Dry-Farming : A System of Agriculture for Countries under a Low Rainfall Part 4

Partial Percentage Composition

Source of soil Humid Arid Number of samples a.n.a.lyzed 696 573 Insoluble residue 84.17 69.16 Soluble silica 4.04 6.71 Alumina 3.66 7.61 Lime 0.13 1.43 Potash 0.21 0.67 Phos. Acid 0.12 0.16 Humus 1.22 1.13

Soil chemists have generally attempted to arrive at a determination of the fertility of soil by treating a carefully selected and prepared sample with a certain amount of acid of definite strength.

The portion which dissolves under the influence of acids has been looked upon as a rough measure of the possible fertility of the soil.

The column headed "Insoluble Residue" shows the average proportions of arid and humid soils which remain undissolved by acids. It is evident at once that the humid soils are much less soluble in acids than arid soils, the difference being 84 to 69. Since the only plant-food in soils that may be used for plant production is that which is soluble, it follows that it is safe to a.s.sume that arid soils are generally more fertile than humid soils. This is borne out by a study of the const.i.tuents of the soil. For instance, potash, one of the essential plant foods ordinarily present in sufficient amount, is found in humid soils to the extent of 0.21 per cent, while in arid soils the quant.i.ty present is 0.67 per cent, or over three times as much. Phosphoric acid, another of the very important plant-foods, is present in arid soils in only slightly higher quant.i.ties than in humid soils. This explains the somewhat well-known fact that the first fertilizer ordinarily required by arid soils is some form of phosphorus:

The difference in the chemical composition of arid and humid soils is perhaps shown nowhere better than in the lime content. There is nearly eleven times more lime in arid than in humid soils.

Conditions of aridity favor strongly the formation of lime, and since there is very little leaching of the soil by rainfall, the lime acc.u.mulates in the soil.

The presence of large quant.i.ties of lime in arid soils has a number of distinct advantages, among which the following are most important: (1) It prevents the sour condition frequently present in humid climates, where much organic material is incorporated with the soil. (2) When other conditions are favorable, it encourages bacterial life which, as is now a well-known fact, is an important factor in developing and maintaining soil fertility. (3) By somewhat subtle chemical changes it makes the relatively small percentages of other plant-foods notably phosphoric acid and potash, more available for plant growth. (4) It aids to convert rapidly organic matter into humus which represents the main portion of the nitrogen content of the soil.

Of course, an excess of lime in the soil may be hurtful, though less so in arid than in humid regions. Some authors state that from 8 to 20 per cent of calcium carbonate makes a soil unfitted for plant growth. There are, however, a great many agricultural soils covering large areas and yielding very abundant crops which contain very much larger quant.i.ties of calcium carbonate. For instance, in the Sanpete Valley of Utah, one of the most fertile sections of the Great Basin, agricultural soils often contain as high as 40 per cent of calcium carbonate, without injury to their crop-producing power.

In the table are two columns headed "Soluble Silica" and "Alumina,"

in both of which it is evident that a very much larger per cent is found in the arid than in the humid soils. These soil const.i.tuents indicate the condition of the soil with reference to the availability of its fertility for plant use. The higher the percentage of soluble silica and alumina, the more thoroughly decomposed, in all probability, is the soil as a whole and the more readily can plants secure their nutriment from the soil. It will be observed from the table, as previously stated, that more humus is found in humid than in arid soils, though the difference is not so large as might be expected. It should be recalled, however, that the nitrogen content of humus formed under rainless conditions is many times larger than that of humus formed in rainy countries, and that the smaller per cent of humus in dry-farming countries is thereby offset.

All in all, the composition of arid soils is very much more favorable to plant growth than that of humid soils. As will be shown in Chapter IX, the greater fertility of arid soils is one of the chief reasons for dry-farming success. Depth of the soil alone does not suffice. There must be a large amount of high fertility available for plants in order that the small amount of water can be fully utilized in plant growth.

_Summary of characteristics.--_Arid soils differ from humid soils in that they contain: less clay; more sand, but of fertile nature because it is derived from rocks that in humid countries would produce clay; less humus, but that of a kind which contains about 3-1/2 times more nitrogen than the humus of humid soils; more lime, which helps in a variety of ways to improve the agricultural value of soils; more of all the essential plant-foods, because the leaching by downward drainage is very small in countries of limited rainfall.

Further, arid soils show no real difference between soil and subsoil; they are deeper and more permeable; they are more uniform in structure; they have hardpans instead of clay subsoil, which, however, disappear under the influence of cultivation; their subsoils to a depth of ten feet or more are as fertile as the topsoil, and the availability of the fertility is greater. The failure to recognize these characteristic differences between arid and humid soils has been the chief cause for many crop failures in the more or less rainless regions of the world.

This brief review shows that, everything considered, arid soils are superior to humid soils. In ease of handling, productivity, certainty of crop-lasting quality, they far surpa.s.s the soils of the countries in which scientific agriculture was founded. As Hilgard has suggested, the historical datum that the majority of the most populous and powerful historical peoples of the world have been located on soils that thirst for water, may find its explanation in the intrinsic value of arid soils. From Babylon to the United States is a far cry; but it is one that shouts to the world the superlative merits of the soil that begs for water. To learn how to use the "desert" is to make it "blossom like the rose."

Soil divisions

The dry-farm territory of the United States may be divided roughly into five great soil districts, each of which includes a great variety of soil types, most of which are poorly known and mapped.

These districts are:--

1. Great Plains district.

2. Columbia River district 3. Great Basin district.

4. Colorado River district.

5. California district.

_Great Plains district.--_On the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, extending eastward to the extreme boundary of the dry-farm territory, are the soils of the High Plains and the Great Plains. This vast soil district belongs to the drainage basin of the Missouri, and includes North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and parts of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and Minnesota. The soils of this district are usually of high fertility. They have good lasting power, though the effect of the higher rainfall is evident in their composition. Many of the distinct types of the plains soils have been determined with considerable care by Snyder and Lyon, and may be found described in Bailey's "Cyclopedia of American Agriculture," Vol. I.

_Columbia River district.--_The second great soil district of the dry-farming territory is located in the drainage basin of the Columbia River, and includes Idaho and the eastern two thirds of Was.h.i.+ngton and Oregon. The high plains of this soil district are often spoken of as the Palouse country. The soils of the western part of this district are of basaltic origin; over the southern part of Idaho the soils have been made from a somewhat recent lava flow which in many places is only a few feet below the surface. The soils of this district are generally of volcanic origin and very much alike. They are characterized by the properties which normally belong to volcanic soils; somewhat poor in lime, but rich in potash and phosphoric acid. They last well under ordinary methods of tillage.

_The Great Basin.--_The third great soil district is included in the Great Basin, which covers nearly all of Nevada, half of Utah, and takes small portions out of Idaho, Oregon, and southern California.

This basin has no outlet to the sea. Its rivers empty into great saline inland lakes, the chief of which is the Great Salt Lake. The sizes of these interior lakes are determined by the amounts of water flowing into them and the rates of evaporation of the water into the dry air of the region.

In recent geological times, the Great Basin was filled with water, forming a vast fresh-water lake known as Lake Bonneville, which drained into the Columbia River. During the existence of this lake, soil materials were washed from the mountains into the lake and deposited on the lake bottom. When at length, the lake disappeared, the lake bottom was exposed and is now the farming lands of the Great Basin district. The soils of this district are characterized by great depth and uniformity, an abundance of lime, and all the essential plant-foods with the exception of phosphoric acid, which, while present in normal quant.i.ties, is not unusually abundant. The Great Basin soils are among the most fertile on the American Continent.

_Colorado River district.--_The fourth soil district lies in the drainage basin of the Colorado River It includes much of the southern part of Utah, the eastern part of Colorado, part of New Mexico, nearly all of Arizona, and part of southern California. This district, in its northern part, is often spoken of as the High Plateaus. The soils are formed from the easily disintegrated rocks of comparatively recent geological origin, which themselves are said to have been formed from deposits in a shallow interior sea which covered a large part of the West. The rivers running through this district have cut immense canons with perpendicular walls which make much of this country difficult to traverse. Some of the soils are of an extremely fine nature, settling firmly and requiring considerable tillage before they are brought to a proper condition of tilth. In many places the soils are heavily charged with calcium sulfate, or crystals of the ordinary land plaster. The fertility of the soils, however, is high, and when they are properly cultivated, they yield large and excellent crops.

_California district.--_The fifth soil district lies in California in the basin of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. The soils are of the typical arid kind of high fertility and great lasting powers.

They represent some of the most valuable dry-farm districts of the West. These soils have been studied in detail by Hilgard.

_Dry-farming in the five districts.--_It is interesting to note that in all of these five great soil districts dry-farming has been tried with great success. Even in the Great Basin and the Colorado River districts, where extreme desert conditions often prevail and where the rainfall is slight, it has been found possible to produce profitable crops without irrigation. It is unfortunate that the study of the dry-farming territory of the United States has not progressed far enough to permit a comprehensive and correct mapping of its soils. Our knowledge of this subject is, at the best, fragmentary. We know, however, with certainty that the properties which characterize arid soils, as described in this chapter' are possessed by the soils of the dry-farming territory, including the five great districts just enumerated. The characteristics of arid id soils increase as the rainfall decreases and other conditions of aridity increase. They are less marked as we go eastward or westward toward the regions of more abundant rainfall; that is to say, the most highly developed arid soils are found in the Great Basin and Colorado River districts. The least developed are on the eastern edge of the Great Plains.

The judging of soils

A chemical a.n.a.lysis of a soil, unless accompanied by a large amount of other information, is of little value to the farmer. The main points in judging a prospective dry-farm are: the depth of the soil, the uniformity of the soil to a depth of at least 10 feet, the native vegetation, the climatic conditions as relating to early and late frosts, the total annual rainfall and its distribution, and the kinds and yields of crops that have been grown in the neighborhood.

The depth of the soil is best determined by the use of an auger. A simple soil auger is made from the ordinary carpenter's auger, 1-1/2 to 2 inches in diameter, by lengthening its shaft to 3 feet or more.

Where it is not desirable to carry sectional augers, it is often advisable to have three augers made: one 3 feet, the other 6, and the third 9 or 10 feet in length. The short auger is used first and the others afterwards as the depth of the boring increases. The boring should he made in a large number of average places--preferably one boring or more on each acre if time and circ.u.mstances permit--and the results entered on a map of the farm.

The uniformity of the soil is observed as the boring progresses. If gravel layers exist, they will necessarily stop the progress of the boring. Hardpans of any kind will also be revealed by such an examination.

The climatic information must be gathered from the local weather bureau and from older residents of the section.

The native vegetation is always an excellent index of dry-farm possibilities. If a good stand of native gra.s.ses exists, there can scarcely be any doubt about the ultimate success of dry-farming under proper cultural methods. A healthy crop of sagebrush is an almost absolutely certain indication that farming without irrigation is feasible. The rabbit brush of the drier regions is also usually a good indication, though it frequently indicates a soil not easily handled. Greasewood, shadscale, and other related plants ordinarily indicate heavy clay soils frequently charged with alkali. Such soils should be the last choice for dry-farming purposes, though they usually give good satisfaction under systems of irrigation. If the native cedar or other native trees grow in profusion, it is another indication of good dry-farm possibilities.

CHAPTER VI

THE ROOT SYSTEMS OF PLANTS

The great depth and high fertility of the soils of arid and semiarid regions have made possible the profitable production of agricultural plants under a rainfall very much lower than that of humid regions.

To make the principles of this system fully understood, it is necessary to review briefly our knowledge of the root systems of plants growing under arid conditions.

Functions of roots

The roots serve at least three distinct uses or purposes: First, they give the plant a foothold in the earth; secondly, they enable the plant to secure from the soil the large amount of water needed in plant growth, and, thirdly, they enable the plant to secure the indispensable mineral foods which can be obtained only from the soil. So important is the proper supply of water and food in the growth of a plant that, in a given soil, the crop yield is usually in direct proportion to the development of the root system. Whenever the roots are hindered in their development, the growth of the plant above ground is likewise r.e.t.a.r.ded, and crop failure may result. The importance of roots is not fully appreciated because they are hidden from direct view. Successful dry-farming consists, largely in the adoption of practices that facilitate a full and free development-of plant roots. Were it not that the nature of arid soils, as explained in preceding chapters, is such that full root development is comparatively easy, it would probably be useless to attempt to establish a system of dry-farming.

Kinds of roots

The root is the part of the plant that is found underground. It has numerous branches, twigs, and filaments. The root which first forms when the seed bursts is known as the primary root. From this primary root other roots develop, which are known as secondary roots. When the primary root grows more rapidly than the secondary roots, the so-called taproot, characteristic of lucerne, clover, and similar plants, is formed. When, on the other hand, the taproot grows slowly or ceases its growth, and the numerous secondary roots grow long, a fibrous root system results, which is characteristic of the cereals, gra.s.ses, corn, and other similar plants. With any type of root, the tendency of growth is downward; though under conditions that are not favorable for the downward penetration of the roots the lateral extensions may be very large and near the surface

Extent of roots

A number of investigators have attempted to determine the weight of the roots as compared with the weight of the plant above ground, hut the subject, because of its great experimental difficulties, has not been very accurately explained. Schumacher, experimenting about 1867, found that the roots of a well-established field of clover weighed as much as the total weight of the stems and leaves of the year's crop, and that the weight of roots of an oat crop was 43 per cent of the total weight of seed and straw. n.o.bbe, a few years later, found in one of his experiments that the roots of timothy weighed 31 per cent of the weight of the hay. Hosaeus, investigating the same subject about the same time, found that the weight of roots of one of the brome gra.s.ses was as great as the weight of the part above ground; of serradella, 77 per cent; of flax, 34 per cent; of oats, 14 per cent; of barley, 13 per cent, and of peas, 9 per cent.

Sanborn, working at the Utah Station in 1893, found results very much the same

Although these results are not concordant, they show that the weight of the roots is considerable, in many cases far beyond the belief of those who have given the subject little or no attention. It may be noted that on the basis of the figures above obtained, it is very probable that the roots in one acre of an average wheat crop would weigh in the neighborhood of a thousand pounds--possibly considerably more. It should be remembered that the investigations which yielded the preceding results were all conducted in humid climates and at a time when the methods for the study of the root systems were poorly developed. The data obtained, therefore, represent, in all probability, minimum results which would be materially increased should the work be repeated now.