smaller amount of water. In dry-farming, where the limiting factor is water, this principle must he emphasized in every cultural operation.

Methods of controlling transpiration

It would appear that at present the only means possessed by the farmer for controlling transpiration and making possible maximum crops with the minimum amount of water in a properly tilled soil is to keep the soil as fertile as is possible. In the light of this principle the practices already recommended for the storing of water and for the prevention of the direct evaporation of water from the soil are again emphasized. Deep and frequent plowing, preferably in the fall so that the weathering of the winter may be felt deeply and strongly, is of first importance in liberating plant-food.

Cultivation which has been recommended for the prevention of the direct evaporation of water is of itself an effective factor in setting free plant-food and thus in reducing the amount of water required by plants. The experiments at the Utah Station, already referred to, bring out very strikingly the value of cultivation in reducing the transpiration. For instance, in a series of experiments the following results were obtained. On a sandy loam, not cultivated, 603 pounds of water were transpired to produce one pound of dry matter of corn; on the same soil, cultivated, only 252 pounds were required. On a clay loam, not cultivated, 535 pounds of water were transpired for each pound of dry matter, whereas on the cultivated soil only 428 pounds were necessary. On a clay soil, not cultivated, 753 pounds of water were transpired for each pound of dry matter; on the cultivated soil, only 582 pounds. The farmer who faithfully cultivates the soil throughout the summer and after every rain has therefore the satisfaction of knowing that he is accomplis.h.i.+ng two very important things: he is keeping the moisture in the soil, and he is making it possible for good crops to be grown with much less water than would otherwise be required. Even in the case of a peculiar soil on which ordinary cultivation did not reduce the direct evaporation, the effect upon the transpiration was very marked. On the soil which was not cultivated, 451 pounds of water were required to produce one pound of dry matter (corn), while on the cultivated soils, though the direct evaporation was no smaller, the number of pounds of water for each pound of dry substance was as low as 265.

One of the chief values of fallowing lies in the liberation of the plant-food during the fallow year, which reduces the quant.i.ty of water required the next year for the full growth of crops. The Utah experiments to which reference has already been made show the effect of the previous soil treatment upon the water requirements of crops.

One half of the three types of soil had been cropped for three successive years, while the other half had been left bare. During the fourth year both halves were planted to corn. For the sandy loam it was found that, on the part that had been cropped previously, 659 pounds of water were required for each pound of dry matter produced, while on the part that had been bare only 573 pounds were required.

For the clay loam 889 pounds on the cropped part and 550 on the previously bare part were required for each pound of dry matter. For the clay 7466 pounds on the cropped part and 1739 pounds on the previously bare part were required for each pound of dry matter.

These results teach clearly and emphatically that the fertile condition of the soil induced by fallowing makes it possible to produce dry matter with a smaller amount of water than can be done on soils that are cropped continuously. The beneficial effects of fallowing are therefore clearly twofold: to store the moisture of two seasons for the use of one crop; and to set free fertility to enable the plant to grow with the least amount of water. It is not yet fully understood what changes occur in fallowing to give the soil the fertility which reduces the water needs of the plant. The researches of Atkinson in Montana, Stewart and Graves in Utah, and Jensen in South Dakota make it seem probable that the formation of nitrates plays an important part in the whole process. If a soil is of such a nature that neither careful, deep plowing at the right time nor constant crust cultivation are sufficient to set free an abundance of plant-food, it may be necessary to apply manures or commercial fertilizers to the soil. While the question of restoring soil fertility has not yet come to be a leading one in dry-farming, yet in view of what has been said in this chapter it is not impossible that the time will come when the farmers must give primary attention to soil fertility in addition to the storing and conservation of soil-moisture. The fertilizing of lands with proper plant-foods, as shown in the last sections, tends to check transpiration and makes possible the production of dry matter at the lowest water-cost.

The recent practice in practically all dry-farm districts, at least in the intermountain and far West, to use the header for harvesting bears directly upon the subject considered in this chapter. The high stubble which remains contains much valuable plant-food, often gathered many feet below the surface by the plant roots. When this stubble is plowed under there is a valuable addition of the plant-food to the upper soil. Further, as the stubble decays, acid substances are produced that act upon the soil grains to set free the plant-food locked up in them. The plowing under of stubble is therefore of great value to the dry-farmer. The plowing under of any other organic substance has the same effect. In both cases fertility is concentrated near the surface, which dissolves in the soil-water and enables the crop to mature with the Ieast quant.i.ty of water.

The lesson then to be learned from this chapter is, that it is not aufficient for the dry-farmer to store an abundance of water in the soil and to prevent that water from evaporating directly from the soil; but the soil must be kept in such a state of high fertility that plants are enabled to utilize the stored moisture in the most economical manner. Water storage, the prevention of evaporation, and the maintenance of soil fertility go hand in hand in the development of a successful system of farming without irrigation.

CHAPTER X

PLOWING AND FALLOWING

The soil treatment prescribed in the preceding chapters rests upon (1) deep and thorough plowing, done preferably in the fall; (2) thorough cultivation to form a mulch over the surface of the land, and (3) clean summer fallowing every other year under low rainfall or every third or fourth year under abundant rainfall.

Students of dry-farming all agree that thorough cultivation of the topsoil prevents the evaporation of soil-moisture, but some have questioned the value of deep and fall plowing and the occasional clean summer fallow. It is the purpose of this chapter to state the findings of practical men with reference to the value of plowing and fallowing in producing large crop yields under dry-farm conditions.

It will be shown in Chapter XVIII that the first attempts to produce crops without irrigation under a limited rainfall were made independently in many diverse places. California, Utah, and the Columbia Basin, as far as can now be learned, as well as the Great Plains area, were all independent pioneers in the art of dry-farming. It is a most significant fact that these diverse localities, operating under different conditions as to soil and climate, have developed practically the same system of dry-farming.

In all these places the best dry-farmers practice deep plowing wherever the subsoil will permit it; fall plowing wherever the climate will permit it; the sowing of fall grain wherever the winters will permit it, and the clean summer fallow every other year, or every third or fourth year. H. W. Campbell, who has been the leading exponent of dry-farming in the Great Plains area, began his work without the clean summer fallow as a part of his system, but has long since adopted it for that section of the country. It is scarcely to be believed that these practices, developed laboriously through a long succession of years in widely separated localities, do not rest upon correct scientific principles. In any case, the acc.u.mulated experience of the dry-farmers in this country confirms the doctrines of soil tillage for dry-farms laid down in the preceding chapters.

At the Dry-Farming Congresses large numbers of practical farmers a.s.semble for the purpose of exchanging experiences and views. The reports of the Congress show a great difference of opinion on minor matters and a wonderful unanimity of opinion on the more fundamental questions. For instance, deep plowing was recommended by all who touched upon the subject in their remarks; though one farmer, who lived in a locality the subsoil of which was very inert, recommended that the depth of plowing should be increased gradually until the full depth is reached, to avoid a succession of poor crop years while the lifeless soil was being vivified. The states of Utah, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, and the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan of Canada all specifically declared through one to eight representatives from each state in favor of deep plowing as a fundamental practice in dry-farming. Fall plowing, wherever the climatic conditions make it possible, was similarly advocated by all the speakers. Farmers in certain localities had found the soil so dry in the fall that plowing was difficult, but Campbell insisted that even in such places it would be profitable to use power enough to break up the land before the winter season set in. Numerous speakers from the states of Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, and a number of the Great Plains states, as well as from the Chinese Empire, declared themselves as favoring fall plowing. Scareely a dissenting voice was raised.

In the discussion of the clean summer fallow as a vital principle of dry-farming a slight difference of opinion was discovered. Farmers from some of the localities insisted that the clean summer fallow every other year was indispensable; others that one in three years was sufficient; and others one in four years, and a few doubtful the wisdom of it altogether. However, all the speakers agreed that clean and thorough cultivation should be practiced faithfully during the spring, and fall of the fallow year. The appreciation of the fact that weeds consume precious moisture and fertility seemed to be general among the dry-farmers from all sections of the country. The following states, provinces, and countries declared themselves as being definitely and emphatically in favor of clean summer fallowing:

California, Utah, Nevada, Was.h.i.+ngton, Montana, Idaho, Colorado, New Mexico, North Dakota, Nebraska, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Russia, Turkey, the Transvaal, Brazil, and Australia. Each of these many districts was represented by one to ten or more representatives. The only state to declare somewhat vigorously against it was from the Great Plains area, and a warning voice was heard from the United States Department of Agriculture. The recorded practical experience of the farmers over the whole of the dry-farm territory of the United States leads to the conviction that fallowing must he accepted as a practice which resulted in successful dry-farming.

Further, the experimental leaders in the dry-farm movement, whether working under private, state, or governmental direction, are, with very few exceptions, strongly in favor of deep fall plowing and clean summer fallowing as parts of the dry-farm system.

The chief reluctance to accept clean summer fallowing as a principle of dry-farming appears chicfly among students of the Great Plains area. Even there it is admitted by all that a wheat crop following a fallow year is larger and better than one following wheat. There seem, however, to be two serious reasons for objecting to it. First, a fear that a clean summer fallow, practiced every second, third, or fourth year, will cause a large diminution of the organic matter in the soil, resulting finally in complete crop failure; and second, a belief that a hoed crop, like corn or potatoes, exerts the same beneficial effect.

It is undoubtedly true that the thorough tillage involved in dry-farming exposes to the action of the elements the organic matter of the soil and thereby favors rapid oxidation. For that reason the different ways in which organic matter may be supplied regularly to dry-farms are pointed out in Chapter XIV. It may also be observed that the header harvesting system employed over a large part of the dry-farm territory leaves the large header stubble to be plowed under, and it is probable that under such methods more organic matter is added to the soil during the year of cropping than is lost during the year of fallowing. It may, moreover, be observed that thorough tillage of a crop like corn or potatoes tends to cause a loss of the organic matter of the soil to a degree nearly as large as is the case when a fallow field is well cultivated. The thorough stirring of the soil under an arid or semiarid climate, which is an essential feature of dry-farming, will always result in a decrease in organic matter. It matters little whether the soil is fallow or in crop during the process of cultivation, so far as the result is concerned.

A serious matter connected with fallowing in the Great Plains area is the blowing of the loose well-tilled soil of the fallow fields, which results from the heavy winds that blow so steadily over a large part of the western slope of the Mississippi Valley. This is largely avoided when crops are grown on the land, even when it is well tilled.

The theory, recently proposed, that in the Great Plains area, where the rains come chicfly in summer, the growing of hoed crops may take the place of the summer fallow, is said to be based on experimental data not yet published. Careful and conscientious experimenters, as Chilcott and his co-laborers, indicate in their statements that in many cases the yields of wheat, after a hoed crop, have been larger than after a fallow year. The doctrine has, therefore, been rather widely disseminated that fallowing has no place in the dry-farming of the Great Plains area and should be replaced by the growing of hoed crops. Chilcott, who is the chief exponent of this doctrine, declares, however, that it is only with spring-grown crops and for a succession of normal years that fallowing may be omitted, and that fallowing must be resorted to as a safeguard or temporary expedient to guard against total loss of crop where extreme drouth is antic.i.p.ated; that is, where the rainfall falls below the average. He further explains that continuous grain cropping, even with careful plowing and spring and fall tillage, is unsuccessful; but holds that certain rotations of crops, including grain and a hoed crop every other year, are often more profitable than grain alternating with clean summer fallow. He further believes that the fallow year every third or fourth year is sufficient for Great Plains conditions.

Jardine explains that whenever fall grain is grown in the Great Plains area, the fallow is remarkably helpful, and in fact because of the dry winters is practically indispensable.

This latter view is confirmed by the experimental results obtained by Atkinson and others at the Montana Experiment Stations, which are conducted under approximately Great Plains conditions.

It should be mentioned also that in Saskatchewan, in the north end of the Great Plains area, and which is characteristic, except for a lower annual temperature, of the whole area, and where dry-farming has been practiced for a quarter of a century, the clean summer fallow has come to be an established practice.

This recent discussion of the place of fallowing in the agriculture of the Great Plains area ill.u.s.trates what has been said so often in this volume about the adapting of principles to local conditions.

Wherever the summer rainfall is sufficient to mature a crop, fallowing for the purpose of storing moisture in the soil is unnecessary; the only value of the fallow year under such conditions would be to set free fertility. In the Great Plains area the rainfall is somewhat higher than elsewhere in the dry-farm territory and most of it comes in summer; and the summer precipitation is probably enough in average years to mature crops, providing soil conditions are favorable. The main considerations, then, are to keep the soils open for the reception of water and to maintain the soils in a sufficiently fertile condition to produce, as explained in Chapter IX, plants with a minimum amount of water. This is accomplished very largely by the year of hoed crop, when the soil is as well stirred as under a clean fallow.

The dry-farmer must never forget that the critical element in dry-farming is water and that the annual rainfall will in the very nature of things vary from year to year, with the result that the dry year, or the year with a precipitation below the average, is sure to come. In somewhat wet years the moisture stored in the soil is of comparatively little consequence, but in a year of drouth it will be the main dependence of the farmer. Now, whether a crop be hoed or not, it requires water for its growth, and land which is continuously cropped even with a variety of crops is likely to be so largely depleted of its moisture that, when the year of drouth comes, failure will probably result.

The precariousness of dry-farming must be done away with. The year of drouth must be expected every year. Only as certainty of crop yield is a.s.sured will dry-farming rise to a respected place by the side of other branches of agriculture. To attain such certainty and respect clean summer fallowing every second, third, or fourth year, according to the average rainfall, is probably indispensable; and future investigations, long enough continued, will doubtless confirm this prediction. Undoubtedly, a rotation of crops, including hoed crops, will find an important place in dry-farming, but probably not to the complete exclusion of the clean summer fallow.

Jethro Tull, two hundred years ago, discovered that thorough tillage of the soil gave crops that in some cases could not be produced by the addition of manure, and he came to the erroneous conclusion that "tillage is manure." In recent days we have learned the value of tillage in conserving moisture and in enabling plants to reach maturity with the least amount of water, and we may be tempted to believe that "tillage is moisture." This, like Tull's statement, is a fallacy and must be avoided. Tillage can take the place of moisture only to a limited degree. Water is the essential consideration in dry-farming, else there would be no dry-farming.

CHAPTER XI

SOWING AND HARVESTING