LIBRARY OF THE ^ . UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. Class ARID AGRICULTURE A Hand-Book for the Western Farmer and Stockman BY B. C. BUFFUM, M. S. Manager of the Wyoming Plant and Seed Breeding Company, Worland. Former Professor of Agriculture in the University of Wyoming and the Colorado Agricultural College, and Director of the Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station. Oh, dear me, no! It wouldn't be such very hard work to think, If we did not have to talk or weep or use up bottles of ink, Or put to practice in the field The thin as our thinkers have revealed. Published by the Author 1909 Copyrighted by the Author. 1909. This book is dedicated to my father, who brought me to the Mountain Region at a tender age who was father and mother to his boys, cook, discoverer, philosopher trho developed an irrigated stock ranch from the nut ire wild who fought and conquered all the hardships of the pioneer who, though an in- valid., gave no thought for himself t but put forth untold effort to supply me with every educational advantage the West afforded at the time. Such men the country trill never cease to honor. 192639 Foreword. The purpose of this volume is to furnish plain fact< in a plain way about the practice of agriculture in the AIUI) RKGIOX. Whatever its shortcomings, the reading matter here pre- sented is new and original. It has been carved out of a quarter century of experience, observa- tion and study in the dry part? of the West. Xo attempt has been made to compile scientific data or write a cyclopaedia. We have tried to present enough of the practice and underlying principles of arid farming to enable any intelligent man to "make good" 1 on a Western farm. We feel that this book will, in a measure, meet a "crying need of the hour." The West is now rapidly settling up with new farmers and new stockmen whose measure of success is pro- ])orti< ual to the quick and reliable information they are able to obtain. Books on agriculture written from the view point of the farmer or sci- entist in the humid Ka*t. generally are good bonks, but they do not supply the arid farmer .with the most important facts. In the present book we try to give some idea of soil tillage and crop production in the Arid Region. Our admi- ration is great for the men who are unselfishly helping to solve We-'ern farm and ranch prob- lems, and we invite kindlv criticism of the fol- 6 ARID AGRICULTURE. lowing pages, that we may make them, better and more useful. We gratefully acknowledge personal encour- agement and help from many friends. Mr. TL T. Nowell has supplied much of the data for chapters T and S, in Part III. Dr. G. H. Glover has given information in the chapters on Animal Diseases, Farm Surgery and Poisonous Plants. Information, suggestions or help have been fur- nished by Frank Beach, F. W. Wherren, J. T. Burns, W. Paddock, C. P. Gillette, W. P. Head- den, F. C. Alford, L. G. Carpenter and others. Finally, this book would have been impossi- ble but for the personal friendship of Dr. Y. T. Cooke. His deep and accurate knowledge of Dry Farming and the West and his unlimited faith, untiring energy and unquestioned sincer- ity, have supplied the right ear-mark of the dry farming discussions. We are already assured of a kindly reception to our Arid Agriculture. B. C. BUFFUM. Worland, Wyo., Jan. 15, 1909. CONTENTS. PAGE Part I. Introduction. CHAPTER 1. The Arid Region 11 Part II. Dry Farming. CHAPTER 2. Dry Farming 33 CHAPTER 3. Plowing 42 CHAPTER 4. Conservation of Moisture 53 CHAPTER 5. Crop Management G4 Part III. Irrigation. CHAPTER 6. Irrigation Farming 79 CHAPTER 7. Methods of Irrigation 93 CHAPTER 8. Irrigation Appliances 108 Part IV. Crops and Crop Culture. CHAPTER 9. Alfalfa 121 ( IIAPTER 10. Hay and Forage Crops 147 CHAPTER 11. Grains 172 CHAPTER 12. Potato Culture 188 CHAPTER 13. The Sugar Beet and Its Culture. 201 CHAPTER 14. Miscellaneous Crops . . . . 221 CHAPTER 15. Plant Breeding 228 Part V. Crop Destroyers. CHAPTER 16. Weeds 245 CHAPTER 17. Insect Enemies 259 CH AFTER 18. Plant Diseases . 274 CHAPTER 19. Rodents and Birds 284 Part VI. Live Stock. CHAPTER 20. The Ranging of Live Stock 299 CHAPTER 21. Western Animal Feeding 311 CHAPTER 22. Stock Breeding Suggestions 336 CHAPTER 23. Common Diseases of Live Stock. 343 CHAPTER 24. Poison Plants of the West 358 CHAPTER 25. Common Farm Surgery 364 8 CONTENTS. PAGE Part VII. Home Building. CHAPTER 26. Hints on Selecting a Western Farm 377 CHAPTER 27. Starting a Western Farm Home. 389 CHAPTER 28. The Home Garden 403 CHAPTER 29. Trees 41 1 CHAPTER 30. Wind Breaks 424 Part I. Introduction. THE ARID WEST. Our fathers wrought to till the land By clearing off the forest grand. The land was poor, they planted shad With every seed to make corn glad, Taking their cue of what to do From savage men they overthrew. And never could they understand That the Arid West is the promised land. I a ,0 2 . o I - OF T H .-v UNWERSIT CALIFOHJ CHAPTER I. THE ARID REGION. It has again taken forty years of wandering 1 in the wilderness before entering into the fuller possession of our promised land. ABID Arid agriculture is the agriculture of the AGRICULTURE arid region. An arid country is one in which there is a small amount of rainfall. The word rainfall as here used means the total precipita- tion during the year, including rain, snow, sleet, and hail. A "small amount of rainfall" means an amount which used to be considered insuffi- cient for the raising of field crops without the artificial application of water. The line between possible farming by natural rainfall and impos- sible farming with natural moisture was for- merly somewhat definitely fixed. More than twenty-five inches of precipitation in a year was considered sufficient for the production of gen- eral crops. In places where between twenty-five inches of rain and fifteen inches occurs farming was considered uncertain, so regions receiving this amount of moisture were classed as sub- humid, or semi-arid. PROGRESS In parts of the country where the total rain- STEP BY f a u j s ] ess than fifteen inches there is compara- tively little natural vegetation. Early statesmen named the whole region the "Great American ARID AGRICULTURE. Desert." Stockmen early learned the value of the West for grazing great flocks and herds. With the accumulation of wealth from the public domain they generously dropped the word ''des- ert/' and called it the "Short grass country." The storage of mountain snows supplies peren- nial streams with water which man puts into use for irrigation. A rather persistent belief prevailed for some years that farm crops could not be raised without irrigation. This idea, along with the dry climate and characteristic, unleached virgin soils placed the country on the map as the arid region. Evolution always leads towards greater perfection. Aleii of broad vision realize that what was impossible yesterday be- comes the common possession of tomorrow. These so-called visionaries believed that there were great sections of this arid region in which the soils could and would be made to produce more food and raiment for mankind by artificial means and the application of scientific princi- ples. In the semi-arid region where first at- tempts at farming generally failed, the pointing of the way by accumulation of experience and the adoption of better methods, has resulted in the establishment of thousands of new self-sup- porting homes. In the far West, on the Pacific Coast, and here and there east of the Rocky Mountains, farm crops have been produced for more than forty years, in some places with an annual rainfall as small as eight inches. ARID AGRICULTURE. 13 COMING OP MORE INTENSIVE DEVELOP- MENT This comparatively new art of agriculture is that of dry farming. A few practical scientists and farmers have been unselfishly studying and demonstrating the possibilities of extending our productive area by the more intelligent use of natural resources. Because some unscrupulous "get-rieli-quick" land agents have taken advan- tage of the movement and exaggerated its possi- bilities is no reason for condemnation. On the other hand, the feelings of those who have either experienced or known of the first disasters which r< --ulted from settlement, and attempts to follow out the fariii methods of our fathers (which had been practiced for centuries in humid regions), must be respected. Xor must we judge harshly the honest skepticism, contempt, or resulting de- spair of Western stockmen who have spent the best portion of their lives in building up re- munerative stock-grazing industries based upon the free use of the range, and whose business is being destroyed by the encroachment of the small irrigation farmer and the dry farmer. It is only right that these men should be well paid for giv- ing up their holdings to new settlement. They have pioneered and braved early hardships, such that only the most hardy could endure. They have builded homes; they have wrested suste- nance from the breast of nature and have come to love the occupation which they have made suc- cessful only through a lifetime of heart-interests and undivided thought. With no confidence in 14 ARID AGRICULTURE. the success of the new dry farm movement, the old residents simply see the wrecking of their own industry to no permanent good. They re- luctantly admit successes in farming which they did not at first believe possible, but lay the suc- cess to temporary favorable seasons. "The hand- writing is on the wall." The application of new knowledge, in soil culture, in adapting of useful drouth resistant plants, in machinery and power, and in an hundred significant ways means that there will be no turning backward. The development may come more slowly than the more enthusiastic advocates predict ; but come it must, and the gain will be of enormous import to the commonwealths situated in the great arid region "the best half of the United States." EFFECT OF SOLVING WESTERN PROBLEMS Agriculture in the West is new. Forty years is a short time in which to develop a new ag^icul- tural country. It is true that our earliest great civilizations were all built up in arid regions, but for the past twenty centuries or more (of dark ages) man has taken haphazard chances with humid farming. Although the time has been so short, already some new principles are being worked out which will be found useful to farmer and stockman wherever located. The practice of irrigation is spreading to more humid sections of the country. The principles of scientific soil culture, the conservation and use of moisture, ARID AGRICULTURE. 15 the relation of the growing season and the crop, the effect of soil aeration, the making available of plant food, the acclimatization and adaptation of plants, the causes of variations, the value of heredity and pedigree in plants, as well as in animals, and a host of other farm problems, are being elucidated and solved through necessity in the building up of arid agriculture. Our les- sons, in so far as they teach how and why, are useful to all. MUST To meet with greatest success the Eastern UNLEARN farmer who comes West must unlearn what he LEARN THE knows about farming. The Western farmer NEW must learn farming anew. The new settler would make fewer mistakes if he could leave behind, with the dust of the farm which he shakes from his feet, the memories of his old farm practices. Many of the first farmers in the West, and especially those who attempt to dry farm, do not succeed. It takes time to learn a new business or the conditions of a new coun- try. It took fifteen years for the farmers of Idaho, Washington and Oregon to learn how to produce wheat with their present success. It took as long for the farmers of Colorado to learn potato culture. As many more years were con- sumed in working out high altitude agriculture and the use of alfalfa and field peas in these loca- tions. Even now, after forty years of successful dry farming in parts of the West, there are those 16 ARID AGRICULTURE. GREAT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HUMID AND ARID CONDITIONS in other places who have not seen the work dem- onstrated, that look upon any claims for success as false. Heretofore every man has had to go through the period of learning for himself. Now he may take advantage of the pioneer's experi- ence and is able to find out the new method in a much shorter time. The important point is that to succeed he must learn and adopt new methods. Successful irrigation or successful dry farming require method, require system, require a shak- ing off of old conceptions and old tradi- tions and the obtaining of a new knowledge of the relationships of water, soil, climate, crop, and market. Dame Nature of the West holds out most alluring charms, and those who woo and win her smile reap a reward beyond com- pare. The one thing most needed is correct and accurate information. A few pioneers and sci- entists have given years of study to these partic- ular problems and have worked out methods which secure the best results. It is the attempt of the writer of this book to present in brief form the more important data of arid farming. The West is a strange land, even to her own people. Every new achievement in fanning brings as sincere expressions of surprise and wonder to our own citizens as they do to the "stranger within our gates." The average tra- dition and hereditary memory is that of humid climates. The difference between the mountain ARID AGRICULTURE. 17 region of arid America and the more humid East is so great that it can neither be impressed upon the mind nor fully appreciated in a single gen- eration. We have now learned some of the more important changes brought about by aridity. The small rainfall results in its particular kind 'of climate and soil. These in turn not only change the entire aspect of landscape and dis- tance, but also profoundly influence the struct- ural life and health of animals and plants and place new conditions into human ethics and the social fabric. The use of open ranges for com- mon grazing ground made men cognizant of each other's rights the use of limited water-supply for irrigation, at least in all larger systems, en- forces co-operation. Lofty mountains, grand distances, and sparce settlement stimulate more individual movement. Stockmen go to market with their product. The people travel. They get their own kind of education from more leis- ure, more moving from place to place, and more intimate acquaintance with nature and their fel- lows. They find greater independence of thought and action necessary because, in the struggle for existence, they must overcome unusual obstacles and old forms, and old laws are in many in- stances not applicable to the change of condi- tions. The institutions of the West are being- founded upon new principles. Those who attempt to follow agricultural pursuits find crop failure less common, and with 18 ARID AGRICULTURE. new knowledge the business of farming is more dependable. These things point out a few of the more important differences between the hu- mid and the arid region. With experience, ranchmen and farmers are learning new and im- portant facts which help them to gain success. The lands are being rapidly settled, and in a few years none will be left idle which can be used for crop production. ~New dry farmers should be made to understand the necessity of following right methods in order to avoid failure or delay in securing that independence which they seek. SYSTEMS OP Every farm system known is being practiced in the West. The earliest agricultural occupa- tion was the mere grazing of live stock on the open range. This was rapidly followed by the combined use of ranch and range. With this raising of live stock at home instead of shipping in feeders, came rapid development in the quali- ty of stock through giving them better care, the raising of winter feed, and greater attention to breeding. With the development of irrigation there came into existence some pure farming where the field crops produced were the entire dependence of the grower. At the present time we have a large class of dry farmers who are practicing both pure farming and the combined raising of stock and crops. Truck gardening and fruit growing are also practiced. We have ARID AGRICULTURE. 19 named the combination of irrigation and dry farming "supplemental farming." FARMING In the best watered states of the arid region AREAS ft - g estimated that from five to ten per cent, of the total area may ultimately be reclaimed by ir- rigation. Approximately twenty per cent, oi the area is covered with mountains and forests. According to our present knowledge, between twenty per cent, and thirty per cent, may be cul- tivated by so-called dry farm methods, leaving some fifty per cent, of the total area as grazing, mineral, and waste land. There are consider, able areas still remaining which are subject to entry under the land laws of the United States. In Wyoming alone there are some forty-eight million acres open to entry, or over seventy-five per cent of the total area. It should be pointed out, however, that practically all the land which is easy to reclaim by irrigation is now in private control. There are still large opportunities to develop reservoirs and reclaim new lands, and considerable areas are yet to come into private ownership, both for irrigation farming and range uses. The agricultural resources of the West are only beginning to be developed. The surface has hardly been scratched, but such a be j ginning has already been made that the wonder and astonishment of the Avorld has been attracted by the agricultural displays made at state fairs and the great international expositions. 20 ARID AGRICULTURE. BOOM FOB The West is filled with paradoxes. The MORE PEOPLE wor( j ar i c | j g some times used to mean poor, or un- productive. However, there are no lands in the world more productive than our best arid lands, unless we except the soils forming the deltas of some great rivers. The most thickly populated delta lands support over five hundred persons per square mile, or about five-sixths of a person for each acre. Some Western lands have been made to sup- port four cows per acre. If they were ordinarily good cows and gave twenty pounds of milk per day apiece, five-sixths of a person could not drink the milk. If the forty quarts of milk per day from the four cows were sold for five cents a quart, the income of two dollars ought to give entire support to a whole man. With such pos- sibilities the comparatively small irrigated por- tion of arid America would support a population equal to one-half the total present population oi the United States. The arid region can also supply two-hundred-acre dry farms to a half million farmers and give each one as much more land for pasturage or range. With the average sized farm family this makes room for two mill- ions more population in this land of promise. Time and the future will make the promise good. CLIMATE OP This arid region we arc writing about has THE DBY from one-sixth to one-half the amount of rain and snow which comes in other parts of the ARID AGRICULTURE. 21 I 11 i ted States. The air is dry ? rarified, cool, free from poisonous gases and germs, invigorat- ing and generally moving. There are few cloudy days. The sun shines over sixty per cent, of his rime on the people. In Xew York state, for comparison, the glorious sun shows his face only sixteen per cent, of his time, and the quality of the shine is stingy at that Disease germs are things of darkness and dampness. Dry sun- shine is the most deadly thing to disease germs known in the world. Thermometers for recording temperatures in the arid country are always at work. The tem- perature is not stationary, but changes more each twenty-four hours than it does anywhere else. Dry air neither burns nor scalds, and it does not carry sultry heat into shady places nor into the night. The nii>lits arc cool even where the cli- mate is subtropical. There is no sunstroke or prostration with heat. Farm animals are com- paratively free from Disease. Such climate car- ries with it health, comfort and happiness to the people. If a tubercular patient does not get well in this climate, there is some reason that he does not other than the presence of the diWase germ. The arid region covers a large section of the earth's surface. The dry climate varies from the subtropical in the South and \Ve-t to the frigid of the mountain top. The tops of the higher mountains should not be classed as arid. 22 ARID AGRICULTURE. however, for they reach so high in the atmos- phere that they catch as much precipitation in a year as falls in humid sections. Over much of the region, especially on the higher plateaus and over portions of the Pacific Slope, there is much wind ; while other portions are comparatively free from strong winds. The wind seldom blows hard enough to be destructive, and tornadoes are unknown throughout the mountain regions. Hail and thunder storms are common over a goodly portion of the western prairies and plateaus, and in some sections the farmer should consider the possibility of hail when he selects his principal crops, planting those which will be the least injured. The cli- mate is marked by great freedom from those storms which prove destructive to life and prop- erty in other countries. THE The length of season free from frost varies from no frost during the year to places with frost every month. Profitable farming may be done where light frosts may occur at any time during the growing months. In middle latitudes where the altitude reaches 7,000 feet to 8,000 feet the light frosts of summer are practically harmless to short season crops. The grains and grasses, alfalfa and potatoes, beets and turnips, Canadian field peas and other crops will stand several degrees of frost in the spring. Young seedling plants are not injured by an amount of ARID AGRICULTURE. 23 freezing which totally destroys the same plants at the end of the season. Technically the grow- ing season runs through almost the entire year, even where the winter is severe. Winter grains and the native grasses undoubtedly extend their root systems after the crops are frozen dormant and the tops make considerable growth during warm days, even if the nights are very cold. It is important to plant crops early enough so those subject to frost injury w^ill mature before early frosts come. Spring grains and tender vegeta- bles are in this class. How advantage may be taken of the growing season depends upon the character of crop grown and the particular cli- matic conditions of each region. RAINFALL OP The total precipitation is less than fifteen inches per year. The character of the precipita- tion and the time it comes varies greatly. In the region west of the Rocky Mountains the larger part of the moisture falls in the winter months and the summers are dry. East of the Rockies as much as seventy-five per cent, of the total moisture falls in the spring months W 7 hen it is most useful for the germinating seed and the early growth of plants. Where irrigation is de- pended upon it is important to store a part of the flood waters and the run-off from early melt- ing of mountain snows into reservoirs for the supply of late water when the streams are low. The dry farmer, where winter rains prevail, 24 ARID AGRICULTURE. stores the moisture in his cultivated ground and the fallow lands of other regions act as storage until there is sufficient for the maturing of crops. ARID AGRICULTURE. 25 aotO 01 c: GO c: 10 cc > i T)* cc Ci >-; >-; i i c: " 5 A 10 Ci e>i Tt IO Tt GO GO l-r-^ Ol Ci t- 10 ^ co co c: w CO ^ 01 H /. co co so co r-i GO CM t^ r-i ac co b- GO *M SO X -t CO C ^i *"< O Ol ^ s*^ ^ i *^ OJ r-. 01 -H Ol Ol SO CO ^" Ol C-l 01 Ol 11 Ol to r: u /. 0) i SO so CI VZ I ^- 1 ^ r- Tf SO Ci Ci Tf 10 co ac 10 Ci O t- CO o o o c r-H O 01 .-i 1-1 O -! CI -i Tf ^* CO O SO Ol B a ~ S 00 -- M - 0) CO -* co co CO 01 -> t^ !- 00 t^ i Ci GC Ci GO r* CO 10 so t^ so co H o r. ^01 -t t-3 DD j3 h ' 0) Ci ^ coiocei^OGCcoGco [vf ^3 ^j O S "5 ^3 cu -- 5 d> DO OQ OQ 02 W fc fc H W t>- ^ ^002 llii^ X r c -/. a: DC SCC H : ci > . . . g K >i . o : C ' . .^ H U Ci " C r^ ^ O X H P- !^a: III a> -^ IJ III! .2& M^ /J B n l.^^_ ^ _: n ^ fc. K g o < O STATE CALIFOR OREGON WASHIN NEVADA IDAHO .. W H b MONTAN WYOMTN ARID AGRICULTURE. CM Ci CO TjH r- VC rH Tj CO t rH CO OS T< O5 O OS (N ARID AGRICULTURE. 27 THE The figures given in our rainfall table have BAXKFAXA been carefully selected from Bulletin a Q" of the IT. S. Department of Agriculture. The places at which observations have been taken are representative of the different sections of the arid region. The season when the most moist- ure comes has much effect on the agriculture, es- pecially if dry farming is practiced. As the total amount is given for each season of the year, any one can see at a glance when the most moist- ure falls. On the western slope and in the Great Basin the principal precipitation occurs in the winter months. In northern Montana it is quite evenly distributed through the year. In Colorado, it varies, being generally heavier in the spring months. Attention is called to the fact that on the Divide South of Denver, consid- erable precipitation comes in late summer and the farmers produce good potato crops which re- quire late moisture, without practicing special dry farming methods. The table is especially interesting to the dry farmer and no attempt has been made to show the relation of this rainfall to irrigation further than its general effect on crops in addition to the use of running water and that from storage reservoirs. ARID SOILS Three kinds of soil are seldom, if ever, found in the arid region. These are peat or muck soils, sour or acid soils and leached out soils. The soils vary greatly, but whether sandy or 28 ARID AGRICULTURE. J clay, they are similar in several particular?. They are rich in lime. They have all the min- erals contained in the rocks from which they came and sometimes more, because of accumula- tion of soluble salts. They are poor in humus, or vegetable mold. Doctor ITilgard states that the soils over a larger part of the arid region have never been Avet to a depth of two feet. With light rainfall, there is no percolation of Avnter through the soil' to carry out soluble p.irt^. When the compacted surface soil is broken up, aerate;! and put in ab- sorbing condition, it catches the rains and SUOAVS and the loAver soil which Avas before dry, becomes saturated with the moisture 1 Avhich would -other- Aviso flow off the surface or be evaporated from the upper layer. Soils in arid regions are much richer in solu- ble alkalis, salts and mineral plant foods than are the soils of humid sections. Where the rain- fall is heaA T y ? these salts have bc'en washed into the drainage. They haA T e become a part of the salt of the sea and are lost to agriculture. Some of the minerals are essential plant foods, others, soda and magnesia, seem to stimulate plant growth. Still others, as lime, have a marked effect on the character and condition of the soil. It has been shoAvn that the humus in arid regions contains an average of about three times as much nitrogen as the humus of eastern soils. ^ Although our soils are poor in humus, they are % ARID AGRICULTURE. 29 not so poor in nitrogen as the lack of humus would indicate. But it is in looseness or floccula- tion and mineral elements that our western soils excel. Of the salts of sodium and magnesium, we have an abundance and some to spare. Ex- cessive accumulation of these salts through over irrigation and lack of management causes the waste spots of some farms whore the land lias been taken with alkali. Of the more important minerals, as potash and phosphoric acid, the most of our soils con- rain enough for a long series of years of crop- ping. An average of thirty-four analyses of soils from Colorado, Wyoming and California, taken consecutively, though somewhat at random from the reports, gives approximately 40.07.") pounds of potash and 6,970 pounds of phosphoric acid per acre in the surface soils, given in Roberts' "Fertility of the Land." all but one of which are from -the East and South, gives 17,599 pounds potash and 3,936 pounds of phosphoric acid per acre in the surface soil. This shows over two and one-fourth times as much potash and one and three-fourth times as much phosphoric acid in the arid soils which have been studied. The manner in which the^e minerals become available and are used by the growing crops is another question. ABID This book is the first attempt to present to FARMING A the farmers of the West a handbook of aaricnl- NEW SCIENCE 30 ARID AGRICULTURE. , tural practice, suited to their particular needs. The soil culture and crop treatment required to give the best and most remunerative returns in the West are not given elsewhere in any availa- ble form. The dry farmers who would produce crops with a minimum amount of soil moisture must follow a definite method. The irrigation farmer or stock ranchman can meet with greater success through knowledge of new scientific facts relating to his occupation, and the dry farmer, wherever located, will find it useful if not indis- pensable to him to know the advanced methods worked out for his special conditions. Part II. DRY FARMING. With faltering steps the pioneer Who could not see the future clear Here pitched his tent. With flock and herd He garnered wealth from forage stored. 'Rose murmurs when some spying men Brought from the land the fruit, for then 'Twas shown that in this barren soil There is wealth in truth to be gained thru toil. OF THE UNIVERSITY OF RN\ CHAPTER II. FARMING. Pessimism about our possibilities of development is sometimes fostered by selfish interests, but men are often mistaken about what is best for them. THE TERM lh e term "Dry farming" is often objected to DRY FARM- because it states an untruth. No crop can be NG" AS GOOD . , AS ANY produced without moisture. Dry iarniing means farming where the annual precipitation has not been considered sufficient for the produc- tion of profitable crops. Indeed, dry farming is usually carried on where the rainfall of one sea- son is not sufficient and the moisture must be saved up for a longer period. Perhaps dry farming is as good a combina- tion as can be invented to specify this kind of agriculture. At any rate, no other term has been suggested which covers the practice and is not mure objectionable. To designate it as Scien- tific farming is not good, for farming is an art. Science is as useful, if not as indispensable, to other forms of agriculture. Scientific fanning has been used also to designate the semi-arid cropping along the border of the region of suf- ficient rainfall. Arid farming is a most excel- lent term, but it has a broader meaning. As here used arid agriculture covers the whole sub- ject of production from the soil in the states where aridity prevails. 34 ARID AGRICULTURE. DRY FARM- The raising of crops without irrigation in a ^ countl T i g n t new - In some parts of our own country, farmers have been self-supporting on farms which receive less than fifteen inches of rainfall per year, for almost a half century. The general introduc- tion of dry farming to all sections of the west is a new movement. Men of little faith, with much prejudice and less information, have raised their voices in most vigorous protest wherever the new system has been introduced. Some of this opposition is righteous indignation over the exaggerations of dry farm enthusiasts and land agents. Regardless of such opposition, dry farming has met with such degree of success everywhere that it not only "holds its own but is spreading rapidly. Many are quick to claim that the successes are clue to excessive moisture, but with the use of the two year conservation method the normal rainfall is repeatedly proven sufficient. It is now safe to predict that the system has come to stay and that a considerable portion of our range land will be made to pro- duce more profitable crops than it does in native grass. Many stockmen are wisely trying crop- ping on a small scale. It is undoubtedly true that many new settlers who think they already "know all about farming" are destined to fail, but the few will learn how and practice well what they learn. Unless in unsuitable locations, these men will stick. There are enough favor- ARID AGRICULTURE. 35 THE KEY TO DRY FARMING DRY FARM METHOD AND SYSTEM able locations and it is safe to say that the art of ilry farming is permanently established. The key to dry farming is the conservation of moisture and making it available to the grow- ing crop. All the operations of soil culture and plant cultivation are carried out with the object of storing moisture in the soil to conserve two years moisture for one crop. By this system one-half of the land is cropped each year, while the other half is summer tilled. In favorable seasons, or by the use of certain combinations, it is often possible to obtain two crops in three seasons. No doubt there are drouth resistant crops which can be made to pro- duce, every year, in favorable locations. After 36 ARID AGRICULTURE. a crop is removed from the soil and the land is again put in condition to absorb all the moisture that comes, should there be heavy rains, it may be put into winter grain or again planted to spring crops the following season. The soil cul- ture and crop treatment followed must be carried out at the right time and in the right way to in- sure the greatest success. SIZE or One man with a small amount of extra help DRY FARMS ^ ou \^ De ^[Q to farm at least 160 acres by the summer tillage system. How much land can be used to advantage depends on the kind of farm- ing, knowing how to take advantage of condi- tions, having the proper equipment and other things. We have two opposite conditions in the arid region. The small farm unit is most profit- able for pure farming under irrigation. The large farm unit is important to the dry farmer. Every man should have double the land he has in crop and at least as much more for stock pasture. A section of land would secure a more certain livelihood than smaller holdings, and half sec- tion farms where no water is available for irri- gation are as small as should be acquired by the average farmer, over a large section of the dry farm country. EQUIPMENT It does not require any new, complicated or FARMING expensive machinery with w y hich to follow out the most successful methods of dry farming. ARID AGRICULTURE. 37 Ordinary tools may be used, but having them is absolutely necessary. The bricklayer would make a sorry job of laying up a wall without a trowel. ~No man should attempt to do any kind of farming without proper equipment. The dry farmer ought to have the following list of tools : Four or six horses. Three section drag harrow. A two gang plow, twelve or fourteen inch. A single walking plow. A good disc harrow (14 inch disc bes). One or two good cultivators. An Acme harrow. Wagon and hayrack. Mowing machine. Two sets of harness. A Press drill. Potato planter and digger. Harvesting machine. An alfalfa harrow. A weeder. A float or drag. The necessary small tools. MIXED The best paying dry farms will be those in which a system of cropping and feeding stock is combined. Where the crops are fed to stock on the farm and the manure and waste returned to the land, the loss of soil fertility is so small that we need take no account of it. In fact, while 38 ARID AGRICULTURE. there is an actual loss of plant food from the soil, so much of the natural stored plant food is made available that the producing power of the soil continually increases. The plant food ele- ments used up when a crop is fed to hogs is only 15 per cent., and when fed to horses, cattle or sheep it is only four or five per cent, of the total. The balance is left in the manure and may be re- turned to the soil. The manure is a very im- portant item also, to be added to arid soils, as it increases their vegetable mold, making them very retentive of moisture and helping the work of soil bacteria and chemical agents. We would suggest also that many of the grains raised for stock food may be cut and fed without threshing, which avoids the extra work of threshing and hauling to market. There are great opportunities in the arid region on account of our market facilities, our favorable climate and the natural richness of our stock foods in protein, for the building up of profitable stock feeding industries. The feeding of lambs is al- ready of much importance, and there is hardly a location in which the raising and feeding of hogs, principally of the bacon type, cannot be made highly profitable. Poultry properly man- aged always give good returns. Many dry farm- ers also will have the use of more or less adjoin- ing range for the pasturage and partial support of their stock. ARID AGRICULTURE. 39 SUITABLE Xot all soils are suitable for dry farming. Unless a soil is sufficiently deep and sufficiently retentive of moisture, or can be made so, to store the water that falls on it from one season to the next, it will not be a good soil for this system of farming. The soil must be looked upon as a reservoir for water. If the reservoir is too shal- low or too hard the storm water will not soak into it. If it leaks at the bottom .or cannot be so protected that too much of the moisture will not be lost by evaporation from the top, attempts to reclaim it will meet with failure. Many of our soils are hard or compact at the surface in their natural state, but may be made to absorb all the moisture that comes by a single plowing. Heavy, compact clay absorbs water slowly, and loses it rapidly by evaporation. Such a soil, especially if underlaid with a shallow hardpan, should be avoided. Sandy loams are the best soils, and the more sandy they are, as a rule, the more retent- ive they are. They will hold water better if they contain a supply of well decomposed veg- etable mold. Such soils two or more feet deep can usually be successfully worked, other condi- tions being favorable. We believe it no detri- ment if the soil is underlaid with pure sand or small gravel, unless such sand or gravel contains cement which makes it hardpan. Sandy soils are kindly soils. They are easy and pleasant to work. They give the farmer time to get around to his necessary tillage opera- 40 ARID AGRICULTURE. tions. There is little danger of working such soils too wet and practically rone of injuring them by puddling when too dry. Heavier soils may do if they contain enough lime so the soil particles are well "flocculated." Lime is usu- ally abundant in western soils. Heavy soils may be all right if they contain a sufficient amount of vegetable matter. Dry soils are usually defi- cient -in humus and decomposed vegetable sub- stances. Flocculation is the collecting together of the very fine particles of soils into bunches or little flocks. An ounce of fine soil may contain over 500 billion particles and if each particle re- mained by itself, plant roots could not feed in the soil. Lime seems to bring the fine particles together and makes the soil sufficiently granular to be worked. Vegetable mold serves the same purpose, by keeping the soil particles farther apart. A new farmer who is in doubt about select- ing his soil, or what to do for it, should get the advice of some reliable man who has had experi- ence. PERSONAL There are three great personal elements of op E suxjci:ss character not possessed by the unsuccessful farmer. They are, first, the know-how. Sec- ond, the doit-now. Third, the do-things-well. So many let their work crowd them. They do not do so well as they know. There is often un- ARID AGRICULTURE. 41 avoidable neglect to do important things at the right time. More is generally attempted than can be done. The results arising from lack of these traits in the man, are often laid at the door of natural conditions that are in no wise respon- -ible. EXCEPTIONS There are exceptions to all rules. Our story ^ ^ e metnOf ls for dry farming practice will need to be modified in detail to meet the particu- lar conditions of each farm. The farmer's ulti- mate success depends on knowing the principles and then intelligently applying them to his indi- vidual problems. CHAPTER III. PLOWING PLOWING. The plow lias evoluted from a crude war-club, which was put to use for tilling 1 the soil and afterward became the first letter of the alphabet. " Stirring and mixing the soil is the funda- mental labor of agriculture." (Roberts.) Plow- Plate III. Plowing. ARID AGRICULTURE. 43 ing is the foundation upon which the superstruc- ture of farming is built. It is the matter of first concern to the farmer. Plowing seems to be a simple and easy process, but both the science of the why and the art of the how, are deep sub- jects. The character of his plowing displays the knowledge of the dry farmer and underlies his success. DEPTH OF PLOWING With hardly an exception the recommenda- tion to the dry farmer is to plow deep. Ordi- narily this means to plow as deep as possible which will generally be from seven to ten inches. This first commandment for dry farming is prob- ably the one most often broken. It is not al- ways possible to plow deep. The soil may be hard. The farmer more often does not have suf- ficient power to pull his plow. A common con- dition on w r estern farms is small horses, few of them and lack of that care which gets the most out of a horse. Sometimes the right kind of plows are not at hand or are not kept in best con- dition. WHY PLOW DEEP The first reason we plow deep is to make a large enough reservoir to absorb and hold the moisture. Our soils have been pounded down for centuries by the patter of rains and the feet of animals. They are too compact and have per- haps never been wet to a depth of more than a few inches. When in tilth some of these soils 44 ARID AGRICULTURE. INCREASES STORAGE CAPACITY PULVERIZES THE will absorb over 40 per cent, of their weight of water. If they contain from. 8 per cent, to 20 per cent, of moisture they are in condition to support growing crops. A crop of oats at Lara- mie did not wilt for some days when the soil con- tained as little as 3 per cent, of moisture. How the storage capacity of a soil may be in- creased by deep plowing; may be illustrated by a n A "1 I- ' t' few figures. A soil weighing one ton per cubic yard, weighs approximately 1613 tons per acre taken one foot deep. If such a soil will absorb and hold 20 per cent, moisture and is plowed six inches deep, it will take up 161.3 tons of moist- ure per acre. A rainfall of 1.4 inches will sup- ply this amount of moisture and fill up our six inch reservoir. If the ground is plowed only three inches deep, and the sub-soil is hard, it would not be able to store a rainfall of more than seven-tenths of an inch and should more water fall at one time it will be lost and may wash the soil away with it. If plowed nine inches deep and put in good condition, such a soil reservoir would absorb and hold over two inches of rain- fall at one time. A soil already containing a considerable water would be filled up with less rain, and deep plowing would be still more im- portant. Deep plowing is usually good plowing in grinds up and pulverizes the soil. Soils ARID AGRICULTURE. 45 that are plowed deep come more rapidly into good tilth. Fining the soil particles releases and makes available plant food. It lets in warmth and air and gives better chance for the activitv of chemical agents and bacteria. PLOWING ^ ie * ar er P art ^ soluble plant food becomes GIVES BOOT available in the surface soil. Plant roots pass PASTURE thru it easily and here they send out their feed- ers to make use of the foods ready for them. If four inches of the surface soil i e kept stirred for mulch the difference between plowing seven inches deep and eight inches deep equals twenty- five per cent in the area of the surface soil upon which the roots feed. DEEP Where the soils are light and winds drift PLOWING SAVES THE them, .-hallow plowing may result in all the top sorL soil, down to the sole of the furrow being blown away. Deep plowing on the contrary, thrmv- up heavier and rougher furrows, and tends to anchor the soil in place. Plowing deep, there- fore, both prevents washing and drifting. PLOWING EEP Wnere s ^l s are heavy, it often happens that MAY NOT DO ^ly an inch or two of the surface is in condition for the growth of plants. Turning this surface ->il under and covering it deeply with cold, un- tamed and unproductive clay, may prevent rais- ing a good crop for longer time than it is desira- ble to wait. This seldom occurs in dry farming, for the summer fallow will tend to put the soil 46 ARID AGRICULTURE. SUB-SOU. FLOWING into tilth before the first crop is planted. Some soils may be so shallow that it is not well to plow them deep. Where irrigation is practiced in. some of our drier regions where the soil is very poor in vegetable matter, merely discing two or three inches of the surface often gives a better first crop of grain than plowing. Such soils must be irrigated often and carefully because the soil may wash and the area for storage of moist- ure is so small that it dries out quickly. Gener- ally a soil that is suitable for dry farming is one which may be plowed deeply. Subsoiling is done by using a digger which follows the plow and tears up a few inches of the furrow sole or by means of a mole plow which is run underneath the furrow and lifts and breaks up the subsoil to the depth of fifteen inches or eighteen inches. It is expensive to prepare ground by subsoiling and is not recommended for general practice. Our rainfall is so small that so large a reservoir is not needed for storage of moisture and where irrigation is practiced there seems no advantage from filling so much loose soil with water at one time. There are places where subsoiling is advisable, and it often proves profitable for root crops or preparation of land for tree planting. SECOND The second time the soil is turned, plow about two inches shallower than the first plow- ARID AGRICULTURE. 47 ing. This is to avoid turning up the undecom- posed sod. In our dry climate it ordinarily takes more than one year to incorporate any veg- etable matter plowed under, with the soil. Crops plowed under when green, or well rotted manure, will become humus much more rapidly than w 7 ill dried out materials. Sometimes it is best to back set the land by turning the furrows the same di- rection as the first plowing. If the land is in good condition, cross-plowing will do more to pulverize and make a good seed bed. It is econ- omy to make the lands as long as possible to avoid much turning at the corners and tramping. If a soil is plowed year after year at the same depth the sole of the furrow becomes packed and hardened by the smoothing action of the plow bottom, and by the tramping of the horses. This may bring good results sometimes where irriga- tion is practiced, but in dry farming, doing alter- nate plowings at different depths, tends to break up the furrow sole and allow movement of moist- ure to and from the subsoil. Good plowing is the kind that gives the best results iu the crop. What good plowing is, de- ])(Miii(-;-cs^fully. This enables the farmer to take advantage of that useful s<:ni- dormant or waiting character of certain drouth- resistant plains. Maintaining the soil mulch is one of the nmsr important factors in the success of dry farming. It is by the soil mulch that we are able to make our soils absorb all the moisture that comes to them by precipitation or from dews or other nmistnre. By it we conserve this mois- ture and prevent its loss back into t\ie air by evaporation. Summer-tilled land should at all 56 ARID AGRICULTURE. times be covered with this mulch, which should be in granular form of small lumps. Care should be taken not to get it too' fine. Dust does not absorb moisture so well and is apt to drift or blow away. Working the ground when dry will tend to make the surface soil too fine. The ob- ject of cultivating the summer-fallowed soil is to prevent the formation of a crust after heavy rains ; to allow proper action of sun and air ; to prevent the moisture from rising to the surface where it will evaporate and to destroy tlie growth of weeds. The film moisture in the soil travels up and down by what is called capillary action. This is merely the flowing of the moisture which surrounds one particle of the soil to, and around, the next soil particle, which is close enough to touch the film and so on as long as the soil par- ticles are close enough together, until it reaches the surface where it is evaporated. By stirring the soil, we let in air and separate the grains of soil so the capillary movement is stopped, and loss by evaporation is prevented. The soil mulch must be maintained over the whole field, and the drag harrow is the principal tool used for this purpose. Writers have recommended that those who practiced summer-f nllowing should get on to the land with the harrow immediately after every rain or snow. This is not always neces- sary or advisable, for working too soon may cause rapid loss of the moisture which is still in the surface layer. The ground should be worked ARID AGRICULTURE. 57 as soon after every heavy rain or snow as it is dry enough. Do not wait too long, for when too dry the soil will dust and drift. Light rains may cause actual loss of soil moisture by form- ing a connection which lilts the water to the sur- face, where it is lost into the air. Judgment should be used and the ground cultivated as earlv and often as the conditions indicate. HUMUS AND VEGETABLE MOLD PACKING THE SOU, There is much misconception about what humus is. Often when we speak of humus, we do not mean true humus, but refer to the par- tially decayed plant substances, which were bet- ter called vegetable mold. True humus is the final product of the decay of organic matter in the soil. It is a very complex chemical com- pound, which contains nitrogen, and may act in an important way toward the change and use of soil plant foods. On the other hand, it is the partially decayed vegetable matter which has so much to do with tilth. This substance absorbs water, holds the soil particles apart, aerates the soil, and fosters bacterial and chemical changes which are of most value to living plants. This decaying condition must be kept up by continual renewal of organic matter. There are three or more conditions of soil which call for the use of some form of packer. Soils that are covered with so much grass that they do not naturally fall close enough to shut 58 ARID AGRICULTURE. out large air spaces at bottom of the furrows may be packed to advantage. Loose loam soils that overlie a sub-soil which contains considerable moisture may be packed to bring the particles close enough -together to lift the moisture from below by increased capillary action. The sur- face soil may sometimes be packed to either warm it or get rid of surplus moisture. Where good results follow packing, it should not be neg- lected for it may mean success. Many Western soils, especially those containing much granite, sand or gypsum and lime naturally become com- pacted very soon after plowing. Such soils may be so hard that the attempt to Jceep them prop- erly loosened up is more important than trying to maJce them more compact. USE OF THE Rolling soil warms it. There are cold, damp HOLLER so j} s w hich may be rolled at times with advan- tage. It is usually better to use a corrugated roller in the West, because it leaves the surface rough and there is less drying out or drifting by winds. The smooth roller on young grain will sometimes bring up the moisture and cause the soil to absorb enough warmth to prevent injury by cold. The roller is not an essential farm im- plement on Western farms. THE The subsurface packer, recommended for arid soils, consists of a series of wedge-shaped wheels, about eighteen inches in diameter, and ARID AGRICULTURE. 59 set six inches apart. The object is to pack the lower half of the plowed area and leave the sur- face loose. This implement is of value on many soils. Its use has not always given valuable re- sults on our more arid soils. There is little ad- vantage to be gained by the use of the subsurface packer over much of the arid region unless it is on spring plowing of sandy soils, because the soil and subsoil is not such that the compacted area either attracts or saves additional mois- ture, and the ground becomes sufficiently dense for the roots of crops without the additional work. Pacl-inr/ is often of great value. Many have observed instances of winter grain in the packed area left by wagon or drill wheels passing over it, living, where adjoining grain was killed out. Generally spring grains produce better iiTu\vth and crops where some wheel has pressed the soil together. We believe that packing is always advisable around the newly planted seed and recommend almost with no exception tlie use of some form of press drill. The subsurface packer is better than either the smooth roller, or corrugated roller, unless it is desirable to lose moisture in- stead of save it, or warming the soil for a time is the end sought. Where the packer is used, the soil should be harrowed immediately after- ward to establish the earth mulch. 60 ARID AGRICULTURE. HARROWING Next to plowing, the principal operation on the dry farm is persistent and continuous use of the harrow. The ground should always be har- rowed the same day it is plowed, and if it is new sod-ground, at least, the harrow should be run the same direction as the plow. This harrowing should be kept up often enough to maintain a proper surface mulch for the prevention of the loss of moisture by evaporation. Small grains should be harrowed in the spring and no damage will be done if the harrow is run crosswise of the drills, the harrow teeth kept sharpened and the horses made to walk fast. The main tools to use for shallow surface cultivation is the drag, or spiked-toothed harrow, and the weeder. Every farmer should have one with levers by which he can regulate the slant of the teeth. It does not pay to use a two-horse harrow on large fields. Four-horse tools of all kinds are far more economical. With a three-section harrow and four horses, a man or boy can cover thirty to thirty-five acres per day, which makes the maintenance of summer tillage possible on a con- siderable area of farm land. THE DISC HARROW The disc is an indispensable farm implement in the West. Discs of fourteen inches diameter do much better and more effective work than do those of larger size. The draft is not so light as is that of sixteen or eighteen-inch discs, but the object of farm operations is to do the work, ARID AGRICULTURE. 61 and good work cannot be done with a large disc. The disc should be used to break up the surface sod or stubble immediately after harvesting, and where this is done, it will be found that plowing will produce a much better seed bed. Turning under the disced surface also leaves less air space and the soil reservoir is more perfect. The disc is useful to destroy weeds on summer tillage, but it must be used when the weeds are small. It will merely cultivate large weeds. Always lap the disc one-half, which double-discs the ground and leaves it level. The disc is very useful for certain forms of cultivation, especially with al- falfa. The new alfalfa harrow consisting of a series of spikes arranged in disc form seems to be one of the best tools for the cultivation of alfalfa. Perhaps the Acme harrow is one of the most useful soil pulverizers for the farm. It does most excellent work where shallow surface culti- vation is required. The spring-tooth harrow is a useful implement for harrowing compact and tough soils. There are some new harrows now being constructed on the general plan of the old drag or toothed harrow, but with modified teeth. One is a small disc three or four inches in diam- eter, riveted horizontally to the lower end of the harrow tooth. Another has the lower end of the harrow tooth bent at right angles and flattened and sharpened in the form of a knife blade. 62 ARID AGRICULTURE. THE WEEDER These harrows serve the double purpose of loos- ening the soil and cutting off weeds. The weeder is a modified harrow with long curved spring teeth. It is a most valuable im- plement on dry farms for the easy and rapid eul- Plate VI. The Weeder in Grain. Photo by McWethy. tivatioii of grains and other crops. It can be used after the plants are too high for ordinary harrowing. For large work, using four-horse gang weeder s is most economical in time and labor. GOOD HARROWING Good harrowing for the purpose of conserv- ing moisture is that which more thoroughly breaks up the surface soil, without making dust ARID AGRICULTURE. 63 of it, kills the weeds, saves the moisture, and cul- tivates the crop. If the soil is hard or wet and in such condition that the disc or harrow teeth leave open scratches and cracks instead of mix- ing and turning the soil, the loss of water will be greater than it would be u'ithoiit harrowing at all WHEN AND In summer tillage it is not .necessary to har- row "^ ie g roun d after every small rain, but it should not be neglected as soon as the ground is in condition to work after every heavy rain or melting snow. There are few crops raised by the dry farmer which might not be vastly im- jimvcd by harrowing. We do not advise har- rowing at all for sugar beets, as the special cul- tivators are better to use. Corn, or any of the small grain*, will be improved by thorough har- rowing up to the time they are four or five inches or even more in height. Harrow native mead- ows and pastures to break them up when sod- bound and aerate these naturally compact soils and to cultivate the grasses. Harrow late in the fall, or winter, or early in the spring, lands in- fested with grasshoppers or cut-worms or army worms to kill the insects. When you cannot think of any more important work, go to the field and harrow. CHAPTER V. CHOP MANAGEMENT. After storing water in the soil or depositing- money in the bank, we must draw on it in a practical way. RESISTANT Some of the most resistant crops to drouth CROPS are macaroil i w heat, kafir corn, sorghum, millet corn, potatoes, alfalfa, brome grass, wheat grass, spelt, beans, winter rye, sainfoin, peas, vetches and Jerusalem artichokes. Crops may be resist- ant to other things of importance as well as drouth resistant. In parts of the arid region there are streaks where hail storms are more or less frequent. Some plants will withstand the effects of hail much better than others. A heav- ily bearded grain like Macaroni or Durum wheat or Turkey Eed wheat will not be so badly in- jured by light hail storms as will other kinds of grain. Flax is a good hail-resistant crop and sugar beets will recover after severe hail storms have practically pounded them into the ground. Farmers are also coming to appreciate more and more disease resistant crops. It seems im- portant that we should produce potatoes resistant to root rot and blight. Some varieties seem more resistant to these diseases than others but the matter has not been fully enough worked out to make definite recommendations. We are work- ing on the leaf-spot disease of alfalfa with hopes ARID AGRICULTURE. 65 of securing i nun unity from destruction by this disease. * PLANTING THE CROP THE PRESS DRIZ.I. Good seed, good land and good farming re- quire good planting. Special machines for planting are as important as plows or other im- plements for preparing the ground. Grain sown broad cast or potatoes planted by hand are at the risk of the farmer and at the best can be ex- pected to give only indifferent returns. Grain that is broad casted and harrowed or cultivated to cover, is never well planted. The work is all unevenly done. Some of the seed is covered too deep some not deep enough the soil is not packed around the seed the plants do not have the advantages of light, air and the cultivation ilioy get in the drill rows. The press drill is an essential implement for the dry fanner and will pay for itself in a single season on any average sized farm of the West. It plants the grain evenly, at a proper depth, puts it in contact with moist soil and presses the soil around the seed in a way which secures quick and strong germination of the seed and the best early growth of the seedling plants. A week or ten days is gained in the season by this prompt germination and quick growth. There is a large saving of seed which is an important item. Forty pounds of seed press-drilled is equal to sixty pounds sown broadcast, a saving of 33 per cent. ARID AGRICULTURE. TIME TO SOW GRAINS Plate VII. The Press Drill. Planting fall or winter grains secures ad- vantages to the farmer over sowing spring crops. They have a long season and usually will ma- ture before drouth sets in. Only the winter wheat, winter rye and winter emmer are hardy enough in our northern arid region. Winter oats have been grown as far north as northern Wyom- ing east of the mountains, but the varieties now used cannot be depended on to produce a crop. Winter barley is being tried but it cannot be rec- ommended as successful yet. Winter rye and Turkey Eed wheat give surprisingly good results. ARID AGRICULTURE. 67 Xear Cheyenne these grains stood a winter of unusual drouth, there being only one and one- third inches of precipitation in eight months. After standing this remarkable drouth, winter rye produced 44 bushels and winter wheat 35 bushels per acre. The author is breeding winter dinners for the arid region and these grains give promise of revolutionizing the stock-feeding in- dustry of our Avestern plateaus. Sow winter grains on summer tilled land in September or the first half of October. At lower altitudes on irrigated land some farmers have sown wheat any time up to the hard freezing weather with success-. Where fall sown grain can be pastured it may be planted earlier. Spring sown crops should be planted as early as the ground can be made ready and danger of heavy freezing is over. Catch or volunteer crops sometimes yield enough to be of value from seed that shatters off in the fall. SEED PER Much of the success of dry farming depends on thin seeding. More beginners in dry farm- in 2; Q ow too much seed rather than too little. Where grains are sow r n early and have a corre- spondingly long season, there is more chance for stooling. For the same reason we should sow larger amounts of seed when we are late doing the work. There may be moisture enough to support ten grain plants per square foot when twenty plants would die of thirst. Limited 68 ARID AGRICULTURE. moisture therefore calls for thin planting that there may be less danger of "firing" before the crop matures. If the season is well advanced and the soil moist and warm so grains shoot up rapidly they do not take time to stool or make tillers. The reason that some grains are more drouth resistant than others is that they have grown in dry regions so long they have lost the habit of tillering to a large extent and also pro- duce less leanness to pump moisture from the soil. The following seed table will be found very useful for dry farming. The amounts of see*] given are based on the very best condition of seed bed, planting at the right time and with a drill which does the work in the best possible manner. The farmer whose seed bed is in poor tilth or dry, or who plants late or with poor methods, should increase the amounts of seed recom- mended by from 30 per cent, to 100 per cent. ARID AGRICULTURE. 69 Minimum Seed per Acre CROP. Remarks. Pounds. Alfalfa For hay, drilled 10 Alfalfa For hay, broadcast 25 Alfalfa For seed in wide rows 2 (anada Field Peas (Small) 40 Field Peas (Large varieties) 50 Sand Vetch 20 Millet Siberian 8 Millet Common or German 5 Proso Drouth-resisting Broom Corn Millet 6 Brome Grass 20 Meadow Fescue 20 \\c~i ci'ii Wheat Grass 15 Slender Wheat Grass 20 Barley For threshed grain 35 .Barley Beardless for feed 50 Oats For grain 35 Oats For hay 60 Rye Winter or Spring 30 Winter Wheat Drilled ' 30 Durum Spring Wheat. . -Drilled 40 Polish Wheat For feed 60 Emmer or Spelt For feed 40 Buckwheat 20 Flax For seed 25 Flax For fibre 50 Broom Corn 2 Field Beans ( Small ) 20 Corn In hills and thin 4 Corn In drills 7 Sweet Corn For fodder 10 Sorghum For seed 8 Sorghum For fodder 20 Kafir Corn 4 Turnips 2 Carrots 3 Mangel Wurzel or Stock Beets 8 Sugar Beets . ..To be thinned.. ..20 70 ARID AGRICULTURE. SOME SEED The best seed, regardless of cost is the most SUGGESTIONS pj.^^^ The cost of good seed is small com- pared with the value of the resulting crop. The difference in the price of first and second grade seed does not make a great difference in the total cost per acre. Like produces like. The hest seed invariably results in the best crop. It is especially important that the dry farmer plant thoroughly clean seed that is free from weeds. We know of nothing that causes greater loss than the presence of worthless weeds. They rob the soil of its moisture and use plant food that be- longs to the crop. Without exception every student of western farming recommends the use of seed that is ac- climated or that has been grown under the same conditions as those where they are to be planted, or as near these conditions as is possible to ob- tain. This subject of the breeding of varieties suitable to our western conditions and the adap- tation of plants to soil and climate is one of the most important with which we have to deal. As a rule seeds raised under irrigation or in a humid climate are not good seeds for dry farm- ing. Good seed cannot be produced as cheaply or sold for the same price that common bulk crops bring. With the breeding work that is now inaugurated in the arid region it will be but a few years before new and improved varieties of farm seeds will be made available. This work ARID AGRICULTURE. 71 cannot fail to make our western farming more successful and profitable. cux,TivATiNa The principal implements for cultivating grain are the drag harrow and the weeder. When the grain is too high to be harrowed a weeder may then be used to much advantage. Sometimes the weeder may do the best work from the first. To do the work properly the harrow teeth must be kept sharp and slanted. Good work cannot be done with dull or stubbed- off teeth. Always harrow cross-ways of the drill marks if possible to do so. It often looks as though great injury were being done by harrow- ing small grain, but it never fails to turn out beneficially. Winter wheat should be harrowed one or more times in the spring and going over twice may be necessary to do effective work. Small grains or even corn may be harrowed until six or seven inches high. The harrow is a good thing to run over the potato field or field peas just when they are coming up. HARVESTING Of course the harvest may be carried on by ordinary methods, but the soil should not be neg- lected at this time. Where our rainfall comes during the summer, discing the stubble after har- vesting grain is important. After harvesting potatoes or sugar beets the drag harrow should be used to break up the lumps and re-establish the soil mulch. Barley or other grains that can 72 ARID AGRICULTURE. GRAIN FARMING be used for feed without threshing should be har- vested when in the stiff dough. This prevents, in a measure, re-seeding the ground through the grain shattering out, for in this country practi- cally all the ripe grain which drops on the ground in the fall comes up the next spring as a volun- Plate VIII. Dr. V. T. Cooke and the Beardless Feeding Barley. Raised by Dry Farming 1908. teer crop. If the grain can be fed without threshing it is marketed in the best possible way from the farm and saves the cost of threshing and handling. Pure grain farming is not the best type of permanent agriculture. On suitable soils, how- ARID AGRICULTURE. 73 ever, both with and without the summer-fallow -ystcin, farmers have practiced grain farming on i lie same soils for more than thirty years in parts of the West and they have become thrifty and even wealthy doing so. There is" no doubt but such soil robbery will result in depletion in time. Plate IX. The Wyoming State Dry Farm Commission. Coming Thru the Rye 1908. Photo by Johnston. but the exten-ive grain fanner gives little or no thought to the building up of a productive farm for future generations. lie often expects his children to enter the professions or move to some other country for their livelihood. AVitli the practice of growing a single crop year after year 74 ARID AGRICULTURE. continued long enough, at the same time adding nothing in plant food, there are few soils upon which, sooner or later, farming will not become unprofitable. Confining the soil to one crop in- duces the accumulation of insects and plant dis- eases, which are peculiar to that crop, and when Plate X. Government Farm, Cheyenne 1908. the devastation arrives it hits quick and hard. When grain farming is the principle aim in any region, the best practice in addition to the resting of the soil alternate seasons, is to adopt a system of crop rotation which will add fertility. ROTATION OP Rotation of crops is not so necessary where THEORY* 1 * ' ail( ^ * s summer tilled every other year as it is to FARMER keep up soil fertility on lands that produce an- nual crops. However, .a regular system of rota- tion will pay on all dry farms. The principle aim in a rotation for arid lands, is to keep up the supply of available nitrogen. This is done by the use of legumes which, through the action ARID AGKICULTURE. 75 tem of rotation which is applicable to his con- ditions, but these suggestions will be valuable to him. FERTILIZING Arid soils are so rich in mineral elements of THE son. fertility which are made available by thorough systems of tillage, that the use of complete fer- tilizers has not become a question of importance. These soils are generally poor in nitrogen and decaying vegetable matter, and adding these tilings always brings important increase in yield. 76 ARID AGRICULTURE. One of the very best methods of adding nitrogen and vegetable matter is green manuring with legumes. Plowing under such green crop puts into the soil a quickly-decaying supply of vege- tation and the legumes gather much nitrogen from the air which they make available to other crops. There are some places where the use of nitrate of soda gives good results. A system which enables the farmer to return the crop to the soil in the form of manure cannot be too strongly recommended. Raising a crop of feed which is used by the animals harvesting it them- selves in the field, like pasturing to fatten on peas, both returns the manure and spreads it. Where manure accumulates in the feed lot or barn it should always be applied to the land, and a manure spreader is becoming a necessary im- plement on all modern farms. The sooner ma- nure can be spread on the land after it is made the better the results to soil and crops. Part III. IRRIGATION FARMING. Here mountain peaks that reach the ski/ Clear rivers that go flowing by. In "forty-seven" Utah was first To give soil drink to quench its thirst. As from the snoics the icater //o//-.v The deserts must ''bloom as the rose." Sri, nee 'iinl art go hand in hand To gladden our hearts and reclaim the land. CHAPTER VI. IRRIGATION FARMING. The country is dry and the people are the most sober and earnest users of water to be found anywhere, SIZE OP The small boy eats too manv green apples IRRIGATED . _c 1,1 FARM just to keep them from going to waste, and the farmer acquires too much land just because he wants the earth. The relation between the size of a farm and its economical working and man- agement has not been given the attention it de- serves. Under humid conditions a man could hold much land without feeling any especially baneful effects. Under irrigation the whole problem is changed. In the West, land is abund- ant, water is scarce; land is cheap, water is ex- pensive. Investments in water rights are too valuable to lie idle. The farmer has less time to do things and get them, done in season. Inten- sive culture characterizes irrigation agriculture. When a crop needs irrigating, the need is urgent. It cannot be put off for the whole crop and the margin of time may be too small to make it prof- itable to put off farm operations on any part of the- field. Maximum returns arc mily made on small field-;, well tilled and irrigated. A farmer may be self-supporting on ten to twenty acre-. lie finds all he can attend to on forty acres to -ixty acres and generally has too much land if he 80 ARID AGRICULTURE. tries to farm more than eighty acres. This will depend largely on the kind of crop raised. If in- tensive cropping is done with sugar beets or potatoes in proper rotation the small farm pays best. If the land is all in alfalfa and pasture, larger areas can be managed. It is safe to say that a great majority of new comers to the West buy at the start from two to ten times as much land and water right as they should. There are many specialties in irrigation FARMING farming. Raising crops for sale is pure farm- ing. This kind of fanning requires special knowledge of the subject in order to keep up the soil fertility, and practice culture suitable to the crop produced. Mixed farming is surer requires more gen- eral and less special knowledge, helps in the economy of living, diversifies the farmer's inter- ests, keeps up soil fertility and makes one thing pay expenses while another may build a bigger bank account. The products from poultry, cows and pigs distribute the money income thru the year, and make it less necessary to borrow money at the bank, at interest, to pay expenses until crops may be sold. Garden and animal products secured with home labor save important items of cash outlay in the household expenses. There may be more or less pasture or range to use which will decrease the expense of keeping stock. ARID AGRICULTURE. 81 The general farmer will succeed better if he keeps stock and markets his crops on four feet. CULTURE Our soil cult" 1 '*? directions for dr farmin pertain as well to irrigation, except the summer- fallow. which is unnecessary, with plenty of water to be applied when and where needed. With water and advanced knowledge of how to maintain soil fertility, there is no need of letting any land rest from crop production. Soil cul- ture needs to be given careful and intelligent consideration and special systems are being- worked out for the separate intensive crop?. Plowing need not be done so deep at first and on some soils shallow plowing may give better re- sults than deep plowing. More attention needs to be given to leveling and smoothing the land where irrigation is practiced. The right kind of land preparation is a permanent improvement which pays from the first l>ecause it saves much future expense and trouble. Irrigation farming is a "new agriculture'' in the We0 sacks per acre. There is a con- siderable profit to the man who o-eN 300 sacks of 82 ARID AGRICULTURE. potatoes if he uses $40.00 expense per acre to raise the crops, over the man who gets 50 sacks by an expense of $15.00 per acre. One man nets $185.00 per acre and the other makes $22.50 per acre. The man with the large yield proba- bly works only a forty-acre farm, and from twenty acres of it in potatoes banks $3,700.00 for that crop. The second man is probably try- ing to farm eighty acres, and from forty acres in potatoes he banks $900.00. The little farm well tilled has brought its owner ov*r four hundred per cent, the largest net income. The point made is that good tillage for irrigation means thorough tillage and special systems of soil and crop management to produce the best returns. IRRIGATION Fertility is measured bv the power of soil to AND SOIL , . , . , FERTILITY produce crops. As we have shown, moisture is an essential element of fertility. Other ele- ments are nitrogen and minerals which are direct plant foods. In much of the irrigated region the waters used contain large amounts of dis- solved fertilizing elements. It has been shown that waters which contain much silt carry with them large amounts of dissolved plant foods. Studies of the waters used in irrigation from the Hio Grande River showed that where water was used to the depth of one foot it deposited 955 pounds of potassium, 58 pounds of phosphoric acid, and 53 pounds of nitrogen to each acre. This would be a sufficient supply of nitrogen for ARID AGRICULTURE. 83 more than thirty bushels of wheat per acre, enough phosphoric acid for thirty bushels per acre, and enough potassium to last for thirty years, if as much wheat was raised on the land each year. Such large amounts of soil fertility are unusual, however, but even our clear waters from mountain streams carry with them a con- -iderable amount of silt and plant food in the late spring and early summer. Under irrigation such large annual crops are taken off the soil that the subject of available plant food becomes an important one. Our soils will wear out unless a good farm practice is inaugurated which will keep them productive. With a proper system of rotation and cropping, adding plant food to the soil in the form of barnyard manure, the waste of feed pens, gr een manure and growing of legu- minous crops will keep the soils always richly productive. Only in special locations or with special crops will the use of any artificial fertil- izer be found advisable. IRRIGATION There has been much useless alarm about al- kali. Our soils are very rich in soluble salts and in places these accumulate to such an extent that they destroy productiveness. The alkali salts are dissolved by water, and where there is not good drainage below, this water evaporating again from the surface, leaves the alkali behind as a white incrustation where it is most detri- mental to plants. In nearly all cases the alkali 84 ARID AGRICULTURE. accumulation is the result of bad management, generally of over-irrigation or of continuously leaving the water running on the soil. In many parts of the West where the native sod is irri- gated for the production of hay, the water is al- lowed to run for weeks or months over the same land, and such irrigation is apt to produce bad results. Some irrigation waters contain large amounts of alkali salts which are deposited with the water applied. EPPECTS OP There are two kinds of alkali which are found in different sections of the arid region. In the mountain states where the climate is cool, the white alkali predominates. White alkali is a mixture of the sulphates and chlorides of soda and magnesia. In the warmer regions the alkali is composed of carbonate of soda and is called black alkali. One-tenth of one per cent, of black alkali will prevent the growth of useful plants on the soil, while some crops will stand as much as one per cent, of white alkali salts in the sur- face soil. These alkali salts in small amount are important aids in the fertility of the land. They make plants grow faster and better than where they are not present. The black alkali destroys the soil tilth, puddling it and making- it dark in color. The principal detrimental effect of white alkali seems to be that it retards or prevents the germination of seed. If the salts can be diluted or washed out before planting and AKID AGRICULTURE. 85 REMEDIES FOB ALKALI SOIL CROPS FOB ALKALI SOILS a good stand of plants obtained from the seed, the crop may grow to maturity and make a good yield. The black alkalies of California have been corrected by changing them into white alkali which is less detrimental. This is done by add- ing considerable quantities of gypsum or land plaster. Land plaster is sulphate of lime. When this comes in contact with carbonate of soda there is a chemical change and the carbonate of soda becomes sulphate of soda, and the sulphate of lime becomes carbonate of lime or common lime stone. The remedy for white alkali is to provide proper drainage and wash the salts out of the soil with irrigation water. The worst alkali soils may be made productive in this way. There are a few crops which will thrive in the presence of much white alkali. The princi- pal one is the sugar beet. If the salts can be diluted by irrigation before the seed is planted so there is no serious retardation of germination, sugar beets will make good crops on strong alkali soil. Another useful plant to grow in places which would otherwise be waste, is the English or Dwarf Rape for soiling and pasture. One of the best plants to grow in such places either for forage or to improve the soil in vegetable mold is the white sweet clover. There is no need of leaving the alkali places as unproductive and unsightly wastes. 86 ARID AGRICULTURE. IRRIGATION OF FARM AND GARDEN CROPS TIME TO IRRIGATE Suggestions about the irrigation of different crops will be found in the chapters dealing with culture of these crops in another part of this book and the methods of irrigation for different soils and crops are discussed in chapter 7. Different crops and each kind of soil requires particular treatment and general rules are only of value in so far as they throw light on the underlying principles which may be made use of by the in- dividual farmer who understands them and their application. As a broad general statement, we believe the time to irrigate is when there is no crop growing. Nearly all crops should be irrigated before they are planted. The soil should be put in the best possible state of tilth and stored with enough moisture, at least to germinate the seed and sup- ply the early growth of the plants. Potato soil should be irrigated in the spring before it is plowed. Some crops, like potatoes and sugar beets, require the most moisture in the later part of the season. Wheat should be irrigated most during the middle part of the time of its growth. To be on the safe side, barley should be irrigated when quite young. These things show the vari- ation which must be practiced to produce the best results and point to the importance of the farmer looking up the culture for each crop he expects to raise. Some few crops, like onions, should be flood irrigated. Other crops give best results bcc c^ 02 h O 88 ARID AGRICULTURE. if water is never allowed to touch the crowns of the plant. Some crops should not he irrigated at certain stages of growth unless absolutely necessary to save them. Experience tells the farmer when his crop is suffering for water and no general rule can he laid down. Short season crops may be ripened early by keeping water / ^ '&T- J Plate XIII. Hanover Canal in Winter. ARID AGRICULTURE. 89 "WINTER IRRIGATION away. Often late irrigations are responsible for injury to the immature crop by frost. Over much of the arid region there is possi- bility of running water on to the soil in the win- ter season and often sufficient moisture may be stored for the production of most excellent crops the following season. On some farms in the West, even during freezing weather, the water supply from springs or ditches may be run on the land and stored, either as moisture in the soil or as ice on the surface. Using the water in this way in the winter and the same Avater for irri- gating additional land in the summer makes a small water supply cover double the amount of land. SEED PLANTING FOR IRRIGATED CROPS Everything the farmer can do to make the application of water to his crop and soil more efficient, should be done. When either flood irri- gation or irrigation by furrows is practiced, the crop should be drilled with the slope of the land so the water is more rapidly spread by following the furrows. There is one form of drill that we would recommend irrigation farmers to avoid. This is the single disc drill. The single discs are set opposite ways each side of the center and throw the soil in opposite directions. This makes ridges of soil which interfere with spread- ing the water in irrigation. In small fields where it is desired to avoid back furrows or dead 90 ARID AGRICULTURE. furrows the two-way plow will be found of ad- vantage. This implement is a double plow which swings on a pivot and can be changed at the end of each furrow so the land may be plowed from one side to the other without leav- ing any ridges and with the least amount of turn- ing and tramping of soil by the team. We rec- ommend the use of the four or eight-horse leveler which may be run over the ground both ways after every plowing. Such leveling of the soil saves much work in the distribution of water. AMOUNT OP WATER REQUIRED On new land where the sub-soil is almost in- variably dry, much water will be needed the first two seasons to moisten this sub-soil or fill it with the capillary or film moisture, which surrounds the soil particles. Much of this moisture will bo held from year to year and it will not be neces- sary to apply such large amounts in irrigation. The total amount of water to give the best results on different soils and different crops, varies greatly. On light sandy bottom soils with gravel underneath, farmers sometimes use from six to eight feet deep of water during the season. A flood irrigation cannot be made with less than four to six inches at a single application. Usu- ally a thorough flood irrigation will require from nine to eleven inches deep of water over the sur- face. This does not mean that enough water must run on to the land to stand to this depth, but that the amount soaked into the soil or run ARID AGRICULTURE. 91 off as waste will total enough to reach the depth indicated if it all remained on the surface. The irrigation laws of the arid states generally pro- vide that the limit of a water right shall be one cubic foot per second continuous flow for from seventy acres to one hundred acres of land. A> a general rule, it is thought that enough water to cover the land to a depth of two feet is a suffi- cient average for Western crops. We are learn- ing more all the time about the economic use of water. To do effectual irrigating the farmer needs a good sized head of water. A very small stream soaks away too fast and cannot be spread over sufficient land. On land which lies well for irri- gation an experienced irrigator can handle a head of from two to three cubic feet per second. If he only has a water right for eighty acres of one cubic foot per second, it usually pays to rotate in the use of water with a neigh- bor in order to do his irrigating in the quickest and most efficient manner. Many western irrigators use too much water and too little cultivation. Many injure their crops and soils by allowing the water to run too long on one place, drowning the plants and alkalizing the soil. A quick application of water which thoroughly soaks the land and then removing it, to give the soil opportunity to become aerated again, is best. 92 ARID AGRICULTURE. In the arid region systems of irrigation and * OP null PLANTS cultivation which induce plants to send their roots deep into the soil are important. Deeply rooted plants are not so subject to drouth and find a comparatively large soil pasture from which to gather moisture and plant food. Deep and continuous cultivation from the time the plant is started until the crop has become thor- oughly established, will do much to secure deep rooting. This is important in orchards and tree plantations. The cultivation must be continu- ous, however, for if left for a long enough season of growth most of the plant roots will be thrown into the surface soil, after which cultivation would so severely prune the roots as to set back the growth and injure the plants. Light or su- perficial irrigation which simply puts enough moisture into the soil to wet the surface induces plants to throw out surface roots instead of those which should go deeper into the sub-soil. It also starts evaporation from the surface which causes loss of water. Deep and thorough irriga- tion causes deep rooting. CHAPTER VII. GROWTH ] METHODS LOCAL METHODS METHODS OF IRRIGATION, When it comes to our irrigation practice we are yet in the cut-and-try period of learning- how. The easiest and crudest methods were adopted in the earlier days of irrigation. In sections of India and Egypt, which are thought to be the oldest among irrigated countries, the practice of irrigation has remained almost the s>ame for centuries. Primitive appliances are still in use, such as buckets on sweeps, and other simple animal-power machines for lifting water from the streams or wells to the height of the crop land. In contrast with this is the rapid development of irrigation practice in the West- ern States. The beginning of irrigation in this country was in 1847, when the Mormons made the great experiment at Salt Lake City little more than a half century ago. Since then de- velopment and improvement have been rapid, though many reverses were met with by the pioneers. Xow, new methods are proving so superior to the old, that the farmer who would make the most of his land must keep abreast of the times and adopt the more progressive ideas. Many localities are characterized by some general method of irrigation. Sometimes this ARID AGRICULTURE. THE IRRIGATOR'S PROBLEM WILD FLOODING is a good method for the local conditions and sometimes not. Usually the pioneer has marked out his own system without help. Those who come at a later date take up the local practice and retain it, even though they may see other localities forging ahead of them. Crops require water to grow or even to re- main alive. The irrigator with a reliable and sufficient water supply has a great advantage over every other agriculturist. He has it within his power to govern the application of water to his fields, to apply it when and where he wishes and in the quantity he thinks best. These ad- vantages bring with them the necessity of learning how to make the most profitable use of the water supply. The problem of the irrigator is to apply water in the right place at the right time, in quantities that will give the best results, and by the most efficient and eco- nomical methods. Local conditions and the kind of crop grown should determine the method most applicable. Changes in methods are forced by increase in value of land and water ; the inten- sive system taking the place of the extensive. This is the natural and primitive method of applying water to crops. In its simplest form it is nothing more than a diversion of the waters of a stream to the land to be irrigated, leaving the laws of nature in charge without further aid ARID AGRICULTURE. 95 from man. Many native, or wild, hay mead- ows are irrigated in this way with little super- vision other than turning on the water in the Spring and turning it off again a week or so be- fore harvest time. The consequence is usually Plate XIV. Rock River, with Irrigated Meadows. Photo by Stimson. that the meadow is continually under water to a varying depth during the growing season. Only the Avater-loviiig or swamp grasses, and the rushes and sedges, survive such treatment. The finer native grasses, as the wheat grasses, are rapidly killed out. As the coarse grasses thrive, and give comparatively good yields, the practice 06 ARID AGRICULTURE. is in places retained, chiefly among stockmen with only incidental interests in farming and on lands of comparatively small value. As lands increase in value and methods improve, these meadows are re-seeded to finer grasses and more care is used in irrigation. If the practice of wild flooding is retained at all, the meadow is left under water for short periods only, of a few hours to a week in duration. FLOODING This is usually known simply as "flooding," and is perhaps the most widely used of all meth- ods, especially in the newer irrigated districts. The ditches are most commonly run parallel to the slope, irrigation taking place from only one side of the ditch and extending to the next ditch. Sometimes on nearly level land the ditches are run down the steepest slope, irrigation taking place from both sides and extending midway between ditches. Under either method the dis- tance between laterals should not be over 200 feet, and it is better to have them closer together. Irrigation is easier and more uniform if the lat- erals are only 50 to 100 feet apart, though, of course, it is then necessary to have more field ditches, each one of which takes out some crop- growing area from the field. For valuable crops, however, the advantage lies with the closer spac- ing of the ditches. These field ditches may be either temporary or semi-permanent. With an- nual crops, such as grains, the common practice ARID AGRICULTURE. 97 is to plow and harrow over them, remaking them each year. This is more convenient, as the drills and other farm implements can then be driven across the field without interference- hy the ditches. It entails the extra work of listing out and trimming the ditches each year. Per- manent ditehes should also be repaired and trimmed each year, for if this is not done, they are very apt to become irregular, cut out in places, and stopped up with vegetation in other places. The common lister and the V-shaped crowder or "Go-Devil," are the implements commonly used in making field ditches. The "A,' 7 or "Go-Devil," is easy to construct, and can be adjusted to make various widths of ditches. In preparing ground for this kind of irrigation it should be brought to a uniform slope by means of scrapers and home-made lev- olers, or some other levelling device, as the labor of irrigating each year will depend on how well this has been done. This method is in general suitable for medium slopes, soils which do not bake or crust badly after flooding, grains, mead- ows and hay crops, and for the extensive system of farming, where lands are not of great value, and such crops as require comparatively little attention are raised. While in first outlay the expense necessary is not large, the annual cost for irrigation is usually excessive. From two to five acres a day is as much as one experienced THE FURROW METHOD 98 ARID AGRICULTURE. irigator can thoroughly water, and as a rule the irrigation is more uneven than with other meth- ods. This causes uneven ripening of the crops, which is, of course, a disadvantage. There has been a demand for a method of irrigation which does not flood the "crown" of the crop plants, and also one which would not pro- Plate XV. Furrow Irrigation. duce baking and cracking of the surface soil, so prevalent with heavy clay soils under the flood- ing methods. The furrow method accomplishes this. The seepage of water from the side of the small ditch or furrow outward to the crop, or "subbing," is maintained. Various modifica- ARID AGRICULTURE. 99 tions of the furrow method are used to adapt it to different conditions of soil, crop, or head of water used. For grain drilled in rows eight inches apart it is usual to make the furrows nar- row and deep, four to five inches wide, three to four inches deep, and twenty-four to thirty-two inches apart. For alfalfa and other drilled hay crops the practice is much the same ; the furrows being perhaps a little Jarger. The head ditches or laterals between which the furrows are run should not be over 200 feet apart, as a general rule. That is, the furrows should not be so long that the water will not run through from end to end in a reasonable time, say half an hour to an hour. They should be long enough, so the water will have time to "sub," or seep to the side and dampen all the soil between the furrows. The best length will depend on the soil, the slope, the size of, and distance between the furrows. It is determined by the individual farmer for his own conditions without great difficulty. Root crops are almost always found to do best under the furrow system. Potatoes, espe- cially, show the bad effects of even a break be- tween the furrows, and consequent flooding. In this case the furrows are made quite large, the rows being ridged, and one furrow between each two rows. Sometimes, the best method for the crop and the most economical of Avater, is to irrigate only alternate furrows, as with sugar 100 ARID AGRICULTURE. beets and potatoes. The land cultivation, thin- ning, etc., can then be done from the dry rows more conveniently. The furrow system is com- ing to be widely used for irrigating orchards. The method of dividing the irrigation streams between a number of small furrows varies in different localities. At Twin Falls, Idaho, and a number of other progressive irriga- tion districts, what is called the "lath box" sys- tem is used. In this system boxes are made by placing four strips of wood, as common plaster- ing laths cut in half, together and nailing them so as to form a narrow, square-section box which may be used as a pipe to admit water through the lateral bank to the upper end of the furrow. The boxes are placed in the ditch banks at each furrow and are easily closed by a stopper formed of a short piece of lath, or by a small square of tin tacked by one corner over the opening. The most common method in all probability is that of depending on the irrigator to open and close the head of the furrows by means of a shovel and some dirt. Sometimes a flume or trough, or pipe, is used instead of laterals, and holes at proper distances, easily opened or closed, serve to regulate the flow into the furrows. For val- uable land, these methods are proving a success, and when the preparation has been completed, the actual labor of irrigation is reduced to super- vision of the flow in furrows, and regulation of the little head gates. ARID AGRICULTURE. 101 This is simply a modified flooding method by which the water is retained at some depth on the land, as long as the irrigator thinks best, instead of being spread out by hand labor while running, as in flooding. This is accomplished by means of small dikes or levees thrown up, either in rectangular, or square form, or along contour lines. The square system jmakes the fields take on somewhat the appearance of a gigantic checker-board, whence the name given this method. The check system is best suited to land having very little slope. On practically level ground the banks may be placed far apart. In parts of Arizona and ISTew Mexico on such land they may be as much as a half mile apart, thus inclosing a quarter section in a single "check. 7 ' But in general the "checks" or squares are very much smaller, often containing less than a quarter acre. The higher and stronger the retaining banks are made, the greater the area that can be enclosed in a check. For crops that must be worked with horses and machinery, it is not practical, as a rule, to make the banks over one and one-half to two and one- half feet high, as there is liable to be damage to farm machinery in crossing higher banks. If the side slopes of the banks are made slight, too much area is taken from the land that could oth- erwise be cropped. This system entails a large first cost and is also subject to the following dis- 102 ARID AGRICULTURE. advantages : The top soil, usually the best, is re- moved to form the banks; even after levelling, the checks usually have enough slope so that the water stands considerably deeper on the lower end of check than on the upper, which produces unevenness in the crop, some getting too much and some too little water. Considerable area is withdrawn from cultivation by the levees; it is hard to cross levees with heavy machinery. The great advantage is in the ease of irrigating and the large head of water that may be quickly ap- plied and thoroughly controlled by the irrigator. The "contour check" method differs from the rectangular only in the way the levees are made. In this system surveys are made of level, or "contour" lines, spaced as far apart as it is prac- tical to control the water when irrigating. This system may be used on steeper slopes than the preceding, in which case the checks are long and narrow and usually somewhat curved in outline, following the natural slope. NATURAL This is a method that applies only where cer- tain rather unusual conditions exist. These are : First, an impervious hardpan or rock stratum a short distance below the surface and parallel with it. Second, a shallow bed of gravel or coarse sand above this, through which water can seep easily from a ditch at the upper end of the field. Third, a rather fine soil not so deep, but ARID AGRICULTURE. 103 that the water from the saturated gravel bed be- low may be drawn up to within a few inches of the surface, and not so shallow as to he unsuited to cultivation or to be kept too moist from the supply below. So many requirements have to be met that the natural conditions for the use of this method are rarely found, and the system is uncommon. But where the conditions are right perhaps no other practice is so advantageous and cheap. The ground does not have to be so accu- rately graded as in other methods the irriga- tion ditches needed are only the main laterals, made deep enoiigh to let the water they contain into the porous bed below and little labor for irrigation is required. A further advantage is that level, clean culture may be practiced. Xearly all the advantages of the most expensive pipe sub-irrigation system are obtained, and al- most without expense. Soils in which sub-soil is filled with free water are not suitable for deep rooted plants like alfalfa. SUB-IRBIGA- This is the most expensive and at the same time tne most economical of water of all the irrigation methods. It is best, when putting in a system of this kind for orchards or other very valuable crops, to get the services of a compe- tent irrigation engineer. The details of this method are usually complicated and must be worked out for each farm. 104 ARID AGRICULTURE. THE BASIN This is a flooding system used almost exclu- METKOD sively for orchards. It is practiced more in Cal- ifornia, perhaps, than in any other State, though it has superseded to a large extent the "check" method, which it very closely resembles. The principal difference between this and the check method of irrigation lies in the size of the checks, the basin containing only enough ground for one tree, while the check method used in orchards may contain ground on which several or even a great many trees are growing. The banks thrown up to retain the water in the basins are usually somewhat better constructed and more permanent than those in the "check" system. They are also usually much lower ; as a less area is irrigated in a check. In some instances they are made so low fhat a cultivator may be run across them, by little lifting, without much dam- age to either the machine or the bank. It is commonly thought that, especially where the weather gets very hot, it is injurious to allow water to stand around the base of the trunks of fruit trees. Most farmers concur in the opinion that the heating of water in the basins by the sun will tend to scald the bark of the trees and that it may even produce wilting on hot days. To obviate this condition, usually a small mound is thrown up surrounding the trunk of the tree to prevent the water coming in contact with it. When this is done the water is applied where it ARID AGRICULTURE. 105 is most needed, that is, not just at the base of the tree, but some little distance out and sur- rounding the tree. Under this area are the small roots that absorb water and feed the tree. Un- it-- cultivation is practiced in the basins, where the ground contains much clay, it is apt to bake badly, and crack. These cracks may even ex- tend through the banks and the basin may need some attention to keep it from leaking. The main objection to this method lies in the yerv large first cost of preparing the land. The ac- tual labor of irrigating is very small, although it is necessary to let out the water from one basin when it has stood long enough and turn it into the next one, until all are irrigated. METHODS The furrow method, or one of the sub-irriga- sorcs ilon methods, is best suited to all heavy soils which are not so dense thev will not absorb water readily, as there is more crusting of the surface and cracking when they are flooded. With the furrow methods it is also easy to mulch either the whole surface, or that part lying be- tween the furrows. Seepage or percolation through the soil in the furrow method is aided by leaving the surface of the furrow rough, with clods in it, so that the water flows down slowly and has plenty of time to soak to the roots of the plants. 106 ARID AGRICULTURE. METHODS FOR SANDY* SOILS On sandy soils, and especially on soils that are spotted with sandy or gravelly places, the flooding methods are usually more satisfactory than the furrow method. It is sometimes impos- sible to run a small stream of water in furrows through a loose sandy or gravelly soil, as it sinks into the soil almost as fast as it can be turned into the furrow. For short distances this may be satisfactory, but in general it is best on such soils to use a large head of water and flood the ground as rapidly as possible. The check method of flooding makes this kind of ground especially easv to work. METHODS FOR STEEP ELOPES METHODS FOR SLIGHT SLOPES The contour check method may be used on steep slopes. When the checks are made very narrow 011 this kind of ground, this method is called terracing. Furrows may be also used on moderately steep slopes, where they are run on grades only slightly below contour lines. Care must be taken with any method on steep ground, that the water does not get a start down the steep- est slope, as it very quickly gathers force and volume and may cut the ground badly. For very level ground the check method is often found most advantageous. For slight slopes the furrow method has some important advantages over the check. Ground sloping from four to ten feet to the mile can be easilv ARID AGRICULTURE. 107 irrigated by the check method, while ground -loping from ten to thirty feet to the mile is usu- ally adapted to the furrow method. Plate XVI. The Big Horn River Is a Grand Stream. Photo by Stimson. CHAPTER VIII. HOME-MADE IRRIGATION APPLIANCES. The effect of aridity is to stimulate the thinking- ma- chine. He is most fortunate who can readily adapt him- self to his environment. The farmer on irrigated land, has in manv APPLIANCES -,i T . . , , , cases, either to adapt implements made for use in humid regions, to his own needs, or make new ones himself. He may have to invent imple- ments for special purposes. More home-made appliances are found on the western irrigated farms than anywhere else. Many of these can be made quite cheaply and will serve the pur-- pose as well as expensive tools bought from the manufacturers. SAGE BRUSH The first work of the irrigator who has just settled on raw land is to get rid of the sage brush, grease-wood, or other bushes found on the land. Sage brush is not a deep or strong-rooted plant. The roots of grease-wood are large and very hard, but brittle. When the brush is small it is easy to get rid of it by plowing, perhaps putting on extra horses to pull the breaking plow, and following to pull out the uprooted brush by hand. Where the brush is larger this method may not do and one has to buy a sage brush grubber, made especially for the purpose, or find a substi- ARID AGRICULTURE. 109 tute. There are two types of sage brush grub- bers on the market. One of these has a horizon- tal blade so fitted on the frame that it can be held some two or three inches below the surface of the ground, thus cutting off the sage brush at its weakest point. A common road grader does good work where the brush is small, by merely scraping it off the surface. The other type of iiTiihber has teeth which catches the brush as the machine is drawn along and pulls it out. This is a modification of the old revolving rake and ihc brush is dumped by tipping the machine over. This leaves strips of unpulled brush so the work must be done both ways. For moderate-sized brush an expensive im- plement is not necessary, as a good grubber can he made of a discarded railroad iron. A straight rail may be used, but it is better to bend the rail in the center, so when horses are hitched to each end it will drag right side up, the front flange catching, breaking off, or pulling out the sage brush. From two to six horses on each end of the rail will be found necessary. It is usually best to make a platform back of the rail and weight it to keep the rail from riding over the brush or prevent a straight one from rolling. The flat bottom of the rail must be kept down to do the work. Where the brush is not too heavy a large area can be covered in a day, by the use of this device. For heavy sage brush, where the rail cannot he used, the only recourse is to use 110 ARID AGRICULTURE. BRUSH PLOWS DITCH- MAKING TOOLS the mattock or grub-hoe and hand labor. With scattered or thin brush many think that hand labor is the cheapest way of clearing the land. A heavy breaking plow is used with four to eight horses for the first plowing of sage brush or grease-wood land. Where many roots are en- countered and the soil is hard and compact, the draft is heavy and plenty of pulling power is im- portant. Three to five inches in depth is usu- ally found best for breaking such ground the first year. After the first breaking it should again be plowed deeper. The mold-board plow is the best for sage brush soils, but a good disc will tear out small brush. Irrigation ditches arc of all sizes, and many types of implements are needed for different con- ditions. For small laterals no implement is bet- ter, perhaps, than the common lister. The or- dinary mold board plow may be used for this purpose, being run back and forth and throwing the earth away from the center of the ditch. For a slightly larger lateral the plow should be fol- lowed by an "A" or "Go-Devil." This may be home-made. By putting hinges on one side and a brace on the inside, the "A" may be adjusted to different widths of ditches. For larger later- als and small canals, the "slip" or the tongue scraper and the common grader are often used. For still larger canals there is no implement that can compare with the Fresno scraper. 112 ARID AGRICULTURE. LEVELING IMPLEMENTS SMALL IRRIGATION TOOLS After having cleared the brush from the land and plowed it, the next question is leveling the land, or rather grading it so that it is of a uni- form slope, suitable for irrigation. For land that contains many small humps and holes, some type of grade scraper is usually best for leveling. Where the knolls are large and the hollows deep- er, a Fresno or "slip," or other scraper, may be used, according to the distance the earth must be hauled to level it off. The finishing touches should be made by the home-made leveler. This is a large frame made of 2x6 or 2x8 timbers, edges down, thoroughly braced, so that they will drag along the earth from the higher places and will deposit it in the lower places. The central cross-piece should be made adjusta- ble by means of a lever, so that it may be lowered or raised. This, as well as the other cross-pieces, should be shod with iron. The adjustable scraper can be made to take off quite a slice from a high place, as the whole weight of the machine may be made to rest on its sharp edge. These levelers may be made 16 feet long and 5 feet wide for four horses, or 24 feet long and 5 or 6 feet wide, where eight horses are used. The great implement used in the flooding method of irrigation is the common shovel, but there is a difference between shovels. The best irrigation shovel is one made strong at the waist, with a sharp point, and with the top of the blade ARID A<;RI< I'LTURE. 1 1 3 bent continue on down the lateral may be oasilv made in either the canvas dam or the metal tapoon. In this way the irrigation stream may ho readily divided. In making hanks for the check method of irrigation, the ground con- tained within each check should first be made as level as possible, by means of a blade, or other 114 ARID AGRICULTURE. scraper, the earth that is being scraped away being left at about the location of the bank. This bank can then be shaped up by a "ridger," which is the reverse of a home-made "A," the side not being allowed to meet at the point of the "A." This instrument, drawn with the large end for- ward, shapes and straightens the bank. The places where the banks meet must be left unmade and these can afterward be filled in by hand or by a special machine made for this purpose, which is simply a scraper made so that its load can be easily dumped in one place. For furrow r irrigation, a home-made instrument called a "marker," is used for making the furrows. It is simply a few 4x6 timbers, two or three feet long, bevelled at the lower edge and drawn along par- allel to each other, being held the proper distance apart by a strong wooden frame. The front of the furrowing timbers should be slanted and shod with diamond-shaped sheets of iron. Fur- rows can also be made by special hoe teeth for a common cultivator. This leaves the furrows rough and loose. The furrows for beets and po- tatoes are usually made with a simple shovel plow, with or without wings, or with a small double or listing plow. HEAD GATES Small head gates are necessary for each main lateral and sometimes a larger one for the ditch bringing the water to the individual farm. When water is plentiful and drain ditches are provided ARID AGRICULTURE. 115 tW carrying away the surplus, these gates do not have to be very carefully made, but in the end it always pays to make them well and so they may l>r easily adjusted to allow the amount of water required to now down the ditch. For permanent gates on laterals heading in a large canal, iron head gates clamped to enough sewer pipe to carry the water through the canal bank are recom- mended, both because they are lasting and when once placed, there is less danger of a washout, which may cause greater dam- age or delay than there is with the ordi- nary wooden head gate. For the diversion of water into the different laterals on the farm, small wooden boxes with head-boards running between strips of wood tacked on the inside, are sufficient. Holes should be drilled through the handle of the gate so that it may be adjusted at any height by putting in a wooden pin at the proper hole. Sometimes trouble is caused by gates not thus held dropping down and causing the lateral to over-fill and flood all around it. Where the grade of a lateral is too great the water \vill soon cut in deeply and the result is that the lateral is too deep for easy irrigation. Such washed out ditches are unsightly and are objectionable on other accounts. To keep the water from running too swiftly when the nat- ural grade is great, drops or spill boxes are ?ary. These are simply little falls made 116 ARID AGRICULTURE. CULVERTS by setting boxes into the canal. They should be so constructed that they will not wash out. Cut^ ting around them is prevented by wing walls and boards placed vertically to keep water from starting through or around the box. A small board dam or apron, placed at the lower edge, prevents the eddies from undermining or carry- ing away the structure. For carrying ditches across roads, railroads, other ditches, and the like, culverts made of pipe, are very suitable. Sometimes old boilers may be used for this purpose, but usually clay or cement sewer pipes are found preferable as they do not corrode. They should be carefully placed in line, the joints cemented and the earth tamped around them until solid. Where there is much alkali, unglazed clay pipe will only last a short time. SMALL FLUMES Often it is necessary to cross ditches or gul- leys with flumes. These may be made either of wood or metal. In wood flumes the frame work should be made first, the trestles on which they are held being made strong enough to hold against all strains, and with a foundation made secure against settling. The settling of a flume in one or tw r o places may cause leakage of the whole amount of water carried. The boards of a flume usually should be laid lengthwise. Sev- eral methods of closing the joints are practiced. ARID AGRICULTURE. 11 7 Sometimes matched lumber is used, but as this is expensive, it is usually more economical to use rough, but straight lumber and calk the joints with cotton-waste and tar, or with oakum. If the boards fit closely when dry, the swelling of the wood, when water is run in it, should still further close up any cracks. Some of the patent metal flumes are found advantageous as they re- quire less attention to prevent leakage than the wooden ones and also present a better appear- ance. They cost considerably more in the be- ginning, but if they are kept painted they will last almost indefinitely. THE FARM Where many laterals are to be run or contour furrows or checks are to be made, it will often be found advisable for the farmer to get a cheap level with which to survey them. Anyone can learn to use these instruments without much dif- ficulty. It will save considerable expense for surveyor's fees. As the instrument is used only at intervals, several farmers can buy one together and get sufficient use of it to pay them well. It is also a very useful instrument for locating main laterals and drain ditches and in leveling land, grading terraces, or for a number of uses that come up on the farm. OF THE -TN/ UNIVERSITY OF Part IV. CROPS AND CROP CULTURE. Where once VMS but the short grass range There now has come a wondrous change. O'er plateau, valley, on the plains Are fields of green, or golden grains. With plow, with hoe, urith seed to soiv Flower, fruit and vine by magic grow. Our hearts content with heavy yield Of the joy of soul and the wealth of field. oo ! CHAPTER IX. ALFALFA IN WESTERN AGRICUL- TURE ALFALFA SEED CULTURE ALFALFA. All flesh is grass and western grass is flesh par ex- cellence. Alfalfa has been and is the making of the West. Xo other plant can take its place in arid agriculture. It makes the richest hay and is the best all-round forage ; is best adapted to cli- mate and soils ; it solves the problem of soil fer- tility and maintenance. Alfalfa is not only es- sential on every irrigated farm, but it is a drouth resistant hay crop for the dry farmer. Its value as a stock food has given it fame, not only in the West, but in all parts of the country. Alfalfa is now being brought into almost every state and introduced into every country in the world. Its value has become so well recognized that the de- mand for alfalfa seed far exceeds the supply. This makes the growing of alfalfa for seed an important new industry for this region where seed can be successfully produced. Up to the present time the production of alfalfa seed has simply been incidental. When alfalfa land has been plowed and put into grain crops the plants which come up from the old rr<>\vii- produce seed. When the grain is threshed, this seed is separated and saved and 122 ARID AGRICULTURE. lias furnished a considerable portion of the sup- ply. Very few have planted alfalfa for the pur- pose of producing seed. When alfalfa fields gel old, run out, and the plants thin so that they do not produce sufficient yield of hay, it is the com- mon practice to leave them for seed. Such fields give yields of from two to seven bushels of seed per acre. Old plants produce small amounts of seed. For large crops young and vigorous plants are necessary. There are three secrets in suc- cessful alfalfa seed production. First, isolation of the plant ; second, young and vigorous plants ; third, favorable conditions of growth. METHOD or Alfalfa for seed should not be sown as the PLANTING FOR SEED PLAN-] ordinary hay crop. To secure plants which arc far enough apart to make strong, thrifty growth ; to secure proper fertilization of the flowers ; to prevent crowding; to favor cultivation and irri- gation, seed should be thinly sown in rows from two and one-half to three and one-half feet apart. The method recommended is to take off the shoes or stop up the holes of a drill to make the rows as wide as wanted, and then plant as little seed as possible (two or three pounds per acre). The small amount of seed may be mixed with ashes or soil to help spread it evenly. When the plants come up, if they are too thick in the row, they may be spaced with a hoe, as with sugar beets, or when very small may be harrowed crosswise to take out part of the plants. ARID AGRICULTURE. 123 CULTIVATION FOB SEED IRRIGATION FOB SEED Where alfalfa seed is raised under dry fann- ing conditions, the plants may be cultivated when very small, as are sugar beets, with a culti- vator supplied with "duck feet," or "bull tongues." After the plants are a year old the cul- tivation may be done with a disc or alfalfa har- row. After the plants begin to produce seed, it will be necessary to cultivate carefully in order to prevent thickening up from the growth of seed which is shattered off the parent plants. Under irrigation we would give the same cultivation as for dry farming, and in addition it will be nec- essary to ditch deeply between the rows. These ditches should be made before the plants get too large. Alfalfa raised for seed production should never be allowed to get dry or to suffer for water. The key to the method of raising alfalfa seed is furnished by those plants which grow along ditch banks. Such plants which are never flood irri- gated, which never get dry, which are not crowded, always produce seed abundantly. If the plants get so dry that growth is stopped, an irrigation will start new growth from the crowns, which interferes with or destroys the crop. HARVESTING The problem of harvesting alfalfa seed THRESHING rowTl by irrigation where the rows are wide and the ditches are deep, has not been worked out. Xo machine has been constructed for this work. 124 ARID AGRICULTURE. It would seem, however, that the crop is suffi- ciently profitable to pay for hand work until such time as invention supplies a better method. The seed should either be placed in bundles or tied and allowed to get thoroughly dry before it is stacked. It should be threshed with the al- falfa huller. An ordinary threshing machine does not do clean work and wastes too much seed. The seed should be stored in a dry place where there is not likely to be great changes in temper- ature. PROBABLE YIELDS FERTILIZA- TION OP THE FLOWERS Alfalfa seed grown in culture for this special purpose should produce heavy crops. One crop of twenty-eight bushels of alfalfa seed per acre has been reported ; in another authenticated case a crop was raised of nineteen and one-half bush- els of seed per acre on three acres. These yields show the possibilities of the crop. An average of fifteen to twenty bushels per acre should be secured by correct culture and treatment. With an expense of $20 an acre, the profit ought to be equal to that from the culture of other intensive crops, like sugar beets and potatoes. It has generally been believed that alfalfa, like other clovers, required the visitation of in- sects to fertilize the flowers. Failure of the seed crop is often due to lack of proper fertilization. It is now known that alfalfa flowers may become fertilized without the agency of insects. Alfalfa ARID AGRICULTURE. 125 WILL THERE BE A SEED CROP ilo\vcr< arc supplied with a little trap, the spring- ing of which insures getting the pollen where it is needed. The honey bee seems to be one of ilic most important agents for fertilizing alfalfa. Alfalfa is one of the best honey plants known. Every alfalfa seed raiser should keep bees. It is impossible to tell early in the spring whether or not a crop of seed will be secured. Tf the season is very wet and cold and the plants make large, thick growth, it will be better to cut the first crop instead of letting it go to seed. If the blooms are light in color, and are few, if the tlnw."is do not fertilize, but fall off, leaving the stems bare ; if only one or two weak looking pods are produced in a flower truss and there is a small amount of curl in the pod or only one or two seeds appear in it, the crop had better be cut for hay. Sometimes there is early insect in- jury, as from grasshoppers or early appearance of leaf-spot or other disease which indicates that a profitable seed crop will not be secured. Some- times the bloom will increase and become well fertilized later in the season, but the^e early in- dications are almost sure evidence of what may be exnected. CLIPPING YOUNG PLANTS The younir alfalfa plants sown in rows for seed should bo clipped in late summer or early fall of the first season. This clipping should be done not more than half way down the plant. 126 ARID AGRICULTURE. CROP FOB SEED TIME TO HARVEST SEED Cutting close to the ground may injure or de- stroy the young plants. Proper clipping great- ly strengthens the plant, causing it to produce larger roots and more thrifty crowns. The first crop should ordinarily be left for seed, in our Northern mountain regions. In any district north of Colorado the second crop is not so certain, although it is true that the second crop will often seed better than the first. This is probably due to more numerous insects for the fertilization of the flowers later in the season. Where the season is long, so four crops or more of alfalfa are cut, the first crop may be clipped or cut for hay, and the second crop used for seed. Alfalfa for seed should be cut before it gets too ripe. If allowed to stand too long or there is a shower of rain after the pods are fully ripe, they will shatter and there will be much loss. It is best to cut the seed crop when the alfalfa stems are still more or less green, or when a majority of the seed pods have turned brown. The earlier ripened seed is probably best, and that which is green or immature can be blown out with the fan. STACKING FOR SEED The alfalfa bundles or gavels from the self- rake should be piled together for protection from rain and to prevent shattering, by handling as lar^e bundles as convenient. When thoroughly A KID AGRICULTURE. 127 dry, these bundles should be put in the stack. Alfalfa for seed should be stacked several weeks, or long enough to get through the sweat before threshing. Xever put alfalfa in the stack when there is moisture on the outside of the leaves 01 stems. Much alfalfa seed is destroyed by heat- ing in the stack. If the stacks are large, some form of stack ventilator should be used. There should be a stack bottom of poles or other mate- rial to keep the alfalfa off the ground, and open barrels or other frames may be put inside the -rack to serve as ventilators. This applies to al- falfa for hay as well as for seed. VARIETIES The author is now growing a total of forty- two varieties and strains of alfalfa. Many of these are more properly varietal strains from different parts of the world. While there are few varieties of alfalfa on the market, the seed buyer has some choice, and it is important that he make his own decision rather than let the seedsman choose for him. The varieties offered by seedsmen are: common alfalfa, which covers a multitude of forms; Turkestan alfalfa, the seed of which has a brown or reddish tinge ; Ger- man alfalfa, often identical with the seedsman's Turkestan, and Grimm's alfalfa, which is said to be an American strain of sand lucern. Plants of Turkestan alfalfa are so much like our com* mon form that they are indistinguishable. The value of this strain is not that it is a different. 128 ARID AGRICULTURE. type, but that the seed has been grown under conditions of drouth, which give it strength and Plate XIX. Wonderful Alfalfa Grown in Northern Wyoming-. Tallest Specimens Were Nine Feet and Two Inches High. AKID AGRICULTURE. 129 vigor when changed to our soil conditions. Ger- man alfalfa seed has done well in some localities, but has nothing specially to recommend it. Oi common alfalfa seed the discriminating planter- will choose well when buying. That which is grown in the ^orth will give better results than that which is grown in southern sections of the country. In some regions, alfalfa seed usually becomes contaminated with sweet clover. Any one with acute sense of smell can detect sweet clover seed in alfalfa. There is no way of separat- ing it, and while sweet clover is not a bad weed in alfalfa fields (except in those for seed produc- tion), the buyer does not like to be fooled with any such adulterant. It is important that vari- eties of alfalfa which are resistant to leaf-spot disease and adapted to our conditions of soils and climate should be produced. GOOD SEED Good alfalfa seed varies in color, but is usu- ally a bright golden yellow, or it may have a slight greenish tinge. It should be practically free from black, shriveled, immature seeds; it- should be entirely free from dodder and other dangerous weeds. It should be viable alive, and germinate promptly when planted. Alfalfa and other leguminous seeds often become so hard that they will remain in the soil a year or more before they germinate. Good seed is that which will make the strongest growth, and such seed is usually produced in the shortest season. 130 ARID AGRICULTURE. SOILS FOB ALFALFA ALFALFA HAY CULTURE Alfalfa will grow and thrive on almost any character of soil found in the West. The kind of sub-soil is more important than that of the surface. If the subsoil consists of hardpan or is filled with moisture which comes near the surface, it is not so suitable for alfalfa. Some of the strongest soils which produce the heaviest crops are the clays and greasewood lands, but it usually takes longer to get alfalfa established in such soils. With proper soil management, alfalfa will grow almost anywhere. If the soil is shal- low, it requires more irrigation. If it is heavy clay, also more irrigation will be required. If the sub-surface water changes its position through the year, being several feet lower in the growing season than it is in the winter or spring, its rise will usually drown alfalfa. Alfalfa is not very resistant to strong alkali soils. At high altitudes where the season is short, more care will be needed in its culture, and under dry farming special attention to the conservation of moisture is necessary. Alfalfa is an intensive culture hay. The plant is worth all the work and attention given it. It responds to careful, persistent attention. The fact that it is easy to grow should not make the farmer careless. The profit in any kind of farming does not lie in average crops, but in pro- ducing more than average crops. ARID AGRICULTURE. 131 PREPARATION Sowing alfalfa in the sod or on sod land sel- dom results favorably. Alfalfa seed has become scarce and expensive and should never be wasted or thrown away in a poor seedbed. New land should be cultivated in some other crop at least one year before it is seeded to alfalfa. The seed- bed should be moist and well packed. On this account it is advisable to plow in the fall. Where irrigation is practiced too much care cannot be given. The careful leveling and smoothing of land which is to be seeded to alfalfa is necessary. The crop is to remain on the soil for from two to ten or more years, and avoiding future ex- pense of difficult irrigating will pay many times over. It is well carefully to level the ground and then try it by giving a flood irrigation before the seed is planted. If there are holes or bumps which are hard to irrigate, go on again with the Fresno scraper, land grader or home-made level- er. Either irrigation or sufficient length of time and attention given to conservation of moisture should always be practiced before planting alfalfa seed. It is important that there should be enough moisture in the soil to germi- nate the seed and give the plants their first few weeks of growth until they get eight or ten inches high before another irrigation becomes neces- sary. Where the seasons are short alfalfa should be sown as early in the spring as the ground can be 132 ARID AGRICULTURE. put in proper condition and heavy freezing weather is past. The young plants are not seri- ously injured by a few degrees of frost. At lower altitudes where the season is longer alfalfa may be sown any time up to the middle of August. As far north as northern Wyoming we have succeeded in securing a good stand of al- falfa where it was planted as late as the last of August. SEEDING- Use a drill. Use a drill with press-wheel at- tachments. Do not sow broadcast unless only an acre or so is planted and a drill cannot be obtained. Plant the seed shallow from one- half inch to two inches deep. The amount of seed to use will depend upon circumstances. If the seedbed is in perfect condition, moist, loose on the surface, firm below and warm, from eight to twelve pounds of good seed per acre will pro- duce a sufficient stand. Usually the seedbed is not in good condition and twenty pounds of seed per acre is recommended. The more seed the finer the hay, other things being equal. Some growers, especially in the Eastern states, plant as much as thirty pounds or forty pounds of seed per acre. The method the author has recom- mended to growers is to sow ten or twelve pounds the first year, and if a heavy stand is not secured, go over the second season in the opposite direc- tion and drill in ten pounds more of seed. This reseeding should be done the first or second year, ARID AGRICULTURE. 133 as after the old plants get well established the young ones are shaded or crowded out, and never make a good, thrifty growth. Seed at right angles to the direction of the wind. Under irri- gation it is best to seed with the direction of the land slope, unless the land is so steep the soil will wash. PLANTING It is common practice to sow alfalfa with WITH NURSE some n u r se crop, as no return can be expected from the alfalfa the first year. When this is properly done, a nurse crop is not especially objectionable, as a stand will be secured which will produce hay the second year. Better re- sults are always obtained without a nurse crop. The plants become stronger and will produce heavier crops of hay the second year where they have the land all to themselves from the time of planting. The best, nurse crops are those grains which produce the least leaf growth or stool the least, or mature in the shortest season. "Maca- roni wheat is better than other wheat. Wheat or barley is better than oats. If grain is used as a nurse crop, plant it thin, using only half or two-thirds the seed used if planting without al- falfa. Winter grains may be used as nurse crops by harrowing in the spring and sowing al- falfa early, before they have made large growth. These crops mature early in the summer and leave considerable season for the alfalfa to es- tabli>li itself after thev are removed. 134 ARID AGRICULTURE. CULTIVATION If any cultivation is attempted the first sum- mer, it must be carefully done. Young alfalfa plants are very tender. At the end of the season, however, a light harrowing crossways of the drills may do more good than harm. If weeds are thick, they should be mowed before there is danger of smothering the young plants ; but do not cut close to the ground. An excellent practice is to apply a thin coating of manure with a spreader over the alfalfa field in the fall, either for new or old planting. It is only recently we have discovered the great profit arising from cultivating alfalfa fields. There are two indispensable imple- ments for alfalfa cultivation: the disc, or the spiked-tooth alfalfa harrow, and the drag har- row. Cultivation should begin in earnest in the spring of the second season. If the disc is used, set the blades fairly straight. Weight the disc so that it will cut two or three inches deep. Lap it each round to leave the ground level, and do the work thoroughly. The alfalfa spiked-tooth harrow does not ridge the land like the disc and does not split the crowns of the alfalfa plants. It digs up the soil deeper, and does excellent work in loosening and aerating it. If the soil is left lumpy, follow with the drag harrow to finish the work. This cultivation should always be done in the early spring ; it may be done in the fall and winter, and in many localities will pay ARID AGRICULTURE. 135 after each cutting, providing there is time after irrigation and before the plants get too high. Such cultivation lets air into the soil, saves moisture, kills weeds, destroys insects, makes plant food available, increases the crop. INOCULA- In most of our western soils alfalfa will not need artificial inoculation. By inoculation we mean supplying the bacteria which live on al falfa roots and gather nitrogen from the air. Alfalfa will live without the presence of these bacteria, but it does not do well. These bacteria produce little nodules or tubercles on the roots, take the nitrogen gas of the air and change it into nitric acid, which in turn becomes valuable plant food, and the kind most needed in the West Where alfalfa plants do not thrive, look yellow or appear to be in a dying condition, it is usually due to the absence of nitrogen bacteria. Artificial inoculation material has been on the market, but it has so generally failed that farm- ers should not spend good money for such cul- tures. A practical method of inoculation is to take soil from an old alfalfa field or from a place where sweet clover is growing and sow it over the field to be inoculated. A thin sowing of a few pounds per acre will get the bacteria started after which it will increase and spread. We have sent such alfalfa soil in four-pound pack- ages by mail to farmers who have changed their success with alfalfa by sowing upon and harrow- ing it into their fields. 136 ARID AGRICULTURE. ALFALFA MIXTURES IRRIGATION OF ALFALFA HAY On many farms of the West sowing some grass with alfalfa is giving excellent results. Four grasses are used for this -purpose, and we recommend a fifth. The four commonly used are timothy, brome grass, orchard grass, or meadow fescue. In places, no doubt, the slender wheat grass will give as good or better results than any of the foregoing. The method is to sow the ordinary amount of alfalfa seed and then put on from ten to twenty pounds of the grass selected, and harrow it in. These grasses which grow tall enough will head just above the alfalfa, and it is claimed fields produce as large crops of both alfalfa and the grass used as would be grown if each were planted alone. Such alfalfa and grass mixtures make excellent stock feed, especially for fattening, as the grasses widen the ration. Mixtures of this kind are not recom- mended for dry farming. Grass sod in alfalfa shortens the life of the alfalfa plants and pre- vents thorough harrow cultivation. Irrigate the ground before planting. Do not irrigate the seed up if it is possible to avoid it. Do not irrigate alfalfa when too young, un- less you know it is burning. Many practice irri- gating old fields early in the spring before the alfalfa starts, but this is probably not the best practice. Fall or winter irrigation is better. Alfalfa may be winter killed if irrigated so late that the water freezes around the crowns of the ARID AGRICULTURE. 137 plants. If the water is absorbed by the soil so that it does not stand and freeze, no damage will be done, or if the ground is thoroughly frozen and the water merely forms ice over the surface it does not harm the plants. Usually, the first crop can be produced without irrigation; but alfalfa should be irrigated for each of the second, third, and fourth crops. Some farmers prac- tice irrigating just before cutting the hay. Irri- gating at that time leaves the ground damp, which interferes with mowing, makes the hay more succulent, and delays curing, which may cause injury to the hay. It does, however, put moisture in the ground where it produces a quick and vigorous start from the crowns for the next crop. Alfalfa should be cut, cured, and removed from the ground as quickly as possible. Then irrigate after the cutting. It is easier to spread water on the stubble. The irri- gation can be done better and does not interfere with making the hay. Alfalfa does not stand well in water. The irrigations should be as short as possible. Some of the best farmers in the West now practice furrow irrigation for al- falfa. The furrows are made with a corn mark- er or something of the same kind. They are usually shallow furrows, four or five inches deep, and made two feet apart. Running water through these furrows prevents flooding the crowns, and on many soils better crops are pro- duced. 138 ARID AGRICULTURE. HARVESTING HAY Alfalfa for hay should be harvested when it first begins to come into bloom. The best hay- makers rake their alfalfa either immediately after mowing or as soon as it is slightly wilted. Some keep their hay in wind-rows ; others bunch with a rake. Undoubtedly the best method, al- Plate XX. A Good Way to Make Large Stacks. L. A. K. Ranch. Photo by Stimson. though it takes more work, is to put the hay in cocks with a fork, as it saves much waste and in- sures the best curing. The hay should be stacked when it is sufficiently dry, but not too brittle. Do not put in stack when there is dew, rain, or other moisture on the outside of the stems and leaves. If perfectly dry outside, it may be ARID AGRICILLTURE. 139 stacked when there is considerable moisture in the hay, providing the stacks are not made too large or stack ventilators are used. Always use some kind of stack bottom, even if it is no more than a layer of straw. On large fields many use the common go-devil, or ricker, to haul the Plate XXI. The "Go Devil" and Stacker Putting Up Alfalfa. hay cocks or bunches to the stackers. Mr. Wil- cox has called attention to the Lockhart drag as an advanced method of hauling hay from the fields to the stack. This drag is made of nine 1x6 boards placed six inches apart and bolted at each end to 2x4 cross pieces laid flat. It is sim- ply dragged over the field and a ton or more of hay tipped onto it with forks and then dragged 140 ARID AGRICULTURE. HARVEST AFTER ANY INJURY STORING GREEN ALFALFA to the stack, where the hay is delivered to the stacker. New stacks, especially where the wind blows, should be anchored by wires over the tops and fastening weights to them. Do not hesitate about or delay the cutting of alfalfa at any time if its tops are injured se- verely by frosts, or hail, or insects, or drouth. It never pays to leave such injured alfalfa with the hope that it may recover, because the plants al- ways make a second growth from the crowns, and the injured tops both spoil the hay and interfere with the growth of the second crop. Green alfalfa may be stored either in the silo or by a new method recommended by the Kansas Experiment Station. We do not rec- ommend silos for the West, because dry alfalfa hay is such a perfect food that there is no neces- sity of putting it up green. The Kansas method of storing green alfalfa is of interest. The al- falfa is hauled in as soon as possible after cut- ting and stored on floors, two to three feet above ground, made of poles or slats, which supply openings through which the air from beneath can pass up through the hay. These sheds are cov- ered with some kind of roof. The alfalfa is piled from three to five feet deep on the floors, and if the weather is dry and there is no outside moisture on the stems or leaves, it is claimed will cure perfectly without heating. Such ARID AGRICULTURE. 141 hay contains all the leaves and retains a perfect green color, which gives it the highest value. Care must be taken not to compact the hay after it is put in. AZ.FAZ.FA Any one who has had experience or who has FERTILIZER studied alfalfa in its relation to western soils be- comes most appreciative and enthusiastic about its unparalleled value. Through the agency of the bacteria on its roots alfalfa is one of the strongest nitrogen gathering plants. It grows from a large, strong tap root, which reaches the lower depths of the soil, bringing up plant food from the sub-soil, loosening compacted soils and adding vegetable matter through their own decay when the soil is used for other crops. In growing several crops in a season, which are harvested as hay, there is a considerable deposit on the surface of broken off leaves, small stems, and more especially of stubble, which dies each time from the place cut by the mower to the crown of the plant. These things add much veg- etable matter to the surface of the soil. Our studies have convinced us that growing alfalfa on any soil from three to five years adds from thirty to forty dollars worth of available fertil- izer when it is plowed up for the production of other crops. By using alfalfa in rotation the raising of intensive crops, like potatoes and sugar beets, is made possible, and rotation with alfalfa in parts of the West has increased the 142 ARID AGRICULTURE. average wheat yields from less than twenty bushels per acre to approximately fifty bushels per acre. Every farmer w 7 ho can grow alfalfa, whether or not he may use the hay for stock feed, should consider this plant the foundation of his rotations in soil culture. When used as a fertilizer many farmers sim- ply leave the alfalfa two years. The alfalfa products themselves are so valuable that in most places when a good stand is secured it will pay to let it occupy the ground from three years to seven or eight years, or even much longer periods. PASTURING There is objection to the use of alfalfa as pasture for three important reasons. First, sheep or cattle pastured on alfalfa are very apt to bloat. The way pasturing is usually done there is a loss of animals, which may make it unprofitable. Sometimes alfalfa hay will cause bloat when overfed to sheep and cattle. The cured hay at high altitudes where the stems are fine and there is a large percentage of leaves is more apt to cause bloat. Undoubtedly the best method of feeding green alfalfa is by soiling, in which the alfalfa is cut and carried to the ani- mals each day. The second reason for not pasturing alfalfa is that it injures the plants. Tramping and packing the ground by stock, more especially in regions where alfalfa is hard to grow, may cause 144 ARID AGRICULTURE. more damage than profit from the pasture. This can be largely obviated by cultivation. The third reason for not pasturing alfalfa is that it does much to foster and spread alfalfa dis- eases. One of the best remedies for our more serious alfalfa diseases is discing and aerating the soil. When soils have been compacted by heavy tramping, those bacteria and fungi which produce disease find conditions most favorable for their development and do the most serious damage. Notwithstanding these objections much prof- itable pasturing of alfalfa is done. Many large ranch and range men leave the last crop to be fed off by their stock in the fall and early winter. By proper management there need be little or no loss from bloat. Sometimes the alfalfa is al- lowed to become more or less cured and sheep or cattle are never turned on when hungry so they will gorge themselves. They should be well filled with other roughage and after turning them in the alfalfa fields they are left there continuously. Moving them off and on to the alfalfa will cause serious trouble. Horses, swine and poultry may be pastured on green alfalfa at any time. VALUE OP The first crop of alfalfa hay is always prized as the most nutritious and valuable. It contains less moisture, becomes better matured and un- doubtedly makes the best hay for horses. Some Colorado lamb feeders say the best cutting for ARID AGRICULTURE. 145 lambs is the first, the next best is the third cut- ting and the second cutting is poorest of all. The third cutting is most succulent and the best for cows giving milk. ALFALFA Recently the alfalfa meal industry has bc- PBODUCTS , , . come a large and important one. Alfalfa is so rich in food elements that it practically becomes a concentrate when reduced to the condition of fine meal. This alfalfa meal is mixed with other Plate XXIII. things to make complete rations. It is mixed with molasses from the beet sugar factories, and sometimes called "Alfalmo." Sugar beet mo- lasses is a carbohydrate which widens the ration and gives excellent results. The finer alfalfa meal or flour is put up in boxes and sold for poultry breakfast food. Alfalfa meal is mixed with seeds and grains for poultry, with other grains for balanced rations for hogs ; still others for horses and for cows. It is probable that the luiy itself will give almost as good results for cows <>r other animals which need roughage for 146 ARID AGRICULTURE. stomach distention, although it is claimed that alfalfa meal does not pack in -the stomach. Some recent experiments in Pennsylvania show that if bran can be obtained for $20 per ton and al- falfa costs $22 per ton, it is probably more eco- nomical to feed bran. Alfalfa meal has high value for dairy cows, and it is economical if the cost of the meal is not excessive. CHAPTER X. CANADA FIELD PEA VARIETIES OF PEAS HAY AND FORAGE CROPS. The hay of the United States is its most valuable crop. In no place is forage more important to agricul- ture than in the arid region. The Canada field pea is perhaps one of the most important and valuable crops, both for for- age and grain, that has been introduced into the West. It is both valuable for irrigation farm- ing and dry farming. In some sections the field pea has revolutionized the agriculture. This is true in the San Luis Valley, of Colorado, where the raising of Mexican field peas and the fatten- ing of lambs on them has largely taken the place of grain farming. There are a good many varieties of Canada peas. The Mexican is a mixed or mongrel sort, which is largely grown in Colorado. The White Canada has given us the best results in all our experiments. There are several strains of these White Canada peas. We are now growing some from Sweden, France, England, Germany and other places, and some of these strains are far more productive than the common ones obtained from Canada or Wisconsin. Other forms of field peas offered by seedmen are, Green Canada, Blue Scotchman, and several forms of garden 148 ARID AGRICULTURE. varieties, like the White and Blackeyed Marrow- fat. The Golden Vine is one of the best known varieties. SOILS FOR PEAS At higher altitudes, where the seasons are cool, field peas do well on almost any kind of soil. At lower altitudes where the summer is hot, the cold, heavier soils give better results. Under systems of dry farming sandy soils which retain the most moisture are the best. PLANTING PEAS .TIME TO PLANT Peas are a good crop for either old land or sod, and they may be planted in a variety of ways. Good results are sometimes obtained from sowing them broadcast on the sod and cov- ering them with the breaking plow, but such method cannot be recommended. They may be disced in or planted and covered by any method used for other seeds. The best way is to use the press drill. Forced feed drills will often crack some of the seeds ; but the saving made by drill- ing the seed is very great in spite of this fact. Many of the split peas will grow, and the seed put in the ground with a drill will be well planted. They may be sown from one inch to four inches deep. Field peas should be planted as early in the spring as the ground can be prepared. In some places where the ground is dry, the seed may be sown late enough in the fall so that it will not ARID AGRICULTURE. 149 CULTIVATION AND IRRIGATION germinate. At lower altitudes where the sea- son is long, the peas may be sown as late as the first or middle of July, and they will get large enough in the fall either to produce forage or to be plowed under to increase the humus and nitro- gen in the soil. The best time, however, is to Plate XXIV. Canada Field Peas. This Field Yielded Over Thirty-four Bushels Per Acre. plant as early in spring as possible. February is not too early, if the ground is thawed out. Peas are easy things to cultivate. On the dry farm, under the two-year system, all they will need is a harrowing with a drag-tooth har- row after they have come up. Under irrigation peas may be managed at the pleasure of the 150 ARID AGRICULTURE. farmer. The pea is what the botanist calls an indeterminate grower, i. e., it grows, blooms, and ripens seed as long as there is moisture and ab- sence of hard, freezing weather. The amount of irrigation will depend upon the length of the season, and somewhat, also, on the heat of the summer. Where summers are hot, flood irrigating will blister or otherwise in- jure the pea plant. Furrow irrigation is better. They may be kept growing by irrigating often enough to keep the soil moist. We have found that on good, loamy soil four irrigations gave a yield of ripened peas of 34% bushels per acre, and about four tons of vines, while seven irriga- tions gave a little larger growth in vine, but only nineteen bushels of peas, because they did not get ripe. On account of its adaptability to dif- ferent soils, different ways of planting, ease of farm management and response to dry farm methods or irrigating practice, the field pea is one of the easiest managed crops. FEEDING- The pea is both forage and a grain crop. Pea IP hay properly made is a roughage unexcelled by any other. Poorly made pea hay is poor stuff. Good pea hay is a valuable feed for any kind of live stock. It has been found that over-ripe pea hay, pea straw, or that which has been spoiled in the stack, is dangerous to horses, cattle, pigs or sheep, because it causes indigestion and impac- tion. These troubles are absent when properly ARID AGRICULTURE. 151 made and cured hay is fed. The threshed peas are highly nitrogenous food. They are specially valuable for young, growing stock. Except for lambs or pigs which have good teeth and can grind their food, peas should be chopped or ground. Pea hay which contains ripe and partly ripe peas will make the horses slick and shiny in the spring and will put good fat on any kind of stock. HARVESTING In many parts of the West the cheapest and PASTURING best me thd of harvesting the field pea is to pas- ture with stock. In the San Luis Valley, and other places, lambs to be fattened are turned on the pea fields early in October and allowed to run for about one hundred days. These lambs may be followed by pigs, which clean up the waste peas that have been shelled out and trampled un- der foot. The best method is to use hurdles, or division fences, so the stock will not run over and tramp down all the peas during the first feeding period. They should have fresh food and the best supply at the end of their fattening period, and this can only be secured by using a part of the field at a time. By this method of feeding the expense of harvesting and handling the crop is saved. All that is necessary is to see that the animals are supplied with proper water and salt. An acre of peas that makes a good crop will feed and fatten eight to twelve lambs and leave 152 ARID AGRICULTURE. a considerable supply of peas for the liogs which follow. Such feeding leaves all the manure on the ground and spreads it at the same time. With the nitrogen gathering of the peas and the ma- nure of the animals, soils used in this manner are continually enriched. Sheep will do well on peas even where some snow covers them. When the snow is too deep a plow can be run through, breaking furrows and lifting the peas so that the sheep can get to them. PULLING OB If it is desired to put the peas in stack, either THE CROP f r the saving of seed or to feed as pea hay, or to be threshed for grain, they may be pulled with the old-fashioned dump rake, or sometimes with an ordinary hay rake. If peas are mowed, a guard attachment should be put on the mowing machine which will lift the vines. A man should follow with a fork and throw the vines in bunches or wind-rows, away from the machine, so that the horses will not tramp over them on the second round. The best method of hauling peas to the stack is by the use of sleds and slings. If threshed for seed, a special threshing machine must be used or they must be flailed or tramped out. The or- dinary cylinder machine will not only split the peas, but make pea meal of them in our dry cli- mate where the grain gets brittle. ARID AGRICULTURE. 153 COMBINING OATS AND PEAS ."Many eastern writers make a strong point of the value of growing field peas in connection with some grain, generally oats. It is usually claimed that the grain helps hold up the peas and increases the efficiency of both crops as food. Our experience indicates that in most places it will pay better to grow the peas and the grain separately. The grain is apt to grow more rap- idly than the peas in the early part of the season, and its effect in shading and crowding the pea vines usually produces small grow r th or entirely smothers them. The combination for feed of pea hay and well cured oat or barley hay pos- sesses important advantages, as it makes a better balanced ration. The West is not a corn country. The great value of corn, how r ever, as a forage crop and as a cultivated crop for dry farming, makes it of much importance. There are parts of the West where corn can be raised for grain with profit, but its high value is as a fodder. Corn is one of the most productive plants we can grow in the amount of roughage produced per acre. Yields of from four tons to twelve tons per acre are obtained of cured fodder. When properly raised and cared for, corn fodder is worth almost half as much as alfalfa, and it produces a large amount of digestible food per acre. Corn is one of the best drouth-resistant for- 154 ARID AGRICULTURE. age crops, and one that can be most cheaply raised. Seed costs little, cultivation may be done; on an extensive scale, and shallow cultiva- tion is all that is necessary. The land may be plowed and cultivated more shallow 'for corn than for any other crop. Under dry farming, with proper tools, one man can plant and tend 160 acres of corn, or of sorghum. He must have plenty of horses, gang listers, large harrows, and gang weeders. VARIETIES There are many kinds and varieties of corn, WEST but they are all classified under about four heads. There are flour corns, usually grown in the South ; Dent corns large and small, Flint corns suitable to the North, and sweet corns. The best varieties for the most of the West are those short season types represented by the Flint corns and the small Dents. Sweet corn is one of the most valuable sorts to grow for forage. It will pro- duce almost or quite as much forage per acre as the common kinds. The best varieties for this purpose are the large growing late sorts, like Evergreen or Stowell's Evergreen. Of the common corns those that will stand the most drouth, the shortest season, and coolest nights are the Australian Elint corns, the W^'te Cap Dent corns, Cool Night corn and M. of barley as they have a right to expect. This is generally because they do not follow the correct method of culture. Barley needs a large amount of moisture in the early part of its growth. It needs a goodly supply of available nitrogen in the soil. If these things are absent the barley injures very quickly. Its tendency, when injured by drouth or lack of plant food is to make very short straw and small, poorlj -filled heads. Barley does not show its injury by drouth as do other grains by burning and shrivel- 176 ARID AGRICULTURE. OATS VARIETIES OF OATS ing up. Before the farmer knows it his barley field may become too dry and subsequent irriga- tion does not make it recover as it will oats or wheat. Barley soil should be prepared in the fall or irrigated before plowing in the spring. The soil should be watched and if getting dry, even when the plants are very small, irrigation should begin. If the plants are kept moist until the barley is well headed, irrigation may stop and a good crop will be secured. Barley may be planted on new soils or better, on soils which have been in rotation, following potatoes, peas or alfalfa. Oats are the first and must general crop raised by the arid farmer. Farmers know more, perhaps, about this grain than any other. Oats are one of the best crops to raise on sod. They always find home use as feed for teams or other stock, and there is usually a good market for the surplus. Oat culture is as simple and easy as that of any of the grains. Early varieties will mature with comparatively little moisture, but they respond to frequent irrigation and much water better than other grains. Oats on sod land may be irrigated every week or two and when they are high enough to begin to shoot, they should be thoroughly soaked by a complete irri- gation. Perhaps the best drouth resistant variety for general cultivation is the Kherson or the Swed- ARID AGRICULTURE. 177 ish Select. Some most excellent short-season varieties also are Scottish Chief, Lincoln, Black Beauty, Big Four, and Clydesdale. The best yielding varieties are those which take the longer season to mature. The White Russian side-oat has produced heavier yields, perhaps, than any other in general cultivation. Wheat is one of the most important grain crops for the western dry farm and has its place in crop rotations under irrigation. The average yield of wheat in the arid region approximates twenty-five bushels per acre. In round numbers this is twice the average, yield of the humid states. Good farmers, however, are not satisfied with yields of less than forty or fifty bushels per acre. Wheat should give a net profit over and above the expense of producing it, of from twelve to fifteen dollars per acre. Wheats succeed best on heavier soils, provid- ing they have good drainage and do not contain too much alkali. Light soils are not so favora- ble for wheat, but under dry farming loamy soils which are somewhat more retentive of moisture will give best results. Our soils are sufficiently rich in mineral plant foods, the only fertilizing needed being tillage and rotation with peas, al- falfa or potatoes. Wheat ought never to follow other grains and there should seldom be raised two successive crops of wheat on the same land. 178 ARID AGRICULTURE. PREPARA- TION OP SOIL. Wheat succeeds much better in a well com- pacted soil. Fall plowing or early spring plow- Turkey Red. Red Cross. Plate XXIX. Winter Wheats. Dry Grown, New Castle, Wyo. ing will usually give best results. Under irri- gation deep plowing is not so necessary or advis- able as it is for other crops. The land should be harrowed to form a good seed bed and save moisture. VARIETIES OP WHEAT There are a large number of varieties of spring wheat which may be successfully grown in the West. In Utah, eastern Oregon, Wash- ington and in the Southwest, the square head wheats or club wheats are grown because si e* 180 ARID AGRICULTURE. they do not shell out and may be allowed to get fully ripe in the field so they may be harvested with combined harvesters and threshers, or headed and taken at once to the threshing ma- chine. In the northern portion of the mountain region the Fife and Blue Stem, known as North- ern Hard wheats are the best milling sorts. For the southern half of this region wheats of the Defiance type or White Touse are the leading varieties. For dry farming the most successful and valuable spring wheat is the Kubanka type of Durum wheat. For feeding purposes, the Macaroni, Polish, and Egyptian wheats are val- uable drouth resistant kinds. As yet there is only one variety of winter wheat which can be recommended for general planting. This is Turkey Ked, which is a fine milling wheat, and succeeds under both systems of dry farming and irrigation. Karkof winter wheat is being tried and so far all reports are most favorable. The Silver King, which is a beardless winter wheat, has succeeded fairly well in some sections of the West. PLANTING Seed wheat should be plump, heavy, true to type, clean, free from weed seeds or other grain, and treated for smut. (See Chap. 18.) The average amount of seed to use per acre on irri- gated farms is about seventy pounds. Of the larger standard kinds, like Macaroni or Polish wheat, ninety to one hundred pounds may be ARID AGRICULTURE. 181 used, and for dry farming, thirty to forty pounds of seed per acre. These figures are good average amounts to use if sown with a press drill. If necessary to sow broadcast a third more of seed >hould be used. On rich lands with rotation and irrigation, only thirty pounds of seed per acre of spring wheat gives maximum yields. The time to sow wheat is as early in the spring as the ground can be prepared and when danger of hard freezing of the soil is past. The seed should be drilled two to three inches deep. Winter wheat may be sown any time in Septem- ber if the ground is moist and the seed bed well prepared. If the land slopes so much that it \\ a>hes badly, the drill should be along the hill in-read of straight up and down it, so the grow- ing plants will check the force of water. IRRIGATION There should be sufficient moisture in the OP WHEAT so '} fo secure seed germination and to supply the plants until they become well established. If the ground is dry and there is not sufficient spring rain, the land should be irrigated before the wheat is planted. The plants should not be allowed to suffer for water, but on the other hand, it is better not to irrigate them until they are five or six inches high or large enough to par- tially shade the ground. Short, quick irrigations, which soak the ground pretty well are better than allowing the water to run too long. Gen- erally, irrigation should be given when the plants 182 ARID AGRICULTURE. TIME TO HARVEST WHEAT WHEAT AS FEED begin to shoot, that is, when the first stems begin to be thrown up. Another irrigation should be given after the heads are formed to insure large heads and filling of the grain. If the weather is very dry and hot, cars must be taken with late irrigations of wheat, because if kept too wet at this time it might induce rust to cause consider- able damage. Where the straw is badly rusted it seldom produces plump wheat and if rust is present it is probably better to keep the water off. Some farmers in the southwest believe that the shattering of the grain may be largely prevented by giving late irrigation. This is true because the grain does not get so ripe. In many cases late irrigation may result in damage by frost. Wheat should be harvested before it gets too ripe. Experience indicates that the best results are obtained by cutting wheat in the last part of the dough stage. Such grain usually ripens in the straw and makes heavier seed. Harvesting early prevents loss by shattering. East of the mountains it is w r ell to allow the bundles to stand in the shock for some time to go through the sweat and dry out before stacking. If properly fed wheat has been shown equal to corn for fattening stock. Some successful feeders in the West head their wheat and feed it to stock without threshing. This is one of the best methods of feeding wheat, as it is not so apt II S 3 184 ARID AGRICULTURE. to throw animals "off feed/' as giving them the cleaned grain. Some of the beardless wheats may be fed in the bundle. Bearded sorts will need to be threshed. Eye is not appreciated as it should be. In the West, rye is not raised to any extent for the production of flour. There is some prejudice against rye as stock food. There is, perhaps, no more valuable grain for the feeding of swine than rye and it should be more generally raised for this purpose. Rye hay is of much value in some sections. When raised for hay it should be planted thick and cut when in the milk or early dough stage. The winter rye is one of our most hardy grains and one of the most important ones for the dry farmer. It succeeds in almost any part of the arid region, and on new dry farm lands produces over forty bushels per acre as a maximum crop. Rye sometimes lives several years and produces a number of crops with one planting if cut in its early stages. Rye may be planted early in the fall, the last CULTURE O f August or any time during September, and the young growth may be used for pasturing stock either in late fall or early spring. The ground should be well filled with moisture be- fore the rye is planted, but this crop will stand winter drouth and cold. It should be harrowed one or more times in the spring and if water can ARID AGRICULTURE. 185 be had for irrigation and there is not abundant rainfall, it should be irrigated about twice./* The first irrigation should be a thorough soaking when the rye is in the "boot" or begins to "shoot." The last irrigation may be given when the rye is in the early dough stage to fill it and make an abundant crop.^Rye will grow on poorer soils than any other grain, and even un- der most adverse conditions will give some kind of crop. As yet there are no improved varieties of rye on our markets. This grain has been bred to great perfection in parts of Germany, where single farmers have devoted years to grad- ing and adapting special strain? of rye for their localities and soils. <, De Candolle believes that Spelt w r as the corn, par excellence of Pliny, which he said w r as used as food by the Latins for 360 years before they knew how to make bread.^ It has been cultivated principally in Germany, where it is called Spelz or Dinkel. Spelt, or Emmer, is one of the prim- itive forms of wheat, but resembles barley in character, as it is bearded and the grain is held rightly in the chaff, little or none of it shelling out when it is threshed. Spelt is receiving much attention in this country as stock food. Much is being claimed for it as a drouth-resistant grain. The Xorth Dakota Experiment Station reported that Spelt produced heavy yields, espe- cially good results being obtained with home grown seed. 186 ARID AGRICULTURE. Analyses made at the South Dakota Experi- ment Station shows a composition resembling that of barley. The spring spelt should yield from twenty-five to seventy-five bushels threshed grain per acre. A new spelt has been introduced and is being increased and improved, by breed- ing, in Wyoming. This is called Black Winter Emmer and differs from the ordinary spelt in its season of growth, color, hardiness and yielding quality. It is a winter grain of great import- ance, as winter grains are more valuable to the dry farmer. In Dakota it has been found that spelt fed EMMER- to steers produced as good quality of meat as corn. It took one and one-fourth pounds of spelt to equal one pound of corn in steer feeding. In feeding beef during a grass period, however, it took only 5.16 pounds of spelt for one pound of gain and at the same time it took 7.03 pounds of corn for one pound of gain. With baby beef feeding it took 1.84 pounds of spelt to 1.69 pounds corn, to produce one pound of gain. In my own experiments with lamb feeding in Colorado a high value was shown for spelt. The lambs eating spelt consumed more of both grain and alfalfa hay than those which were fed corn. The following tables give a brief statement of the results : AEID AGRICULTURE. 187 LAMB FEEDING TRIALS. Amt. of feed eaten. Grain eaten for 1 Ib. FEED. Grain pounds Alfalfa pounds Gain pounds Spelt Corn . . . 430 402 889 803 3.03 3.09 Barley . . . 402 888 3.43 Spelt . Corn . "Bui-lev THE GAIN'S AXD COST OF GAIN. Gain of Wool pounds 15 17 Gain of Cost per Meat Total gain Ib. of gain pounds pounds cents 127 142 4.28 113 130 5.25 20 97 117 4.95 These experiments show a high feeding value ; n'lt. When we consider that spelt will yield from a third more to twice as much as corn ; that it is a drouth-resistant grain, and that it is better suited to a cool climate or one with cool nights than corn, its value in the arid region be- comes apparent. Plate XXXII. CHAPTER XII. THE POTATO AS A BUY LAND CROP POTATO CULTURE. Sir Walter Raleigh took the potato to England. It became the poor man's bread and meat in Ireland, and came back to America an Irish Potato. Potatoes can be produced with as little moist- ure as any of the general farm crops. Their Plate XXXIII. John Gordon and His Dry Farm Potatoes. requirements are such that a little water stored in the soil will make sufficient growth of vine, and with proper cultivation its feeder roots will gather practically all the moisture in the culti- AEID AGRICULTURE. 189 AS AN IRRIGATED CROP VARIETIES vated area. The potato is one of the more im- portant and profitable arid region productions. So important has it become under irrigation in certain sections that its culture is being rapidly extended. When grown under irrigation the potato is forced and rapidly deteriorates as seed. On this account there is large demand for potato seed raised by dry farm methods. Seed raised by dry farming, and used under irrigation, seems to do well the first and second years, but old potato growers seldom use the same seed the third year. This is an important item to the dry farmer who has soil and conditions suitable for potato culture. Good crops of potatoes are raised on a vari- ety of soils. We believe a light sandy loam is preferable, but where late water can be supplied, good crops are produced on heavier soils. With proper cultivation the yields average from 100 to 250 sacks of two bushels each per acre. The cost of producing the crop averages about thirty dollars per acre. The main croppers in the mountain region arc the "Ohio" for early crops, the "Mammoth Pearl," and "Rural ISfew Yorker" for late crops. In some sections the "Burbank" does very well. Early varieties are more used for dry farming, but very few early potatoes are grown as main crops by irrigation. 190 ARID AGRICULTURE. The white varieties (Pearl and Eural) take the lead. It is important that a community of farmers who are just becoming established, at least, plant only one or two varieties in order that they may supply a uniform product to the market in sufficient quantities. Plate XXXIV. Potatoes on the YU. Ranch, Big Horn County, Wyo. Photo by Stimson. THE The root rot (See chapter 18, Plant Dis- TREATMENT eases) and blight are very common potato dis- eases and the first of these,, at least, can be meas- urably controlled by properly handling and treating the seed before planting, by change of seed and by rotation of crops. Seed potatoes may be kept from sprouting in the spring by fre- quently changing their position in the root cellar. OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CORROSIVE SUBLIMATE TREATMENT CUTTING THE SEED ARID AGRICULTURE. 191 Perhaps one of the best treatments that can be recommended is to let them become well sun- burned. The light seems to destroy the winter stage of the root rot disease. The farmer can tell whether this disease is present in abundance on his potatoes by the presence of black spots, which look like particles of soil that stick very riii-litly to the skin of the potato. "Greening" the potato seed also causes short, strong sprouts which do not break off in handling and are ready for business as soon as planted in moist soil. Treatment with corrosive sublimate or form- alin will also help destroy this disease, and it is n cure for true potato scab where the crop is raised on clean land. Use two ounces of corro- sive sublimate to fifteen gallons of water. Dis- solve the corrosive sublimate in one gallon of boiling water, using an earthen or glass jar. Mix with water in a barrel and dip the potatoes, leav- ing them in the solution one to one and one-half hours. Spread out to dry before cutting. Cor- rosive sublimate is a deadly poison and must be handled with great care. Xever use the same vessel for any other purpose. Small potatoes may be used for seed if they are pure and true to type, and will give as good results as will planting larger tubers. They may be either planted whole or cut, one or two eyes to the piece. The best results in cutting have been 192 ARID AGRICULTURE. obtainedby quartering the potato lengthwise, and if a cutting block is used, the larger ones may be quartered by splitting both ways. Where pota- toes are planted on a large scale a machine cutter may be used. SEED POTATOES Seed potatoes should be pure varieties, true to type, and not forced by irrigation. It is more important that the seed potato be one from a thrifty hill which contains a good number of potatoes true to type than that it be large size. The best seed for irrigation is raised by dry farming or at high altitudes in the mountains. The seed should be as free as possible from scab and the root rot disease, must not get chilled or frosted, and should be changed often where there is tendency to run out. A farmer who would raise potatoes successfully must not hesitate to pay the price for the best potatoes to renew his seed. PREPARA- TION OF THE SOU. Potato ground must be plowed deep. Usually four horses are put on to a fourteen-inch plow and the furrow turned eight or ten inches deep. If on sod ground, five or six inches will do the first year. The ground should be harrowed the same day it is plowed and the plowing should not be done long before planting time. Sod ground should be disced before the plowing is commenced in order to make as fine a seed bed as possible after it is turned under. Alfalfa ^" Place XXXV. Planting (Below), Harvesting (Above). Photos by Bennett. 7 194 ARID AGRICULTURE. ground to be used for potatoes must be plowed deep and a wide, sharp share used to cut off the roots. PLANTING The best results are obtained by the use of a good potato planter, and such machinery is nec- essary, if potatoes are to be raised on a large scale. The seed should be put in an average depth of four inches when on dry, sandy soil, though they may be planted six or seven inches deep and still give good results. They are not planted deep enough as a rule. Immediately after planting, a good four-horse cultivator should be run through between the rows, loosen- ing the ground to the depth of the plowing, or, if possible, an inch or two deeper than it was plowed. Use a four-horse cultivator and run the shovels close to the rows. Follow the cultiva- tion with the harrow to level the soil and estab- lish the mulch. Just before the potatoes come through the ground, give a second harrowing with a toothed harrow, slanting the teeth a little back. The seed may be dropped distances of from twelve to eighteen inches apart in the row and the rows should be from three to three and one-half feet apart. From five hundred to seven hundred pounds of seed per acre is sufficient. At higher altitudes, where the season is short and potato vines make comparatively small growth, they may be planted correspondingly closer to- gether with the required increase in the amount Plate XXXVI. Cultivating (Below) and Ditching (Above). Photos by Bennett. 196 ARID AGRICULTURE. of seed. The largest yield of which there is any authentic record in the West was obtained from potatoes planted a distance of eight inches apart in rows two and one-half feet apart, on highly fertilized and cultivated ground. CULTIVATION Potatoes should receive deep and thorough cultivation. When the plants are four or five inches high, cultivate deep and near the rows. This should be done each week or ten days, run- ning the cultivator shovels farther from the plants as they grow larger, and throwing the soil toward the rows. The ground should be kept well stirred to the depth of the plowing between the rows until time for irrigation. Each irriga- tion should be followed by shallow cultivation to break up the crust until the vines get so large they interfere. IRRIGATION- Potatoes should not be irrigated until after the young tubers are set on the vines, though wjiere the season is so dry they burn, it may be necessary to irrigate at any time. The tubers usually set a week or ten days before the plants begin to bloom. Deep ditches should be made, with a double plow, between the rows, and the first watering should be very light. Eun the water in the alternate rows and in a week or ten days run a good head quickly through the rows which were not irrigated before. This should be followed in from a week to twelve days with a ARID AGRICULTURE. 197 thorough soaking up of the ground, running the water between each of the rows, but do not let it stand too long. Water should never come in contact with the crowns of the plants. If a large crop is the principal consideration, the potatoes should be irrigated once in a week or ten or twelve days through the season after starting, as indicated above. They must not be allowed to get dry enough to check their growth. After the growth becomes checked once, new irrigation will start second growth, which produces large vines, new setting of tubers or knotty, ill-shaped potatoes. If it can be avoided, irrigation should not be done when the weather is hot and sultry. ROTATION IN * Farmers who make a business of potato rais- ing follow a regular system of rotation in which alfalfa is the crop used to bring back the soil fer- tility. Potatoes do well on sod land and one or two crops may be raised. This should be fol- lowed with a crop of grain, and if the soil condi- tions are favorable, alfalfa may be sown with the grain. The alfalfa is left in the ground two or three years. It is then plowed late in spring after the alfalfa plants have started. This plowing is difficult and must be thoroughly done. The deep cultivation immediately after plowing will pull out the principal roots and prevent their inter- fering with future cultivations or ditching for irrigation. Such alfalfa ground may be kept in potatoes two years if disease does not appear, 198 ARID AGRICULTURE. and then put back into alfalfa with grain. Field peas are an excellent crop to rotate with potatoes in dry farming or under irrigation. Plowing under a light crop of peas in Wyoming increased the potato crop thirty-one dollars per acre. Po- tato ground is usually in fine condition for any following crop. POTATO Potatoes may be grown without the use of MACHINERY special machinery, but if any acreage is raised, it is economy to have the best equipment. There are a number of planters on the market. Some of the different makes are the Robins, Aspen- wall, Superior, Evans and Excelsior. Digging may be done with a potato plow, which has fin- gers behind, which are worked by a -shaker, or with the larger machines, like the Doudon or Brown. The potatoes may be sorted by hand when picked up, or all picked into a basket and run over a wire screen sorter. Where the po- tato beetles are troublesome, it is necessary to have some form of spraying machine to treat with Paris green. HARVESTING Potatoes are usually left in the ground some SORTING- time after frost has killed the vines in the fall. This helps to ripen and dry out the tubers. They should be harvested before the gro-und begins to freeze. Where the potatoes are green, care should be exercised in handling and a sorter should not be used. If they are to go to market ARID AGRICULTURE. 199 at once they are sorted and sacked in two bushel >acks. If they are to be held for a short time ;ii id a root cellar has not been prepared, they in ay be pitted in the field. Do not dig deep pits, but smooth off the ground, put the potatoes in as sleep a pile as possible, cover first with straw or vines and then with enough soil to pre- vent injury by frost. Leave a small space at top of pile not covered with the soil for the escape of Plate XXXVII. A Good Potato Crop. the heat and moisture given off by piled potatoes. Potatoes stored in this way will keep until the weather gets quite cold. Where root cellars are used, the potatoes are usually piled in loose, and kept as cool "as may be without danger of freez- ing. Often our potatoes grow to very large size, single tubers weighing five and six pounds not beinir uncommon. These very large potatoes are not desired in the market. The best sale is 200 ARID AGRICULTURE. found for a medium-sized potato which will give from sixty to seventy-five potatoes per bushel of sixty pounds. Such potatoes are desired by hotel and restaurant-keepers for baking pur- poses. The farmer who properly grades his produce will always find ready demand and good prices. Uniformity in size and color, freedom from scab, crack or dirt, shallow eyes and pleas- ing shape are essential to secure top prices for the product. CHAPTER XIII. BEETS A DIRECT FOOD SPECIAL GUI. TUBE REQUIRED THE SUGAR BEET AND ITS CULTURE. The luxuries of yesterday become the necessities of tomorrow. The main business of the farmer is to sup- ply the world's necessities. Sugar beets may be grown for two general purposes; 1st, as a direct food for stock and man ; 2nd, for the manufacture of sugar. Beets have been grown many years for stock feed, but the sugar beet for manufacture becomes a new crop, where factories are established. The value of the beet as a supplementary food for stock is something we have been slow to learn. Even after the sugar has been extracted, what re- mains is worth enough for food to make the by- products valuable. "NYhere beets are properly raised for the pro- duction of sugar, their culture differs at almost every point from the culture of alfalfa, wheat and potatoes, which have been our staple crops. The high sugar content and purity of the sugar beet are artificial characteristics produced by years of special cultivation, selection and plant breeding. This has given rise to "kinks" in beet culture, which are not only important but essential if we make the value of the crop suffi- 202 ARID AGRICULTURE. BEET GROWING INTENSIVE ADAPTING CROPS IMPORTANT cient to meet the expense of producing it and provide a profit. Raising sugar beets is intensive farming. They cannot be successfully produced except by intensive methods. On this account sugar beet culture introduced into a community which has generally practiced extensive cropping, means learning something new. The farmer must put aside the idea that his experience with other crops will enable him to grow sugar beets suc- cessfully. He must follow the experience of those who have long practiced beet culture if he hopes for success. The German who said that the Americans could not grow sugar beets because they would not get down on their knees to hoe, has given us some idea of the essential difference between beet culture and the culture of our ordinary crops. While there is a right method of beet culture, un- doubtedly general practice may be somewhat modified by the peculiar conditions of each local- ity. Experience in other places is valuable, but not always infallible. We have much to gain by creating races and varieties of plants which will be fully at home and adapted to our soil, climate and system of irrigation. It has taken long years of careful breeding and cultivation to produce the sugar beet of today. The amount of sugar it contains ARID AGRICULTURE. 203 has been quadrupled and other solids eliminated until it has great purity. At the same time the beet has taken on desirable shape and size. To grow them properly the farmer must carefully, honestly and persistently follow out rules of beet culture, perhaps with some intelligent modifica- tion. Plate XXXVIII. A Perfect Shaped Sugar Beet. It will probably take thoughtful farmers three years to learn to grow beets. You may make a good profit before you learn how to grow the beets, but your profit will not be as large as after a little experience. 204 ARID AGRICULTURE. AVERAGE An average crop of anything is not highly PROFITABLE profitable. The man who gets only an average crop should be well satisfied if he makes ex- penses, and should rejoice over an additional 3 per cent, gain on his investment. The average crop of potatoes for the United States is about 64 bushels per acre, say 38 sacks. In our best potato districts under irrigation the cost of rais- ing an acre of potatoes is about $30.00. There are not many farmers in the West who would go into their fields rejoicing, to harvest less than 38 sacks of potatoes per acre. If the crop of sugar beets averages only 10 tons per acre, worth an average of $4.50 per ton, there may or may not be a cash profit in raising them. It will depend on whether it has cost $30 or $50 to grow and market the beets. Good farmers in beet-raising sections will probably produce more than twenty tons and possibly twice that in some cases with little increase in the cost. Where this occurs they will bring magnificent profits and boom the bank account. The main idea is, of course, the immediate money value of the crop. While this part of the reward will, undoubtedly, be highly pleasing to the man who properly grows his beets, it is not the only thing to be gained from beet farming. BEETS AND Where sugar beets are grown for a factory, producing them, more than the raising of almost any other crop, brings prosperity to a commun- ARID AGRICULTURE. 205 MONET PUT INTO CIRCULATION SOMETHING TO BE LEARNED ity. This is not due alone to the money reward to the grower. There are several ways in which growing beets differs from the growing of other crops in the ultimate result to our agriculture. First The more money handled in a way which puts it into wide circulation, in any busi- ness, the greater is the commercial and social activity. This is the reason that manufacturing and trade centers are prosperous. Growing beets requires intensive cultivation. If a farm- er raises 10 acres of sugar beets as they should be managed, it means the expenditure of $300 to $500, much of which is paid for labor. In a beet-growing community everyone is employed, everyone has some money to spend, and real es- tate, the merchant, the barber, the church and the school respond to the magic. The establish- ment of successful factories have always resulted in improved conditions. Second There is an important educational feature about growing beets. The farmer who raises them learns something new about agricul- ture. Some of the underlying principles of his high calling are forcibly brought to mind. He has known in a general way that plants are sen- sitive to conditions of soil and climate. He has read Mark Twain's way of putting it, w 7 hsn he makes Puddin' Head Wilson say: "Training is everything ; the peach was once a bitter almond, 206 ARID AGRICULTURE. and the cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education." He is now becoming acquainted with a sugar beet which was once an annual weed growing on the seacoast, and the things he learns are too numerous to mention. PROFIT FROM SMALLER AREAS GROWING BEETS IMPROVES LAND The bringing of some of thi& land under in- tensive cultivation to gain larger profits from smaller areas is a most important lesson for the irrigation farmer. We will have more people, more happiness and more general prosperity when we have fully reached the realization that more of everything we work for can be obtained from an irrigated farm of twenty acres properly managed than from an hundred or a thousand acres which keeps a man both skin poor and pen- niless. This is one of the last and hardest les- sons the arid land farmer, who comes from re- gions where the more land the more wealth prin- ciple prevails, has to learn. Third The continual stirring of the soil by the plowing, sub-soiling, planting, thinning hoe- ing, irrigating, cultivating and harvesting, im- proves the land. Jethro Tull, in England, taught that thorough tillage was the only thing neces- sary to make the soil everlastingly productive, and he was not far wrong, especially when the principle is applied to arid soil, containing as it does, practically all the plant foods that were in ARID AGRICULTURE. 207 RAISING DIVERSITY OF CROPS ADVISABLE SUGAR BOTH A LUXURY AMD A NECESSITY BEETS WILL GROW ON ALKALI LAND the rocks from which it was formed, instead of having had its nutritious salts washed into the sea. This stirring of the soil saves moisture and does numerous other things to improve the land. It could hardly be better prepared for the sup- port of any crop we may wish to grow on it. I know of no better clean culture crop for a rota- tion, than the sugar beet. Fourth Growing sugar beets adds a crop to those usually produced on a farm. It does not take the place of other crops, but adds a new one. Diversifying the crop does many things for the farmer. He uses his land and employs his labor to better advantage. If he has several crops and one fails he can better afford to stand the loss, as there are others which secure an income. Fifth There is usually more money made by producing luxuries than anything else. Sugar is both a concentrated food and one of our great- est luxuries. The people of England use one- third more sugar per capita than the people in the United States. A few years ago an estimate was made that it would require TOO additional factories to supply our demand, and that demand is continually increasing. It seems that there can be no possible danger of glutting the market. Sixth Finally, sugar beets fill a niche in our farming not filled by any other crop. They belong to a family of plants which rejoice in 208 AEID AGRICULTURE. salty soils and will grow on our alkali lands. Farmers generally in irrigated regions know what it is to see portions of the farm becoming less productive through the rise of alkali to the surface. I know of no valuable crop, unless it is English Rape, which will grow in as strong alkali as will the sugar beet. Nor does the com- mon, w r hite alkali of this region injure the beets in any way, except that these salts may retard or prevent the germination of the seed. If such land is to be planted to beets the surface should have the salts washed out so that they will not be in concentrated form around the seed. Flood- ing water over the land will wash off the surface salt or dilute it and carry it back into the soil. Then the application of a dressing of manure to mix with the surface soil will help the land, pre- vent the rapid rise of salt again and enable the seeds to properly germinate. After the plants become well established the salts will do no harm if the soil can be kept in a good state of tilth. SUGAR BEET h e } an( j f or SU g ar beets should be prepared CULTURE , . in the fall. After the season s crop is removed, manure should be applied at the rate of ten to thirty loads per acre, the amount depending upon how green and strong it is. Manure from the sheep corrals is of the best for this purpose. We are not afraid of getting the ground too rich, but the danger lies in getting it too porous, thus allowing it to dry out quickly, especially in the ARID AGRICULTURE. 209 FERTILIZING FLOWING IRRIGATING LAND HARROWING LAND ROLLING early spring. The manure should be plowed un- der in the fall if possible, even if the ground is very dry. It is better to sharpen the plow share for each acre and get the land plowed deep, eight to twelve inches is best, but if the ground has previously been plowed five or six inches, not more than two inches of the under soil should be turned to the surface, because it is poor in veget- able matter and fertility, so the young beet will not get an early start and vigorous growth. After the ground is plowed and harrowed, it should, if possible, be irrigated in the fall. The moisture left in the ground from this irrigation will be sufficient to germinate the seed the fol- lowing spring. The ground will be pulverized by the frost and when harrowed in the spring will be in the best condition for the reception of the seed. The ground should be leveled so it may be easily irrigated. The work done in get- tin o- the ground in the best possible condition is profitably spent. ~No amount of work afterwards will make up for the lack of care in this. Some roll the ground before, and some after seeding. This is usually a detriment to the crop. The harrow marks should be left in the field. The soil is generally left loose on top and evaporation is prevented by this earth mulch. The spring winds will not gather up the sand and fine particles of earth and slide them along the 210 ARID AGRICULTURE. USE CLEAN GROUND TIME TO PLANT surface of the ground, cutting off the young beets, as they do when the ground has been flooded or when it has been rolled. When the last harrowing is done, drive so the harrow runs cross-ways of the prevailing direction of the spring winds. Before planting your seeds be sure that the ground is free from sticks and all trash; go around with a wagon and pick this trash off. It will catch in your cultivator and before you can stop you have lost several feet in a row of beets. The damage is done. You have lost money. Al- falfa roots are like leather on your horse hoes. They will not be cut in two, but drag out and destroy the young plants. If you use alfalfa ground for your beets, plow the alfalfa as shal- low as possible and still get all the roots cut. Fol- low with the harrow, harrowing out all roots and cart them off the land. Replow the ground three or four inches deeper than the first plowing and prepare the same as other ground. Alfalfa ground, fresh from the sod, produces fine beets, rich in sugar. Beets should be planted early. Plant as soon as danger of freezing weather is over. A frost will not injure the young beets, but a freeze so hard that the ground is frozen one-fourth inch or more deep will kill the beets. The beets should be out of the ground and as far along as ARID AGRICULTURE. 211 any of the weeds when it is time for the cultiva- tor to start. The early planted beet gets a good start and shades the ground before hot weather begins. The seed should be sown with the regular sugar beet drills, in drills 18 to 20 inches apart, and 1 inch to 1% inches in depth. Spacing the rows 16 inches and 24 inches apart in order to furrow and irrigate between the wider alternate rows is a convenience on level ground where it can be applied. These drills sow four rows at once and have two small wheels following each shoe of the drill, one on either side, and about one inch from the center of the shoe. These firm the soil about the seed and tend to bring the moisture to it, insuring an early germination. The beet seed requires considerable moisture before it will start, and it should never lack for moisture from the time it begins growth until the crop is "laid by" in August. The seed should be sown at the rate of 20 pounds per acre. It is poor economy to try to save seed. This amount of seed will produce many more plants than are desired, but it insures plants over the entire length of the row, which, when thinned, should result in a nearly perfect stand. If a crust has formed over the ground from rain or irrigation, each seed which grows will help the others, and all working together will 212 ARID AGRICULTURE. IRRIGATING SEED HARROWING push hard enough to break the crust so that the plants may get through. The importance of a good thick stand of beets cannot be over-esti- mated. In this lies the profit. It costs no more to grow, and little more to harvest, a crop of 30 tons per acre than it does a crop of 10 tons. The one crop yields a profit of $60 to $70 per acre, the other but pays the rent of the land and cost of growing. If the ground is dry when the beets are planted, don't wait long for a rain, but turn on the water. The beets will be coming up in ten days or two weeks. The soil is likely to bake if irrigated, but you can follow by another irriga- tion, or if the plants are up so the rows can be seen, start the cultivator and use the horse "hoes" and "duck feet," or the "spiders/ 7 running the hoes as close to the rows as possible. Some practice harrowing to break tne crust. This should never be done lengthwise of the row, for a harrow tooth getting in the row will drag out the beets for several feet. Harrowing is a bad practice ; it injures the stand and kills beets in many places where it is desirable that they should grow. Don't harrow your beets, use the cultivator. When the plants show four to six leaves the thinning should begin. The quicker the farmer 214 ARID AGRICULTURE. gets this done the better for his crop. The beets are first spaced. This is done with a five or six inch hoe, the man striking the hoe so it will cut off the beets an inch below the surface, leaving two inches of the row of beets between each hoe mark. The spacing must be done quickly. A good man will keep on a slow walk, a mile an hour, and space as he goes. It does not pay to strike the hoe twice in the same place. Keep a file handy and have the hoe sharp. Files and hoes are cheaper than labor. After a few rows are spaced, the spacer learns to strike the hoe in the row wherever desired. The spacer is fol- lowed by thinner s. Pull out all but one beet, disturbing the beet left in the ground as little as possible. Leave the beets seven or eight inches apart in the row. Some now advise leaving the beets 10 or 12 inches apart in the rows. It is not wise to leave more than one beet in a place, as the two, if left, will not equal in weight a sin- gle beet alone, and it is quicker at harvest time to top a single large beet than two small ones. In pulling the beets be sure to get them out by the root. If the tops are pulled off, they will grow again and your labor has been done in vain. A good spry man will space and thin an acre in three days. It takes most men four days or more. CULTIVATION The cu i t i v ator should be started as soon as the rows can be seen, using the "hoes" and "duck ARID AGRICULTURE. 215 feet." Early cultivation kills all weeds in sight, as well as great numbers that have germinated, but are still under the surface. The cultivator attachments should be kept sharp. A large weed will catch on a dull tool and drag out the beets. The beets should be cultivated every ten days or two weeks until the leaves cover the ground. When the leaves get so large they are injured by the cultivator, the cultivation must cease. In cultivating, use a slow, steady horse, and for the first two cultivations have some one lead the horse. The eyes of the man who has hold of the cultivator handles must be on the beets. The cultivator takes two rows at once. It is important to get started on the rows right, for the drill has sown the four rows parallel with each other, each row of the four has the same crook in it, and in cultivating but one row of beets needs watching; if that row goes all right past the cultivator, the other row being parallel, is sure to. If you start in on the fourth and fifth rows w r ith your cultivator you will find yourself in trouble. They are not exactly par- allel and you are sure to destroy parts of one or both. In setting the a hoes," bring them as close together as possible, without destroying the beets. It is better to have the hoes for the first two rows a little too far apart to give the opera- tor some experience and skill in cultivating. After thinning, the cultivator should be kept going. At intervals of ten days or two weeks 216 ARID AGRICULTURE. the beets should receive two thorough hoeings. A small five-inch hoe should be used, which can be run between the plants the same as in spacing, killing all the weeds and loosening the soil about the beets. In this work the young beets should not be cut or scratched with the hoe. Such cuts do not heal properly and the beets are injured for life. If the ground it; not too foul, the sec- ond hoeing will subdue the weeds, the beets will be well started and a harvest in sight, IRRIGATION When the beets need water, give it to them. Don't think they must be thirsty so the roots will go after moisture and get deep into the ground. They will go down, anyway, if the ground is not too hard. The most of the root feeders are near the surface and here is where most of the nour- ishment is obtained. Beets are like alfalfa in that they go deep after plant food. They stand neglect better than most crops and will do much to redeem themselves if given good after-treatment, but it is unprofitable to allow the growth to become stunted for lack of water. There are two irri- gating shovel attachments for the best cultiva- tors, which make furrows between the rows of beets. These should be used before irrigation is commenced, but the soil should not be thrown up on the beets. When the beets are thus covered, the yield is much less. The furrows allow the water to follow along between the rows and when run from three to five hours it has soaked to the ARID AGRICULTURE. 217 beet, the moisture is below the surface and the soil does not bake next to the beets. It is not best to flood beets. The beets when flooded tend to be smaller in size, but are generally richer in sugar. The water standing on them in hot weather is likely to scald and kill them. It is best to folloAv each irrigation with a cultivation, as soon as the ground is dry enough. Irrigation should be given as often as the ground becomes dry. Never allow the beets to suffer for water. The sugar beet is a crop that will pay for all extra work and attention given it. It is these extra attentions that give profit in beet culture. It is in September and October that the beet makes the best growth, the leaves contract along the midrib and veins, the lower leaves take a yel- lowish cast, the beet is now making sugar fast. Beets that would yield about 15 per cent, sugar the first of October will yield about 18 per cent. October thirty-first. In this extra per cent, is a good profit. The manufacturers will usually wish to start the factory early and will want early beets to begin on. The early planted beets will be rich in sugar, but even these are still mak- ing sugar. HARVESTING When the beets are ready in the fall, they are dug with a beet plow, drawn by three or four horses. This plow runs by the side of a row and 218 ARID AGRICULTURE. lifts the beets in the soil, cutting or breaking off the root. The beets are then pulled and thrown into convenient piles, sixteen to twenty rows are generally thrown together in this manner. The beets are topped with corn knives, or a special beet knife with a blade ten inches long. The beet is taken in one hand, the top cut off with a, single stroke, and then thrown into the pile. With good help it will cost 50 cents a ton to do this. It is important that the beet be topped quickly and the "topper" should be quick and hit the beet at the desired point hard enough to sever the top. When topped the piles are thrown together and covered with the tops to prevent evaporation of the juice and as a protection from frost. CARE OF TOPS The top of the beet is cut off about midway between the mark of the lower leaf and the crown of the beet. The beet leaves should be placed in small piles, two feet high by about two feet broad, and left in the field to cure. When cured they are hauled in and fed to cattle and sheep. They are liked by cows, and containing so much of the tops of the beets, are a valuable feed. If the tops are hauled in and put in large piles be- fore they are cured, fermentation begins and a smoking, hot, rotten pile is soon the result. COST AND PROFIT The expense of growing an acre of beets may be estimated as follows, the farmer allowing him- ARID AGRICULTURE. 219 self wages and a little more than cost of feed for his team : Manuring, 15 loads at 20c $ 3.00 Plowing 1.25 Harrowing 25 Leveling 75 Planting 50 Seed, 20 Ibs. at 15c 3.00 Thinning 6.00 Hoeings 6.00 Cultivating and furrowing, 6 times at 50c 3.00 Irrigating, 6 times at 50c 3.00 Pulling, topping, hauling, for a yield of 15 tons per acre at $1.00 15.00 $41.75 Horses, when they have learned to eat heets, are very fond of them. The hair becomes glossy and coat slick when beets form a portion of their feed. Milch cows do well on them. Steers get fat when fed beets. Hogs relish them and will fatten rapidly. If fed a small grain ration with beets the hogs do better than when fed grain alone. Sheep will fatten fast on beets and corn. They are considered cheaper feed than corn, and the mixture cheapens that ration. Chickens will 220 ARID AGRICULTURE. pick into beets and consume them as they will melons. The beet tops have become an import- ant feed in cattle and sheep fattening. Plate XL. A Colorado Sugar Factory. CHAPTER XIV. MISCELLANEOUS CROPS. Variety is the spice of life, and the farmer need not carry all his eggs in one basket. Writers have usually admitted that flax is a much neglected crop. It is becoming more and more appreciated in the West. It is one of the most drouth-resistant plants, resists hail well, will grow in a short season and, where there is sufficient early moisture to stimulate the first growth, it will usually make a crop. The main difficulty in raising flax in the West has been that of finding a market, as there are no mills for the extraction of the oil and the linen indus- try has not called for the fibre. However, we have made some new discoveries in regard to the value of flax seed for feeding stock. Early feed- ers failed to get good results with flax because they fed too heavily, upsetting the digestion of the animals and causing urinary troubles. With more moderate feeding, flax has found a place in Western farming. Under irrigation, flax does not stand much water. It should be irrigated lightly and never flooded too long. Average yields are fifteen to eighteen bushels per acre; but maximum yields of twenty-eight 222 ARID AGRICULTURE. bushels have been known. Sixteen bushels per acre have been grown at altitudes of over seven thousand feet, and flax from that locality took a medal at the Chicago World's Fair. If cut early enough, often a second growth will spring up, which is valuable for fall feed. If raised for the grain, sow twenty pounds or twenty-five pounds of seed per acre. Where grown for flax fibre, it should be planted thick, using forty or fifty pounds of seed. Sow with a grain press drill, planting one-half inch or one inch deep. Cut when the majority of the seed balls are light brown in color and when the straw is somewhat green. If left too long, it shatters badly in the field. It is best harvested with a self-rake or binder, without the binding attachment. A small amount of flax may be sown with oats and the crop cut and fed in the straw or threshed and fed as mixed grain. Some experiments in Wyo- ming resulted in very fat lambs by feeding ground flax seed, turnips and alfalfa hay. Sev- enteen to twenty pounds of seed fed in this man- ner in a period of ninety to one hundred days made the lambs fat without any other grain. From two to four ounces of seed per day in con- nection with other food is sufficient for a sheep. Small amounts of flax seed fed to horses with grain give good results, especially in the spring. BUCKWHEAT Buckwheat is one of the very valuable dry farm and short-season crops for the West. It ARID AGRICULTURE. 223 can be planted as late as July, where our seasons are long, and planted in the spring at our higher altitudes will usually mature a good crop. It is one of the easier grain crops to grow, and is of much value as stock feed, where there are no mills for making buckwheat flour. The princi- pal use made of it is for chickens, but when ground it makes a good grain for other kinds of animals. It will usually do on soils which have been plowed early or on sod. For dry farming plant about twenty pounds of seed per acre, and twenty-five or thirty pounds where plenty of water may be had for irrigation. There are two principal varieties, the Jap- anese and the Silver Hull. The Silver Hull produces a smaller grain than the other, but we prefer it for general planting. Buckwheat should not be allowed to get too ripe before har- vested and must be handled carefully in our drj* climate to prevent shattering. Beans are one of the best paying dry-farm crops, as they will mature with comparatively little moisture. Large areas are devoted to bean culture in California, where the season is long enough to mature lima varieties. Beans are a cultivated crop which fits into Western farming. They are legumes which gather nitrogen from the air and improve the soil. The best varieties for field culture are the large Xavy or the small Xavy, the Mexican bean, and Red 224: ARID AGRICULTURE. and White wax. They should be planted in rows two and one half feet apart, sowing two to three inches deep, so the seed will be from three to four inches apart in the rows. This will take from twenty pounds of small kinds to sixty pounds of seed per acre. The culture of the bean is simple and easy. A deep mellow seed bed should be prepared and the crop should be cultivated often until the time of bloom. Where irrigated, the water should be sparingly used and never allowed to reach the crowns of the plants, and cultivation should fol- low each irrigation. Do not work beans when the plants are wet with dew or rain. Watch for and kill the bean beetle. (See chapter on insect enemies.) They must be harvested by pulling with dump rake, but it will usually be found advisable to pull by hand, as the crop is valuable and should not be lost by hurried methods, which will shatter the beans. BOOT Every farmer with stock to feed should grow CROPS root crops to supply winter succulence. In the West there are few places where making silage will pay. In a dry country, however, some suc- culent food is most valuable. Root crops are not grown for the amount of food material they contain, so much as to supply a variety of feed and to help the animals digest other foods given, Turnips are most usually raised, and it costs very little to produce the crop. They may be ARID AGRICULTURE. 225 sown as i\ catch crop, with the corn the first of July, <>r plant- M! on other land and drilled or broadcasted. Fse two to four pounds of seed per acre, and keep the ground as moist as pos : >ihle without making it too wet. The best vari- eties are the White eii'ii 1 and Golden ball, for our higher altitudes, Purple tops, and Swedes, 01 Rutabagas for general planting. Mangels are the easiest beets to grow. They do not require thinning and special culture re- quired by sugar beets. Mangels contain so much water and so little dry matter that they are one of the poorest root crops for feed. However > they produce large yields, and are worth while in many localities. The half sugar mangels are the best form of stock beets to grow. They contain enough sugar to make their feeding value higher than the mangel. Of mangels or half sugar beets, use eight to twelve pounds of -eed per acre, and sow in drills two and one-half to three feet apart. They may be irrigated and cultivated like the sugar beet. PASTURING A method of harvesting root crops which has long been in vogue in England is becoming pop- ular in the West. This is to pasture them with sheep or hogs. The English fanner uses hur- dles, pasturing small areas at a time. After the animals eat the tops of the roots down into the "round as far as they can reach, the farmer pulls out the lower parts of the roots with an iron hook JERUSALEM 226 ARID AGRICULTURE, and knocks off the soil or loose roots with, a coarse knife. These partly-eaten roots are fed to stock hogs. It has been thought that our winters were too cold for this kind of stock feeding, but our falls are usually open, and considerable time is available for the pasturing of root crops before freezing weather gets too severe. The artichoke is the most hardy tuber grown. It may be grown far north and left in the ground over winter. Its principal use is as feed for swine and it is especially valuable in pig pastures for brood sows which get a good amount of ex- ercise in rooting out the tubers. This is one of the plants which give the largest yield of food per acre. Yields have been known of over seven hundred bushels of artichokes per acre. This tuber is made considerable use of as human food. It is usually sliced and eaten raw in salt and vinegar, but in Europe it is often boiled or other- Avise prepared like potatoes. The artichoke is a tuberous rooted sunflower and ordinarily only the tubers are valuable, though sometimes where grown thickly on the ground, the tops are cut and cured for forage. It may be left in the soil year after year withoul replanting. When this is done, to prevent the plants getting so thick that they crowd each other, they are cultivated, leaving strips of plants about three feet apart one way and a foot and ARID AGRICULTURE. 227 one-half or two feet apart in the rows, by cross- cultivation. The cultivation is done when the artichokes begin to grow in the spring, and are four or five inches high. We have known crops to be produced year after year where the rain- fall was only ten inches and the season short and cold, and this was done without any special care or irrigation. Many are afraid to plant artichokes because they consider them a bad weed. It is not diffi- cult to destroy them as weeds. They are allowed to grow a foot or two high before being plowed. Then planting the land to wheat or other grain and giving it cultivation with the harrow and weeder will entirely rid the soil of artichokes in one season. The culture of artichokes is the same as that for potatoes, though the cultivation may be less frequent and more shallow. They are planted in rows three feet apart, and may be put in with a potato planter or dropped by hand in furrows and covered with a plow or harrow. They should be planted from three to six inches deep and the tuber may be either planted whole, which is the method pursued if the planting is done in the fall, or they may cut one or two eyes to the piece when planted in the spring. They may be har- vested like potatoes and stored and fed, but their greatest use is in the pig pasture. CHAPTER XV. PLANT BREEDING. Ignorance of the Laws of Nature Make up the Mys- teries of life. HISTORY OP All material and mental progress hinges on BREEDING man's ability to wrest from nature more tlian he needs for mere subsistence. It depends pri- marily on his ability to apply and use natural forces. Perhaps T may carry the thought a step further and say that true wealth and true ad- vancement depend , not so much on the abund- ance of raw material, as on our ability to work changes in that material which make it contrib- ute to our happiness and contentment. I^ever before were the minds of men so keen. Certainly there is no evidence that our forebears could make the intelligent use of natural forces that men are accomplishing today. This ad- vancement is apparent in all lines of productive industry. It is through the more or less intelli- gent guidance of man that the vital laws of plant and animal change and improvement enable a less number of tillers of the soil to supply the basic support which allows other forms of civil- ized activity to proceed. Time was when man must use all his effort to procure neces- sary food alone. Afterward raiment was added as the first luxury, only to become a fixed neces- ARID AGRICULTURE. 229 sity. This was followed by all the variety of other tilings which men could exist without. At Plate XLI. Wheat Breeding by the Author. Common Form of Turkey Red Winter Wheat. Improved Turkey Wheat. A New Beardless Winter Wheat Scale at Left. the present time not only the mere necessities, but the luxuries as well, are actually supplied to the world by one-third of the working: population who are producers. 230 ARID AGRICULTURE. IMPROVE- MENT BY DOMESTICA- TION Until very recent times, indeed, agricultural progress has been slow. As a rule, all life that man has brought under domestication for his use has been improved over its wild state. The one exception (and it takes one exception to prove the rule) seems to be the donkey, which an Egyptian writer tells us has deteriorated much from the character of the wild ass of Africa, from which it sprung. Until the present day, the improvement in our best developed breeds of animals has not been as great as might be ex- pected, and seems to have depended more on an abundance of food than on breeding proper. The profound changes which have occurred in plants have no parallel in the animal kingdom. The simple reason for this seems to center in the difference of mere productiveness of plants and animals, and in the fact that plants may be prop- agated by vegetative parts, so that their perpetu- ation does not depend on two parents and two lines of mixed heredity. The principles of life of development and growth, of variation and change, are the same in both plants and animals, but breeders can observe the lives of a vast num- ber of plants compared with a limited number of animals. Some of the most prolific animals, like certain fishes and insects, have been little subject to artificial breeding. The birds which have been domesticated are the most prolific and show the greatest variety, and improvement, evi- ARID AGRICULTURE. 231 denced by the numerous breeds of fowls and pig- eons, but outside of these there are probably none which will bring forth more than twenty fold in a vear. DISCOVERT OP SEX IM- PLANTS The underlying principles of any kind of breeding have been known to man but a few years. Sex in plants was known to the ancients, and the doctrine that plants are of different sexes seems to have been entertained even among the original Greeks. Several Greek writers di- vide plants into male and female, but as London points out, their conception was based on erro- neous observations of habit, and the significance of sex was not understood. The real discovery of sex in plants seems to have been made by Cameraria in the last years of the sixteenth cen- tury,, but Bailey states that "The true signifi- cance of sex in plants was first clearly conceived bv Hofmeister in 1840." PLANT BREEDING IS NEW We have no indications in ancient writing of true plant breeding. In the parable of the >o\ver is this sentence, a And they fell on good ground and did yield fruit and spring up and in- creased and brought forth some fifty and some sixty and some an hundred fold." It is prob- able that the productiveness of plants in earlier times was supposed to be due entirely to the pro- ductiveness of the soil, and to outside conditions, 232 ARID AGRICULTURE. rather than to any inherent qualities in the plants themselves. It is true that artificial selection was carried on by Roman farmers, perhaps as early as the beginning of the Christian era. Vir- gil, in his poem Georgics (1-197), as translated by DeVries, says : "The chosen seed through years and labor im- proved,, Was seen to run back, unless yearly Man selected by hand the largest and fullest of He says further, "elsewhere Virgil, and some lines of Columella and Varro, go to prove in the same way that selection was applied by the Ro- mans to their cereals, and that it was absolutely necessary to keep their races pure.' 7 DeVries goes on to show how nearly all crops were then, as they are now, composed of mixed varieties, The mixed condition was known, but men had no distinct ideas of either specific marks or variety differences, and many of the elementary forms have entirely disappeared. Bailey states that there are one hundred cultivated varieties of plants, the primitive ancestors of which cannot be certainly traced. This is a large per cent, of the whole, as DeCandolle recognizes but two hundred and forty-eight cultivated species. ARID AGRICULTURE. 233 PLANTS NATURALLY ADAPT THEMSELVES EPPECT OP CLIMATE Adaptation to environment and natural se- lection has made profound changes in plants. This is evidenced both by cultural varieties, which have improved under domestication with- out any special attempt on the part of man to make them better, and, as well, by the fact that every climatic region displays true character in its vegetation, due to the plants having adapted themselves to conditions. Xature alone has shortened the season of certain plants, so they can reproduce themselves in the colder climate ; has reduced the leaf surfaces and thickened the epidermis that species may be enured to drought; changed the sensitiveness of plants to the effects of frost or heat; and has done manv other tilings to produce the marked variations found in plant communities of different regions. Tn the Michigan Agricultural Report for 1880, Dr. W. T. Beal states that he found that field corn becomes marked with dents in three years when taken from Michigan to Kansas. On the contrary, at Lansing, Michigan, dent corn has a tendency to ripen earlier and become r< .nnded at the tip of the kernel, from year to year, unless care is taken to select seed to per- petuate the dent character. A statement is made in Encyclopedia Britannica that "A single ear of precocious rice has given rise to the only kind that can now be grown north of the Great Wall in China." These statements have reference to 234 ARID AGRICULTURE. natural accidental changes rather than to im- provements by men through the use of plant breeding. EARLY While the great impetus to plant breeding dates back only to the publication of Darwin's "Origin of Species/' in 1859, some breeders had done considerable work over one hundred years previous to that. Most of this work consisted of selection only, to separate out, or pedigree the elementary species which had originated acci- dentally, probably through mutations, or "sports" arising in ordinary farm culture. A few of the more important names are those of Yon Mons, who began to experiment in 1785. and in 1823 had 20,000 seedling trees in his "Nursery of Fidelity," in Holland. He gave his attention almost wholly to pears, and created important new varieties of fruit. Professor Bailey has given \ 7 on Mons credit for being the earliest apostle for selection and amelioration of plants. Another early explorer in the field of plant breeding was Joseph Cooper of New Jersey, who in 1799 called attention to the fact that "Change of seed is not necessary to prevent degeneracy." He originated the Cooper plum and some other plants of importance. At the same time, An- drew Knight, in England, took up studies to de- termine the best means to improve plants. Tn 1806 he wrote: "New varieties of every species ARID AGRICULTURE. 235 of fruit will generally be better obtained by in- troducing the farina of one variety of fruit into the blossom of another than by propagating any form from a single kind'' (Bailey, "Survival of the Unlike"). Perhaps at even an earlier time than any of the dates mentioned, about the mid- dle of the last century, Louis Vilmorin discov- ered the principle of selection for improving plants. DeVries says that he was the first to apply this principle to plants. His work is classic in the improvement of sugar beets. He did his work, not by crossing or breeding proper, but by selection of those beets which showed the greatest specific gravity due to sugar. Toward the last of the century, also, Maryano Lagasca of Spain published some papers dealing with this subject, and he interested Colonel LeConteur in the Island of Jersey, and LeConteur produced some valuable new varieties of wheat. Thus we have in the last of the eighteenth century and the first part of the nineteenth century the begin- ning of plant breeding almost contemporane- ously in Holland, England, France, Spain, and the United States. Fifty years ago some of the principal breed- ers of cereals were Sheriff of Hadington Hall, Scotland, and Hallet of England, who produced pedigreed wheats ; Rimpau of Germany, who has worked principally on rye; Risler of Switzer- land, and Farrar of Australia, who were breed- ers of wheat. 236 ARID AGRICULTURE. Ill the last two decades a few of the greater or THE plant breeders merit special notice. While PRESENT DAy there are a number who have produced numerous varieties of merit, more especially in parts of Europe, the men who have jiiven the subject pro found attention are : Hugo DeYries, the great Dutch breeder ; Mendel, the discoverer of Men- del's law ; Luther Burbank, who has done more than any other man in the improvement of plants and the creation of entirely new things ; Professor Xilson of Svalof, Sweden; \V. M. Hays, who developed new improved varieties of wheat in Minnesota; and L. II. Bailey of Cor- nell, who has written much to popularize the subject. Xumerous other men have done im- portant work along this line, most of it being in- cidental to other activities, or consisting of more or less accidental discoveries. Among these were Professor Blount, who developed new wheats in Colorado ; Robert Gauss, wiio has been working with dry land wheats at Denver; Pro- fessor Hold en, who has improved corn in Iowa ; Burpee of Philadelphia, who originated im- proved beans and sweet peas ; Peter Henderson of ^Xew York, in the same kind of floral work, and others. WHAT PLANT The principles of breeding need not be BREEDING is touched upon at this time. It is not compli- cated to one who has given it much study; in fact, Bailey states, in answering the question. ARID AGRICULTURE. 237 "What is the mystery of plant breeding?" only this: "Good care, varying circumstances, and ju- dicious selection for \vhat you want." Of course tliis cuvers the subject of cross pollenization and other means <>f artificially inducing variation, observation, and judgment to discover useful characters, ability to take advantage of muta- tions, and arranging circumstances to supply plants with the internal necessities and the ex- ternal comforts. The value of the work is un- told, nor can it be estimated. We can hardly make statements so extravgant that they would be untrue. Our agricultural interests are so vast iliat their commercial importance far excels? any other industry. VALUE OF The influence of plant improvement on the BREEDING welfare of man is most profound and far-reach- ing. One can hardly imagine what our condi- tion of life would be if we should suddenly be- come dependent 011 wild animals and undomesti cated plants. The subject bears a deeper signifi- cance than one of mere subsistence, for the very refinements of our minds are, without doubt, more intimately associated with all the influ- ences of a tamed environment. Would not civ- ilization itself, a result of domestication, be par- tially obliterated if we were deprived of the society of improved forms of other kinds of life ( Who will attempt to compare the ethical effect of our everyday use, and a.-snciation with a 238 ARID AGRICULTURE. highly cultivated rose or a wild one, a juicy, del- icately flavored, seedless orange, or a small, bitter, wilct crab apple, a loaf of white bread made of improved wheat, or the rough cake of barley bread, including the bran and husk, a diet of experimentally bred and fed lamb or the coarse, rough flesh of the wild boar ? In one of his papers, W. M. Hays says : "As the breeding of sugar beets is worth to the world tens of millions of dollars, so the breeding of cereal, forage, fibre, and fruit crops will be worth many billions." Mr. Hays himself pro- duced a prolific wheat in Minnesota, which in-' creased the agricultural wealth of that State by an estimated ten millions of dollars per year. A few years of corn breeding in Illinois, Iowa and Missouri has doubled the corn crop of those States, and the money values are so vast that if stated the mind could not grasp their signifi- cance. It has been a well recognized fact that highly specialized plants like the sugar beets, or pedigreed grains, can only be kept from deterior- ating by continual selection, and on this account their seeds are not generally produced by the mass of growers. Seed raising and general plant improvement has become a specialized business, and the general farmer must continually renew his seed from the best sources to meet with suc- cess. Every improvement is of unmeasured value to the producer and to the common weal th. ARID AGRICULTURE. 239 NEED OP As a rule, plant breeders have given special PLANT attention to improvements which appeal to the BREEDING . . ,, i i . 1 aesthetic and artistic. They work in horticul- ture, making more beautiful trees and shrubs and flowers, or developing new fruits. Compar- atively little has been done in this country, and that in recent years, to improve the great staple crops of the farm. Nearly all of our improved varieties of grains have come from the Old World. In the Middle States corn breeding has brought about remarkable increase in crop yields and values. On the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards much effective work has been done in creating and adapting new varieties of fruits and vegetables. But in our great arid America, where irrigation farming is developing so rap- idly, and dry farming is now receiving so much attention, outside of one or two Experiment Sta tions, there has been little or no consecutive ef- fort put forth either to improve our crops or to adapt those kinds and varieties most suitable to our new conditions. Nearly two decades ago Professor A. E. Blount put out some important improvements in grains. His Xo. 10 and Xo. 16 wheats were widely grown and his rust-proof oats gave him a world-wide reputation. For some years past Mr. Robert Grauss of Denver has been doing most interesting and valuable dry- farm wheat breeding. Alfalfa, the king of crops for the West, and fast becoming a queen among crops for the East and South, has not yet been 240 ARID AGRICULTURE. moulded into more prolific and better forms for our farms. Oats and wheat are not staple in Plate XLII. Breeding Black Winter Elmmer. 1. Parent Type. 2. A Sporting Type. 3. A Beardless "Sport." Bred by the Author. 241 this region, but new varieties introduced from regions with soils and climate unlike our own continually "run out/' and are replaced with some new importation. We have no established sort of barley, and the rye grown in the AYest is poor, compared with some of the magnificent sorts bred by the Germans for special kinds of -<>il and other conditions. Our farmers need heavy yielding, disease-resistant varieties of po- tatoes. Our stockmen need better grasses and more suitable feeding stuffs,, and everybody needs better shade tree- and adapted fruits and garden vegetables. PLANTS MUST W ( - cannot have these improvements unless BE IMPROVED , 1,1 FOB EACH rll( '. v ar(I developed at home. We must improve REGION our own alfalfa, grasses and other forage. An improved variety of grain or other vegetable cre- ated in Europe, or in the tropics, or in a rainfall region, may produce one or more good crops, but many of them are unprofitable and perhaps none of them will hold when planted here year after year, unless adapted by selection and plant breed- ing. At the same time, seeds produced under our peculiar conditions of soil and climate are superior. At our high altitudes, where the sea- -011- are short and cool we should produce many hardy, quick-maturing and valuable sorts of farm and garden crops. The principle is be- coming well established that the most successful seeds and plants are those which are produced in 242 ARID AGRICULTURE. a region where the conditions of soil and climate are as unfavorable and trying as those in which the crops are to be grown. A few yearns of care- ful plant breeding will undoubtedly produce re- sults of untold value to the whole arid region. Our farm lands are vast in extent and the ranch and farm interests are so great that a small in- crease in yield or a small improvement in qual- ity in the aggregate becomes worth many mill- ions to the country. WHAT THE Plant breeding in the scientific sense is not practicable work for the farmer. He may do much to keep up the high quality of his crops by careful attention to seed selection. If he raises seed of any crop for his own use he may keep it pure by weeding out all plants or varie- ties which would contaminate or mix his seed. He may obtain small quantities of promising new varieties and increase the seed by the best methods. He may select the seed he expects to save from the best parts of the field or from the best potato or corn hills. Though he may not establish new varieties, he may prevent much running out and keep up a high standard of qual- ity and quantity. This kind of plant-breeding work is profitable for every farmer. He should especially be on the watch for new improve- ments which have been secured under conditions of soil and climate similar to his own. Part V. CROP DESTROYERS. There are beasts of field birds of air And insects humming everywhere Which, as ice take their native store, Depend on us for more and more. They with us share the food we spare, To eat our store their only care. But man is king, Divine command Gives him rule of earth thru the mind and hand. CHAPTER XVI. WEEDS. Weeds are not altogether useless. They make us till where we might neglect to till, and keep our minds at work to devise a better husbandry. WHAT A weed is a plant that grows where it is not wanted. Weeds quickly take advantage of the negligent farmer, but, as a rule, they do not worry the man that knows how. On the irri- gated alfalfa farm weed control is more perfect and easy than in any other place of which we know. Notwithstanding this, every farmer has his weed problems, and it often occurs that a quick and prompt use of knowledge will save los> and future worry. Weeds occupy soil that should be occupied by more useful plants. They starve, dwarf and kill or make unprofitable our money-making crop. Weeds use up plant food and, what is more important to us, they are just so many pumps taking moisture out of the soil and throw- ing it away. Plant-food used by weeds may be restored to the soil if the weeds are not removed, but the moisture used by them is irretrievably lost. Unsightly and troublesome weeds knock down farm values, for intelligent buyers of land pass by a weedy farm that otherwise would be 246 ARID AGRICULTURE. most desirable. Weeds make the poor farmer a nuisance to the whole community, for his crop of weeds is a blighting pest sent to do his neighbor harm. If a farmer choose an unprofitable hus- bandry, it is his own folly; but if that system harms his friends, he should be summarily dealt with in proportion to the offense. A quarantine against weeds, especially where we have winds and running irrigation water to facilitate their spread, is as reasonable as any other quarantine. Some weeds poison our animals or ourselves. The milk weed, known as "Snow on the moun- tain," a native of parts of the West, is very pois- onous to some persons, causing serious skin dis- ease by simply touching it. Its beauty has caused this weed to be planted and picked for bouquets ; but people should understand its nature and be on their guard. Almost every one is familiar with the effect produced by the poi- son sumac, poison ivy, or poison oak. Some- times people attempt to eat weeds they know nothing about, like strange toad stools or the wild peas which grow on astragalus plants in the West, and if they happen to live, they always have something to look back upon with regret. The principal weeds that poison live stock are discussed in Part VI, of this book. Some weeds are parasitic and injure or de- stroy crop plants by living off their sap. It would not be out of place to call the lower forms of plants, which produce certain plant and ani- ARID AGRICULTURE. 247 inal diseases, weeds. Of the parasitic flowering plants we need only speak of one, the dodder, or "Love vine," of alfalfa. Weeds may cause direct injury to our live stock, as the western squirrel tail grass, known everywhere as "Fox tail," which gives animals that eat the heads sore mouths. There are num- erous burrs which injure wool by their presence. Some weed seeds adulterate our crops, always lowering their value and often making them worse than valueless for seed again. Weeds often harbor insects or make hiding places for rodents that are a real menace to the farmer's crop. The Colorado potato beetle was a native, feeding on the Buffalo burr; but when potatoes were planted, their tender leaves were more to his taste and he became one of the greatest farm pests. Mustard plants carry plant lice through the winter, so they are ready to take to our cab- bages and rutabagas as soon as we try to grow a few for ourselves. As one of the worst things that could happen, Job said, "Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley.' 7 We shall never be able entirely to get rid of weeds, but they are worthy of the farmer's steel. "Weeds, like the poor, we always have with us. * * * As shiftlessness causes poverty and poverty induces shiftlessness, so shiftlessness induces weeds and weeds cause poverty now, just as they did in the time of Solomon." (Aven Xelson.) A great 248 ARID AGRICULTURE. KILLING WEEDS WITH SPRAYS majority of weeds are killed by the cultivator, the disc, the drag harrow, and the hoe ; but some of our worst weeds may be more profitably got- ten rid of by special methods. Alfalfa is the greatest and most effectual weed eradicator of the West. Spraying weeds with solutions of sulphate of iron (copperas) or common salt, is a compara- tively new way of destroying them. The sul- phate of iron treatment is being strongly ad- vocated by companies who get this material as a by-product in their manufacturing, and are seek- ing a market for it. There is merit in this method of killing certain weeds if properly done, and the conditions are such as warrant the ex- pense. The secret of success seems to be the use of power sprays or hand spray pumps which throw a very fine spray with considerable force. Some weeds may be killed with other chemicals. A Montana man has invented a dandelion ex- terminator, which consists of a tube with which gasoline is placed in small amount at the roots of these pests. Where weeds occupy ground that is not desired for raising crops, like railroad rights of way, sprinkling with crude petroleum is used both to kill the weeds and lay the dust. How to mix and use sprays is given under the weeds for which they are useful. The fol- lowing dozen worst weeds of the West, with their treatment, will alt might help destroy it. DANDELION The common introduced dandelion is one of the worst weeds of the West. In places it takes possession of lawns and will entirely run out any of the lawn grasses. Sometimes it occupies fields and at our high altitudes it seems to compete suc- cessfully with alfalfa. Many attempts have been made to discover some means of competing with the dandelion. For many years writers made the recommendation that the dandelion should be dug out with a chisel or "spud." It has been shown that a dandelion root cut off be- low the crown year after year simply branches and throws out more numerous crowns. If the dandelion is cut off beloAv the crown and some solution like strong brine, kerosene, or sulphate of iron is injected into the hole to kill the root, it may be successfuly killed. Our recommendation for lawns is to plant grass seed so thick, on ground that has been cultivated until it is en- tirely free from weeds, that there will be as little room as possible for the growth of dandelions. Then, if the land can be irrigated by sub-irriga- 252 ARID AGRICULTURE. tion from below, or by an occasional thorough and deep soaking with water by flooding instead of by the ordinary method of sprinkling on the surface, the seeds of the dandelion blowing on- falling onto the sod will not be so apt to germi- nate and become established. Spraying with sulphate of iron solution is often recommended. It will kill off the tops of dandelions without serious injury to the lawn grass, but unless it is repeatedly done, which takes considerable ex- pense, it will not be successful. The strength of sulphate of iron recommended for dandelions is two pounds to each gallon of water. Dandelions in the field may be killed by plowing and putting into cultivated crop for one or more seasons or by thorough summer tillage without crop. In the long run it does not pay for any one to wear him- self or herself out digging dandelions out of lawns. A good heavy seeding of grass on well prepared ground to secure a perfect lawn will usually remain looking well for eight or ten years. When the dandelions get thick enough to get unsightly, plow or spade up the lawn, giv- ing the soil clean culture and such treatment as will germinate all weed seeds in it until the first of July and replant with blue grass and white clover. You can use as much as 150 pounds of blue grass seed and thirty pounds of white clover seed per acre. WILD OATS Jt j s commonly believed that tame oats de- generate and change to wild ones. This is no ARID AGRICULTURE. 253 more possible than it would be for a Shorthorn cow to change to a Jersey. Wild oats do seem to come very mysteriously sometimes, but they ac- cumulate in the soil unnoticed until they get serious enough to be a pest. Growing alfalfa, rotation of crops and clean culture are the only successful remedies. BIND WEED This is a wild or vine Buckwheat. It is one of the worst we-tern weeds in grain fields. Care should be taken to plant seed which does not con- tain this weed. The seeds are small, three-cor- nered and black or dark colored. Clean culture is t-he remedy. Usinir a weeder in the grain field until the plants are a foot or more high will kill most of the buckwheat. CANADA THISTLE The Canada thistle is a perennial thistle which is one of the most persistent and difficult weeds to kill. It has been introduced into some parts of the arid region, but usually occurs in small patches only. Where there are only small spots of thistle, the suggestion has been made that the hay and straw be stacked over them. The plants may lie killed by digging out root and branch. It is said that sprinkling with common snlr solution, one-third barrel of salt to fifty-two gallons of water, will kill it. This will probably kill anything else that it is applied to as well; but it will pay to stop the spread of these thistles, even at sacrifice of the crop. The plants should never be allowed to go to seed. 254 ARID AGRICULTURE. COCKLE All farmers are acquainted with the pink blossoms of cockle in their grain fields and with the round, black seeds in their threshed grain. The amount of damage done by cockle is very great. We have heard a good word for cockle from one man, who fattened his stock on the ground seed. Nothing has been published re- garding the feeding value of cockle seed, but it may be worth investigating. Cockle is easily killed by clean culture. The great difficulty is that unclean seed is so often planted. It should be watched and killed down in waste places and on the borders of fields. PRICKLY LETTUCE FOX TAIL OB WILD BARLEY The wild or prickly lettuce is one of the most common and one of the worst introduced annual weeds. It is closely related to the cultivated let- tuce, but has prickles on the smaller leaves. These plants have the habit of twisting their leaves so that the edges point north and south. It is one of the most unsightly winter weeds in fence corners and along road sides. It produces a large amount of seed that is distributed by the wind and irrigation water. Clean culture is the remedy. It does no good to mow this weed as it branches freely from any part of the stem left above ground when it is cut off and will ripen seeds in a remarkably short time. The squirrel tail grass, commonly called Fox Tail in the West, is one of our very worst weeds. ARID AGRICULTURE. 255 The young plants are good feed for stock, but as soon as the heads are formed, it becomes danger- ous on account of the beards. It spreads in many native meadows or in alfalfa fields, and mixed with the hay, it does great damage to stock which eat it. A general condition which favors fox tail is over-irrigation, especially in alfalfa or native meadows. It is an annual grass, ordinarily liv- ing only one year, where it is unmolested, and forms its regular crop of seeds and beards. When it is cut, however, it undoubtedly lives more than one year. This fact and its habit of forming heads right at or close to the ground when the tops are cut off, or when there is drouth or poor soil (a habit of the barleys) makes fox tail difficult to exterminate. It may be killed out of alfalfa by proper cultivation and discing as we recommend. Plow up meadows and plant some other crop that will take the place of fox tail. We have cleared badly infested fox tail land by planting sweet clover or dwarf rape for one or two seasons. CRAB GRASS Crab grass, or barnyard millet, or wild Jap- anese millet, is a persistent weed in cultivated fields and along ditches. It seems to grow either under great drouth conditions or under water, as the case may be. Like most other weeds be- longing to the grass tribe, it must be hoed or cul- tivated out. 256 ARID AGRICULTURE. RUSSIAN THISTLE POVERTY WEED Russian thistle is now common everywhere and is known to everybody. It is a weed which seldom grows anywhere but in cultivated ground or that which has been dug up at some time. Russian thistle was at one time the subject of many scare articles by those who believed it would ruin agriculture over large areas. It does much damage on poorly cultivated farms, espe- cially in the semi-arid sections where grain- growing predominates. Its principal damage in irrigated sections is in the tumble weeds fill- ing ditches and clogging flumes. The Russian thistle is not a bad weed to cope with. It ma- tures late and there is a long season in which the farmer can kill it by cultivation. Once cutting off the plant below the crown kills it. It seems that after Russian thistles have grown a few years in a waste section of land they disappear for some unknown reason. Many think that Russian thistle makes good fodder, but we have better forage in the arid region. It is not a 'thistle at all, but a true tumble weed, belonging to the goosefoot or lamb's quarter family. Poverty weed occurs in many western soils. It is usually found in land of poor tilth, contain- ing more or less clay. This is a small weed, growing from a few inches to a foot high. It has a rough, sticky feel, a strong odor and bears little flower heads hanging in the axils of the leaves. Poverty weed is a perennial and niulti- ARID AGRICULTURE. 257 MUSTARD THE SULPHATE OF IRON SPRAY FOB MUSTARD plies by underground root stalks, so plowing or cutting off the plants simply thickens them. One of the best remedies is to manure and work the soil to bring it into a good state of tilth. Pov- erty weed does not like such civilized agriculture and disappears. There are a number of forms of mustard which occur as weeds. They are annual plants and include, ordinarily, wild mustard, shepherd's purse, pepper grass, and the tame black and yel- low introduced mustards. These weeds become detrimental to crops of grain and flax and do much damage in such crops as alfalfa seed. Mus- tard seed cannot be cleaned out of alfalfa seed by any ordinary means, and while mustard sel- dom becomes troublesome in alfalfa which is cut for hay, the seed containing it never brings the price of pure seed. The same statement is good for sweet clover or other adulterants of alfalfa seed. It will pay the alfalfa seed-raiser to go through his alfalfa and destroy such plants by hand. He should see to it that the threshing machine or huller which threshes his alfalfa does not contain mustard. Mustard seed may be screened out of grains, but it is difficult to get all of it. Mustard is one of the weeds that may be suc- cessfully killed with sulphate of iron spray. The weeds should be treated when they have from four to eight leaves, or as soon as they stand a 9 258 ARID AGRICULTURE. little higher than the young grain. The spray is most effective if applied when there is a little dew on the plants, but should not be used in rainy weather. The strength of the solution is 100 pounds of iron sulphate to 52 gallons of water. Stir to dissolve and strain through cheese-cloth so it will not clog the spray nozzle. This makes enough solution for one acre. Ap- ply with a force spray pump. Where this is used to kill the weeds, it turns some of the grain leaves brown or black and puts back the growth of the grain crop a few days. CHAPTER XVII. INSECT ENEMIES. Man has some competition for the world's supply of org-anic food. He must overcome his insect compet- itors. INSECTS Insects are small animals which have six legs ; bodies often almost cut in two and made up of segments or rings ; heads with feelers and two to half a dozen eyes ; mouth parts for chewing, sucking or lapping their food. To those who have not studied the scientific classification, all insects are bugs and to the popular mind, prac- tically all bugs are bad. Insects eat the same kind of foods that are necessary to other animals and man. There are a few which are useful to the farmers. Honey bees are the most intelli- gent of all livestock, for they live in organized communities and not only gather the raw mate- rial but manufacture it into a finished prod- uct ready for the use of man. Some insects aid the farmer by destroying other kinds which do damage to his crops. These are called predace- ous or parasitic, as the case may be, and such friends should be fostered. Some of the useful ones are the ground beetles, tiger beetles, lady- birds, ant-lions, aphis-lions, mosquito hawks and parasitic insects, which destroy countless num- bers that would otherwise eat our crops. In some places there are "lady birds," (small beetles) 260 ARID AGRICULTURE. that almost entirely destroy certain scale insects or the eggs of potato beetles, and other detri- mental forms. Many insects serve a useful pur- pose in their relation to plants. They carry pol- len, securing cross-fertilization and are indispen- sable to the perpetuation of some plants. Of the insects that lap their food there are none which are directly injurious to crops. It has been shown that such insects may carry disease from one plant, to another or from many sources of in- fection to animals and man. The house fly seems to serve no useful purpose and does untold harm in spreading infectious diseases. The war on house flies should never cease. The butter- flies and moths are not directly injurious, but their larva, the caterpillars, have biting mouths and are among the most destructive forms. INSECTS The mosfc destructive insects that suck their THAT SUCK food are plant lice, scale insects, squash bugs, mosquitoes and biting flies. We have a great variety of plant lice often called the "green fly" or "brown fly" or the "green bug." We cannot feed these bugs anything that will kill them, be- cause they stick their bills into their food and suck the juices. We must hit them from the outside. It may be done by killing the bug or its eggs in the winter stage, as by cleaning up all refuse like old cabbage stumps, etc., in the field or garden, or we may kill them by contact pois- ons. Insects breathe by means of small pores ARID AGRICULTURE. 261 or openings along the sides of the body. By clogging up these pores we smother them to death, or by using caustic solutions we may burn the life out of them. For such bugs, therefore, we use whale oil soap, or kerosene emulsion, or tobacco juice, or smoke, or gas, or fine dust, like Persian insect powder (Pyrethrum). For the larger sucking insects, like the squash bug, the most effectual method seems to be to hand pick and kill them with a club. There are many slicking plant lice that live on the roots of plants and cannot be reached by sprays. Some of these, like the grape phyloxera and others may be killed by injecting bisulphide of carbon into the ground. The gas goes down thru the soil and kills the insects, but does not injure the plants. An effectual remedy for lice on tree roots is to work a few pounds of pow- dered tobacco into the surface soil around the tree, then wet it down. Tobacco juice will kill anything but man. INSECTS There are great numbers of insects that de- CHEW stroy crops by simply eating them. Such in- sects as beetles, grasshoppers and caterpillars are , examples. Insects that chew their food may be de- stroyed with stomach poisons, at least where they live on the outside parts of plants. The poisons generally used are Paris green or arsenate of lead. Sometimes the poisons do not work or are 262 ARID AGRICULTURE. injurious to plants or dangerous to use, and other methods must be found. KEROSENE EMULSION FOB BUGS Kerosene Emulsion is made as follows: Dis- solve one-half pound of hard soap in one gallon of soft boiling water. While the water is hot, mix with it two gallons of kerosene. Put in the kerosene and thoroughly churn the oil and soap together, until the substance is so mixed it is like soft cream. When ready to use mix one gallon of this emulsion with twenty-seven gallons of water, and spray it over the bugs with a spray pump or sprinkle it on them with a brush or broom. It should be used fresh and care should be taken not to spray the oil on plants after it has separated. This is used to kill many small insects, especially small sucking bugs, like plant lice. WHALE OIL SOAP FOB PLANT LICE A solution of one pound of whale oil soap in six or eight gallons of water will kill most plant lice if thoroughly sprayed on them. This solution may be used to wash house plants which are infected with scale insects. Apply to such plants with a tooth brush or other stiff brush which will remove the scales. TOBACCO Tobacco is deadly to plant lice. "Black leaf" may be purchased in bulk and diluted by mixing one gallon with seventy gallons of water and the solution used as a spray. Tobacco decoction is ARID AGRICULTURE. 263 made by steeping or boiling four pounds of to- bacco stems or two pounds of tobacco dust for an hour with water enough to cover and then dilute to four gallons with water. It should be used when fresh. PARIS GREEN AND ARSENATE OF LEAD HOW TO DEAL WIT] SOME COMMON INSECTS GRASS- HOPPERS There are a host of insects that feed on leaves or other exposed parts of plants that may be de- stroyed with stomach poison. The poisons usu- ally employed are Paris green and arsenate of lead. Use one-half pound of Paris green to fifty gallons of water or two to three pounds of arsenate of lead to fifty gallons of water and spray the solution over the leaves upon which the insects are feeding. This is an effectual remedy for general use. There is much variation in the effect of both contact poisons and stomach poisons. The gen- eral rule laid down for their use will meet most of the insect problems with which the western farmer will have to deal. Some more complete or detailed treatment for a few of the more com- mon and destructive insects will give practically all the information needed on the subject. The migratory grasshopper has not com- mitted depredations for several years. There are local grasshoppers, however, which do need the farmer's attention in many farm regions. These grasshoppers are those which lay their eggs more 264 AEID AGRICULTURE. especially along the borders of alfalfa and other fields and sometimes get so numerous that they cause damage. They are called locusts by en- tomologists. The eggs hatch out early in the spring when there is green vegetation for the lit- tle hoppers to feed upon, and if food is plenty they do not wander very far from the place where they are hatched until they get considera- ble size. They may be destroyed in several ways. Plowing or harrowing, especially with the disc harrow late in fall or early in spring, will destroy the eggs, as they are quickly killed when exposed to air. In running the disc or rotary alfalfa harrow over alfalfa fields the road sides and ditch banks should also be harrowed on account of the grasshoppers and other insects which may be killed. Grasshoppers may be quite effectually de- stroyed by the use of poisoned bran. Use three pounds of Paris green with one hundred pounds of bran and moisten with water which has been sweetened. Mix the dry poison and bran and moisten so it "crawls" and will scatter like seed when sown from the hand. One hundred pounds will go quite thoroughly over 25 or 30 acres of alfalfa or potato field. Mix in a tub and scatter from a buggy as you drive along. This is espe- cially valuable in potato fields when grasshop- pers are thick enough to do damage. This poison bran can be sown broadcast where the hoppers are most numerous. This is undoubtedly one of ARID AGRICULTURE. 265 POTATO BEETLES AND BEET BEETLES CUT WORMS the surest, best and cheapest of remedies. Pro- fessor Gillette, of Colorado, says that one of the simplest and often a very effectual remedy, is to grow plenty of chickens and turkeys to range over the infested fields. Poultry must be pro- tected at night against coyotes and other animals. "Where large fields are affected, hopperdozers may be used. Grasshoppers collected in this way may be sacked and pressed or dried and used as breakfast food for poultry. The Colorado potato beetle is common almost everywhere. At our high altitudes this beetle is sometimes effectually held in check by the "lady birds,' 7 which eat their eggs. Beet fields often suffer damage from the ravages of blister beetles and other leaf-eating insects. It is not difficult to destroy these insects by the prompt and thor- ough use of the Paris green or arsenate of lead spray-. The cut worms are produced by night-flying moths and are most difficult to treat, because they hide in the top soil, more especially during the day. They generally feed at night. They may be killed by baits of poisoned bran made as we have suggested for grasshoppers. A trap crop may be used in the garden by planting radishes or other plants which cut worms like, between the regular crop rows. Good trap crops are young weeds which are eaten as well as other 266 ARID AGRICULTURE. plants by cut worms. Spray the trap crop with Paris green or arsenate of lead solution, or dust Paris green mixed with flour from a cheese cloth sack over the plants when the dew is on. The cut worms eating this poison will be destroyed before the regular crop comes up. A good method of protecting plants like cabbage or to- matoes from cut worms is to set a small cylinder of cardboard or tin around each one. A tin can with both ends melted off or a small piece of tin which is bent by rolling around a hoe handle, serves the purpose. THE This borer causes much damage to vounff cot- COTTONWOOD -. , , . ? * BORER tonwood and poplar trees. As it works under cover inside the trunk of a tree, it is difficult to reach. The method is to paint all places where the limbs have been cut off, or breaks in the bark with pine tar or white lead, take out the borers with a knife or wire and trap the moths Avhen they are flying. Borers feed a year or so under the bark before they bore into the wood. Their presence is detected by dark spots in the bark. The most effectual remedy is to dig them out or with a syringe force a spoonful of fuma in the hole and plug it up. BEAN In bean beetles we have an instance where the poison is more deadly to plants than it is to the insects feeding upon them. The bean beetle is a "spotted lady bird," the only one of the tribe, ARID AGRICULTURE. 267 so far as we know, that feeds on plants. Pro- fessor Gillette, of the Colorado Station, has been working to find an effectual means of destroying the bean beetle. The best method so far discov- ered seems to be the very simple one of knocking the beetles off the plants on to the ground, in the very hottest and brightest part of the day. The beetle has the habit of playing "possum." Feign- ing death on the ground in the hot sun really results in his committing suicide in a very few minutes. Few, if any of them, which do not fall in the shade, ever get back on the plants. Another method which is effective is to examine the under side of the leaves and pick off all those which have yellow patches of eggs on them. PEA The field pe-i is a highlv valuable crop in WEAVEIS . . much of the arid region and the pea weavel in some places is becoming common and quite de- structive. One of the most efficient methods of getting rid of pea weavels in the field is to de- stroy all the vines which are left there at the end of the season. This may be done in the garden at least. The weavels may be destroyed in the peas by putting in a tight box and setting a small dish of fuma or bi-sulphide of carbon on top of the peas. Close the box for a few hours and the gas will go down through the seed, killing the live weavels or larva. Small amounts of seed may be kept in a tight box and the weavels will 268 ARID AGRICULTURE. come out before planting time, when they may be destroyed. POTATO FLEA BEETLES CABBAGE WORMS The potato flea beetle is doing much damage in some of the potato sections of the West. The larva of this beetle goes into the ground and feeds, on the potato. They produce what is called "crack" and make unsightly burrows un- derneath the skin. The beetles which come from these larvae are little brown, or black fellows which jump like the turnip flea beetle. The beetles feed on the potato leaves, making small holes in them. The question of destroying these beetles in potato fields seems to be one largely of rotation of crops. There are several forms which feed upon many other plants, more especially turnips, radishes, mustard and the like. They may be destroyed by the use of pyre- thrum or Persian Insect Powder, put on the plants very early in the morning before sunrise, or they may be kept away from plants by sprink- ling ashes, slacked lime or sulphur over them. A spray of bordeaux mixture will serve the same purpose. There are two forms of the cabbage worm which are very common in the West. One is a butterfly caterpillar and the other is the cater- pillar of a moth. They may be destroyed, when the cabbages are small, by Paris green or ar se- nate sprays. Such sprays on the outside leaves ARID AGRICULTURE. 269 will do no damage and will not be dangerous later in the season. CABBAGE LICE FALSE CHINCH BUGS THE WESTERN ARMY WORM The lice which become so abundant on cab- bage, cauliflower, mustard and like plants are quite difficult to combat. Kerosene emulsion does not effect them, because they are covered with powder which keeps the spray from wetting them. To be of use a spray must be applied with such force that it will knock the lice off the plants. A spray of hot water is sometimes ef- fectual and the user can become so expert that he can use water hot enough to kill the lice without injuring the plants. A very fine forced spray of pure coal oil may do the work. The prob- lems of dealing with such lice will have to be worked out by each grower. The true chinch bug has never been destruc- tive to crops under irrigation. There are places, however, where the false chinch bug, which looks very much like the ordinary form, becomes quite destructive. In places they destroy crops of beets and may attack many other crops. The kerosene emulsion spray is the only thing which has been suggested outside of crop management, and it may be said that there is no effective remedy. These army worms appear at intervals and are so thick and ravenous that they destroy everything before them. Where army worms 270 ARID AGRICULTURE. HOUSE FLIES CLOVER SEED CHASSIS WHY KILL THE ANTS are present, they winter in the larva or pupa stage, in the surface soil. They may be effectu- ally destroyed by plowing or discing to turn the soil up to the air and cold. The worms may be killed with the stomach poisons used as spray. We spoke of warring on the house fly. The principal method by which they are controlled is to rid the premises of horse manure or other offal as fast as it accumulates. Cleaning up their breeding places, if carefully followed out, will do much to mitigate this nuisance. The use of sulphate of iron in the manure when stables are cleaned has been suggested. Manure should not be allowed to accumulate but should go to the field as fast as made. This is a tiny insect belonging to the bee family. It deposits its eggs in the young seed of alfalfa, when it is forming. A tiny grub hatches from the egg and eats the inside out of the seed during its growth, simply leaving empty shells, which blow out when the seed is cleaned. This insect causes considerable loss to clover and alfalfa seed growers. Should it get serious enough in any locality to make seed growing un- profitable, it will be necessary to stop the seed production for a couple of years until the insect disappears. For many years ants were not classed as in- jurious insects. They do not directly eat farm ARID AGRICULTURE. 271 crops or useful plants, but we know now that thev do other things which make them enemies to agriculture. The one useful thing which ants apparently do is to serve as an example of indus- try to the sluggard. The western mound-building ant truly loves the desert. She builds mounds of small gravel and does not allow any vegetation to exist for some distance around her home. On the range and in new fields, before this ant becomes dis- couraged by cultivation and drowned by irriga- tion, she occupies much space that should be oc- cupied with grass or crop. Each one carries a pair of scissors and industriously cuts off every sprouting grain or small plant as fast as it comes up. Ants are destructive nuisances around dwell- ings or in yards. They will discourage or bother colonies of bees by robbing the hives of their honey. Another thing which ants do that causes incalculable damage is to harbor and foster plant lice. Plant lice excrete as foecal matter a sweet fluid called honey-dew. The ants are very fond of sweets and they actually rear and care for the plant lice in return for the food product. Some ants carry the plant lice eggs into their nests in the fall, give them careful storage thru the win- ter and in the spring place them on roots or ten- der shoots of plants where they can begin the bus- iness of supplying honey-dew to the ants as soon as thev hatch. In other cases the ants care for 272 ARID AGRICULTURE. HOW TO KILL ANTS the living plant lice in their nests, putting them on crop roots and moving them to new pasture when the old is used up. It has been found that the corn root louse depends for its existence on a small brown ant and the way to destroy the louse is to make way with his ant friend who uses him as productive livestock. Ants, like bees, live in organized communities, At the head of each colony is one or more queens who keep up the supply by laying multitudes of eggs. On this account it is not possible to de- stroy a colony of ants by catching or killing the workers which are always running around looking for trouble. We must put some- thing in the nest that will reach the queen. The best material for the purpose is bi-sulphide of carbon, or fuma. To destroy the nest put one or two ounces of fuma into the ground at the top and around the nest, and cover with a sheet of paper and dirt. The gas will go down into the ground and kill everything it reaches. Bi-sul- phide of carbon is explosive and if you light a cigarette when handling it you will probably not live to care whether the ants do damage or not. THE EFFECT OF EARTH- WORMS Because angleworms are usually found in rich soils or because Darwin wrote about how they had helped form new soils, many believe they are harmless or even useful. In some parts of the West angleworms get too numerous in the ARID AGRICULTURE. 273 soil. When a soil contains many of them it is injured. The earth worm eats soil and in pass- ing thru them it is puddled. The tilth may be so completely destroyed that plants will not thrive. We have noted this in many lawns, some gardens and often in the case of house plants raised in flower pots. REMEDY FOR Earth worms are easily destroyed. They EARTHWORMS are cove^d w ith a thin and soft skin which is quickly used up by the contact of lime water. Soil in flower pots and even on lawTis or small gardens may be rid of worms by liberal applica- tion of lime water. Slack lime in a barrel and pour the clear lime water on the soil. It has no detrimental effect on growing plants and may be f reelv used. CHAPTER XVIII. PLANT DISEASES. One plant devours another and the struggle for ex- istence often resolves itself into a battle with bacteria. NOT MUCH Our agri culture in the West, with new soils WITH PLANT and arid climate, is comparatively free from DISEASES serious trouble with plant diseases. As farm- ing increases and the soils have been in cultiva- tion for some time, many of them used year after year for the production of the same crop and no attention given to the first appearance of sick- ness in plants, these diseases sometimes steal up- on us unawares until they occasion heavy loss. Usually they are not considered worthy of seri- ous thought until heavy loss has occurred and the disease is practically beyond control. The farmer must be on the lookout for all those things which seem detrimental to his prosperity. The plant diseases of the West, like other condi- tions which we find, are different from those of the East, where agriculture has been practiced for many years. Ofttimes a disease appearing in the West is attributed to the same cause which produces a like disease in the East, and nearly as often the observer who studies deeply, finds that he has been mistaken. There are a few men in Western colleges and experiment stations who are now studying plant disease problems. -ARID AGRICULTURE. 275 Some of these men believe the diseases we have that seem common to other places, are new and typical of our own agriculture. As an example, it has been stated that the potato scab of the West, which scientists and writers have consid- ered identical with that of the East, is not the same disease, but is produced by an entirely dif- ferent fungus. Our potato blight is a Western potato blight, probably due to the same fungus which produces dry rot, and not to the fungus which produces the late blight of the East. These considerations and the new discoveries indicate that, even with our plant diseases, we must unlearn the old and learn the new. We must build up our own knowledge of agriculture and take nothing for granted because it appears to be so from what we have known in other coun- tries. There are diseases of grain, such as rusts, for which there is no effective treatment. Rusts do not affect grains to any extent in the dry re gion, and careful irrigation may prevent dam- age from them. With many diseases the solu- tion will be the breeding of disease-resistant strains. The cantaloupe blight has been effectu- ally controlled by breeding disease-resistant -trains of seed. We are now working to control the leaf-spot disease of alfalfa. POTATO There is one great, ever-present, and destruc- r * ve disease of potatoes which causes incalculable 276 ARID AGRICULTURE. losses. This disease is due to a fungus known as Rhyzoctonia. It appears in various forms, and receives different names, according to the way it strikes. Common names for it are "Root Rot/' "Little Potatoes/ 7 "Big Vines and Little Potatoes/ 7 "Collar Rot/ 7 and "Blight/' and Pro- fessor Paddock informs me it is the cause of most of the Western potato scab. This fungus lives through the winter, either in the soil or in the resting stage (sclerotia) on the potatoes themselves. The disease can be recognized by anyone who knows what to look for. It appears as spots of brown or black on the outside of the potato. These spots may be from the size of a pin point to a quarter inch in diameter, and they stick very tight to the potato skin. They look like particles of black soil. Seed potatoes with much of this disease on them should not be planted, or if they must be planted, they should be sunburned, as suggested in our chapter on potatoes. The principle remedy for this dis- ease, as stated by Professors Paddock and Ben- nett, is to plant on "potato soil. 77 They class as potato soil those loams which are well under- drained, or alfalfa sod upon which experience shows that potatoes will grow. There are cer- tain regions in the West where potato culture fails on account of Rhyzoctonia, and with our present knowledge such areas can not be made to produce sure and heavy crops of potatoes. ARID AGRICULTURE. 277 As stated above, this blight is due to a differ- ent fungus from that which produces the blight of the East. It is probably due to the same fun- gus that produces the dry rot of tubers in the cellar. As this fungus works inside the plant, it cannot be reached with sprays. It has been thought that this Western blight of the potato could be prevented or cured by spraying ; but the new light thrown on the cause of our blight by Professor Paddock and his as- sistants in Colorado shows it to be a disease for which no remedy has been discovered. The only suggestion made is that the seed may be cared for in a way which will help prevent the blight. Potato cellars should be kept sanitary and well ventilated, and be thoroughly cleaned out and fumigated. Crop rotation is indicated, and one of the best remedies for potato troubles seems to be to always plant after alfalfa sod, and not fol- low potatoes with potatoes on the same soil. Some security may be had by dusting the freshly cut potatoes for seed with air-slaked lime, or flowers of sulphur. DISEASES OP The Ehyzoctonia of the potato lives on a SUGAR BEETS num j. )er o f different hosts, such as peas, alfalfa, sugar beets and other things. It does consider- able damage in places to sugar beets. Rotation of crops is the indicated remedy. Where it oc- curs never follow beets with beets. 278 ARID AGRICULTURE. LEAF-SPOT OF BEETS CURLY TOP OP BEETS BACTERIAL DISEASE OP SQUASH The leaf-spot comes on the outside leaves of the beet and travels inward, killing one ring after another, causing the center stem to grow tall. It causes loss by producing poor beets. Leaf-spot can be prevented by spraying with Bordeaux mixture, but spraying is seldom resorted to. This disease has been destructive in some places. Professor Ball, of Utah, finds curly top is due to injury to the leaf by the punctures of leaf hoppers. Anything which will kill these little bugs will cure the disease. Leaf hoppers suck their food and can only be killed by contact poisons like kerosene emulsion, tobacco sheep dip, or pyrethrum. Rotation of crops and win- ter tillage of the soil would also be effective. In some seasons bacterial disease will destroy entire fields of squash vines, more especially the Hubbard squash. It attacks the plant at the crown and the first notice of it is usually when the whole plant suddenly wilts. The disease may be spread from one plant to another by squash bugs or other insects Avhich puncture the plants and carry the germs from one to the other. There is no known remedy for this disease ex- cept to pull and destroy at once any plants which go down. It may be possible to stop the spread of the disease to other plants in this way. Usually killing the squash bugs will prevent its spread. ARID AGRICULTURE. 279 GROWN GALL LEAF-SPOT OF ALFALFA The crown gall is a disease of trees. It pro- duces galls or warty growths on the roots, more especially near the crown of the tree. Crown gall has long been recognized as a dangerous and troublesome disease for which there is no known remedy. We call attention to it here to warn those who plant trees not to plant any upon which crown gall is present, but to destroy them at once. Our horticultural laws are strict to prevent the introduction of crown gall, but occa- sionally an affected tree will escape the notice of the inspector, and if one is found it should never be planted. Leaf-spot of alfalfa is comparatively a new disease in the West, but it is one which is rap- idly spreading and doing much serious damage. It usually appears in late summer in the form of small brown or black spots on the leaves and stems. The leaves soon curl up, turn yellow, die and fall off, leaving the lower parts of the stems bare. It is a fungus which saps the vitality of the plant, destroys its growth, lowers the yield and prevents the production of seed. In some fields the entire stand has been destroyed. Three remedies have been suggested. One is the early cutting of the plant and removing it before it gets too dry in order to prevent the shattering off of the leaves. This takes away most of the spores of the disease. Another is to cut the hay, let it remain on the ground until it is thoroughly dry 280 ARID AGRICULTURE. SOME NEW ALFALFA DISEASES and then burn it to destroy the fungus spores. The third remedy is the production of a disease . resistant variety. In Colorado a bacterial blight of alfalfa lias made its appearance. When this disease has in- fested a field the results are bad. It is usually indicated by a poor first cutting of hay. When the blight gets down to the tap root it kills out the entire plant. ~No remedy is yet known for it. In Kansas a red root rot is reported on al- falfa, that works in circles, killing the plant as it travels through the soil. This again seems to be due to Rhyzoctonia. Another root rot which works on cotton is reported from the Southwest on alfalfa. There is a rust affecting alfalfa, but it does not seem to cause serious loss. The downy mildew which is noticed as large yellow or white areas on the upper sides of the leaves, occurs during wet weather, but the damage from it is not great. No doubt other diseases mav appear from time to time. In nearly all these diseases of alfalfa the plowing of the field and planting some other crop is a general recommen- dation to be carried 'out, or checking the disease bv cultivation to aerate the soil. BORDEAUX MIXTURE Bordeaux mixture is a fungicide which is more commonly used than any other for the treatment of all those plant diseases which are caused by fungi that grow on the exposed parts ARID AGRICULTURE. 281 of plants, such as blights, mildew and leaf-spot. It is made by dissolving four pounds of blue stone (copper sulphate) in a gallon or so of hot water. Slack four pounds of good quick-lime in another gallon of water. Then dilute each solution separately to twenty-two and one-half gallons. Pour the dilute sulphate and quick- lime solutions together and thoroughly mix. This makes forty-five gallons of mixture ready to spray. Sometimes there is more or less pre- cipitate and the mixture should be strained to remove any particles which might clog up the spray nozzle. It is applied as a fine spray with any good spray pump. Copper sulphate should never be dissolved in vessels of metal. Bor- deaux mixture should be used while it is fresh, as it does not keep well for any length of time. Often where there are both plant diseases and insects the Bordeaux mixture is made into a stomach poison by adding one pound of Paris green or two pounds of arsenate of lead to the above amount of spray. GRAIN SMUTS Grain smuts are' known, to all farmers, and we need not describe them. Smut affects wheat, oats and barley, and the treatment for ajl these grain troubles is the same. For corn smut there is no remedy except to prevent the soil from be- coming contaminated by cutting out and de- stroying the smut as soon as it appears. 282 ARID AGRICULTURE. TREATMENT OP SMUT FORMALIN FOB SMUT As smut causes very much damage and is an easily preventable disease, it is simply the farm- er's negligence if he does not avoid any loss from this source. Probably the easiest and one of the most effectual treatments to prevent smut is the use of blue-stone. Farmers object to a method which requires long soaking of the grain. A quick way commonly used is to put three teacups full of blue-stone in half a barrel of water and dip the grain for fifteen minutes. The sprink- ling of grain with the copper sulphate solution, as recommended for formalin, has proved ef- fectual. If the grain is badly smutted, and using it can not be avoided, the following treat- ment will be sure : Dissolve one pound of cop- per sulphate in 24 gallons of water. This is best done by putting the sulphate in a gunny sack and hanging it in the top of the barrel or other vessel containing the water. After it is all dissolved, soak the grain for twelve hours. At the end of the time take out and drain. Then place for fifteen minutes in lime water made by slacking one pound of lime in ten gallons of water. Formalin, or formaldehyde, is sold at the drug stores in about forty per cent, strength. Mix one pound of formalin in forty gallons of water. Spread the grain on a clean floor or can- vas and with a sprinkling pot or spray pump, sprinkle the grain with the formalin solution, ARID AGRICULTURE. 283 shoveling it over until all of it is thoroughly moistened. This amount of formalin will treat from a ton to a ton and one-half of grain. After treating, put the grain in a pile and cover with old sacks or canvas for two or three hours. Then spread it out where the air will dry it as quickly as possible. If this treatment is carefully done, it is effectual, but care must be taken not to get the solution too strong or it will injure the ger- mination of the grain. HOT WATER The Jensen hot water treatment is often used. The things which recommend it are : it is effective if properly done; it is non-poisonous and causes the grain to germinate more quickly than any other treatment. The method consists in soaking the grain for ten minutes in water, which is kept at a temperature of 132 degrees to 134 degrees Fahrenheit. CHAPTER XIX. THE ARID REGION IS NATURALLY FULL OF LIFE RODENTS AND BIRDS. The farmer must, love his enemies with effectual, death-dealing- dope, but he should recognize, protect and foster his friends. Our country of so-called little vegetation sup- ports a remarkably varied plant and animal life. It is not generally known, but is true, that in some States of the West, botanists have classified and put on record more kinds of plants than are found in humid, Eastern States. Bird life is varied and abundant, and there are surprising numbers and kinds of small animals and insects. A country favorable to other kinds of organic life is favorable to man. The farmer must have dominion and to do so he must at times cope with enemies which would destroy his profits or share his crops without compensation. The class of animals most destructive is the small, fur- bearing gnawers, or rodents. Among them he must deal with gophers, ground squirrels and prairie-dogs, chipmunks, moles, mice and rats, skunks, weasels, badgers and rabbits. The irri- gator is bothered with beavers and muskrats. ARID AGRICULTURE. 285 Toads, frogs, lizards and siiakes (except the rattler) are friends, and we would class as doing more good than harm, skunks, weasels and badg- ers, if they can be kept away from the poultry yard. Toads and frogs catch insects ; snakes destroy numerous insects and mice ; skunks, wea- sels and badgers destroy insects and great num- bers of undesirable rodents. Plate XL.IV. The Wyoming Ground-Squirrel. By Permission of the Wyo. Exp. Station. The damage done to field crops and stored irrains by rodents is beyond computation. In some sections of the country one rodent will be numerous and in another some other kind will leave his mark on the farmer's profits. Like manv other things which are met with on new 286 ARID AGRICULTURE. NOT DIFFI- CULT TO KEEP THE RASCALS DOWN GIVE THE BOY A GUN farms or in new countries, the rodent problem sometimes calls for intelligent and prompt ac- tion. There are places and times where prairie- dogs, prairie-squirrels, kangaroo rats and rab- bits will take care of newly-planted grain crops so well that there is nothing left to sack up for the ravages of mice. Chipmunks and rats seem to enjoy digging up newly planted seeds, as well as the old-fashioned crow enjoyed pulling corn. Neither worry nor discouragement need be caused by rodents. New land can be cleared of them sometimes by ordinary farm' operations, and at others by the expenditure of a few cents, or at most a few dollars per acre. Irrigation is unpleasant to dry-climate animals that burrow in the soil, and often the irrigating of the land drives out or destroys all the undesirable inhab- itants. It is good for every small boy nine years of age or older, to learn two things in addition to his ordinary education. He should learn to shoot and he should learn not to shoot. It is a part of a liberal education to learn to use a gun, especially a rifle. It teaches accuru,cy, deliber- ateness, nerve and muscle control, ^ution, ac- tivity, self-reliance, restraint, and other traits. It gives the boy the liveliest interest in out-door life and instills red and healthy blood into his veins. ARID AGRICULTURE. 287 The boy should learn not to shoot himself, his friends, nor the friends of his father's busi- ness. If taught not to kill birds or other things that are useful, the boy gets a first valuable les- son in economics. With a gun and a little time, a boy or two will exterminate many prairie-dogs or other rodents, and his bag of rabbits, both protects the crops and helps supply the table. The boy learns the value of game, and if properly taught, he learns to respect the laws for game protection, and not to let his desire for sport carry him beyond getting what can be readily used. Train the boy never to point, even a toy pistol, at .anything he does not intend to shoot ; never to leave a gun loaded or carry it cocked ; that a gun is always loaded until proved empty ; that the empty gun is the one that is really dangerous, and that the muzzle of a grin is its dangerous end, and there will be little probabil- ity of his meeting with any serious trouble. A gun should be an interesting instrument to any boy from ten years of age to eighty get him one. It will make him happy it will help on the ranch. The right kind of traps are effectual means t eeping down some of the rodents. The boys of the farm often do much good catching depre- dating animals, and by the sale of skins or get- ting the bounties paid by the State, some pocket money is obtained. Small cyclone traps, at- 288 ARID AGRICULTURE. tended to, will do much to rid the premises of mice. KEEPING CATS DESTROYING RODENTS WITH GAS Some good cats on a place are often most profitable stock. A mother cat with young kit- tens to feed, usually does much effectual hunt- ing*. In order to get the most out of cats, they must be treated and fed properly. Keep them out of doors, feed them only milk or milk and cereal foods, and make them get their own sup- ply of meat. We have known of western farms almost cleared of rats, mice and chipmunks in a single year by a half dozen good cats. Any rodents which live in holes that remain open at the top of the ground, like prairie-dogs and prairie-squirrels (often called gophers), may be effectually destroyed by smothering them with poisonous gas. In Nebraska they have used the compound from which Pintsch gas is manufac- tured. The more common gas for rodents is bi- sulphide of carbon, called "hokey pokey" or "medicine" by cowboys who sometimes put it on a horse to make him active, when a "tender-foot" gets into the saddle. This is a vile-smelling liquid made from coal and sulphur. The commercial product is called "fuma." It sells at wholesale for about ten cents per pound. It evaporates very rapidly' and is dangerously explosive if set on fire. The method of using fuma'is to saturate balls of cotton, or ARID AGRICULTURE. 289 what serves the purpose equally well, dried horse balls, with two or three ounces of the liquid and roll them down the open burrows, after which the holes are filled with soil. The gas formed is heavy and going down into the hole kills every living thing in it. It is best used at sundown when the squirrels or dogs are at home. Badly infested lands may be cleared of these rodents at a cost of three dollars or less per acre. It can- not fail, unless too little of the liquid is used. Covering the treated holes gives a check on the work. If the rodents dig them open again the gas was either not strong enough or the animal was not at home. POISON FOB RODENTS RECEIPT FOB POISONED GRAIN The most effectual way of getting rid of prairie-dogs and certain other rodents is to poison them. There has been difficulty in get- ting these animals to eat poisoned grain. Strych- nine is usually used, and being the bitterest sub- stance known, few animals will eat it unless the taste is covered up. A few years ago a method was discovered of doing this and still leaving the poison active. The method has been kept secret in many places. The following receipt makes up one of the most deadly poisons known. It is sure and sud- den death to anything that eats it. Therefore, take all the precautions necessary to prevent acci- dent. One mistake might cause years of regret. 10 290 ARID AGRICULTURE. Do not use anything to mix the poison in or to keep the poisoned grain in that will ever be used for any other purpose. Buy a two-gallon glazed crock to mix the poison in and after the liquid has been stirred into the wheat use a hammer on the crock and bury the pieces. Use an iron tub to mix the grain in and then keep the tub for that purpose. This receipt, using one bushel of wheat, will make enough poison to destroy a prairie-dog- town of twenty-five hundred holes. Take 1 bushel wheat, 3 ounces strychnine, 8 ounces cyanide of potassium, 1 teaspoonful oil anise, 2 quarts molasses, 4 quarts water, 2 quarts corn meal. Put the strychnine in a quart of water in a tin can, and the potassium cyanide in another can with a quart of water. Set on the stove and let come to a boil, stirring with a stick to dissolve the poison. The strychnine may not all dissolve. Be careful not to breathe the fumes from the cyanide. Then pour the two poisons together in a larger can or the jar spoken of. Add two quarts more of warm water and the molasses and let come to a boil again. Stir thoroughly and let cool. Then add the oil of anise and stir more. Put the wheat in the tub and add the poison mix- ture a little at a time and mix until every grain ARID AGRICULTURE. 291 is wet with. it. Mix in the dry corn meal to take up any excess of moisture and spread out or set away to dry. This poisoned grain may be kept an indefinite length of time in tight boxes or buckets or sacks. HOW TO USE Prairie-dog? and other squirrels should be POISONED , . _ & . ,, GRAIN poisoned in the spring when they first come out of their burrows. They are then hungry and there is little food supply. The poison is often spread by a man on horseback. He carries a bucket or sack of poisoned grain and drops a good spoonful at or near the mouth of each hole. In a few days or a week the treatment may be repeated to get the few that may remain alive. This poison is most deadly. It will destroy the life of anything that eats it. This is its one objectionable feature. Great care must be used not to make or put it in vessels that are used for any other purpose and not to leave it where chil- dren can get it or where the unsuspecting may feed it to chickens or other stock. Label plainly with skull and cross-bones. It must not be used in fields where hogs, sheep, chickens or larger stock are running at large. In all such places, unless stock can be kept away, use the safer gas method. THE POCKET This little beast is destructive and bother- some. He lives entirely underground and does three kinds of damage. He eats the roots of al- 292 ARID AGRICULTURE. falfa, fruit trees, garden vegetables and other things. He throws up mounds of earth which don't belong there and which dull our mowing machines, cover growing crops and interfere with harvest. He punctures the soil with holes which often seriously interfere with irrigation, break- ing ditches, carrying away the water and wash- ing the soil. There are not as many of these gophers as we would think, for one of them will throw up many mounds, twenty or more, in a day. Few know how to go about getting rid of them, so they are altogether too much left alone. HOW TO GET The pocket gopher cannot be effectively THESE killed with gas as the ground-squirrel or prairie- G-OFHEBS fog jj e mav ^ e t ra pp ec [ by the use of small steel traps set in the burrows or runways. It is necessary to dig a hole between the mounds to find the runway which is usually less than a foot below the surface, and the trap carefully set where the gopher will put his foot in it. Un- doubtedly poisoning is the best method. A little strychnine in a piece of carrot, parsnip, potato, apple or raisin placed in the fresh runways, will do the work. A better method, perhaps, is to drop carefully a spoonful of poisoned grain in the fresh burrow. When fresh mounds are thrown up in a field, locate the new burrow by pushing a sharpened stick or iron rod into the ground between the ARID AGRICULTURE. 293 mounds, until you strike the burrow. Then drop in the grain or other poisoned bait. BABBITS The injury by rabbits outside of merely eat- ing crops and forage, is mainly confined to gnawing the bark of young trees, especially ap- ples. Numerous suggestions have been made about the use of some liquid or paint to protect trees from rabbits. 'None of these are very ef- fectual preventatives. There are two methods to pursue outside of destroying the rabbits. One is the use of rabbit-proof fence. Woven wire fence with two-inch mesh and eighteen or twenty inches high will keep out cottontails and jack- rabbits. The fence should be placed three or four inches under ground by plowing a furrow and at the bottom lay a galvanized barbwire with as close barbs as you can obtain. Individual tree protectors of wire or thin wood are useful and the wood ones are protection against the winds and bright sunshine as well. Rabbits may be easily and successfully trapped. The Wellhouse trap, consisting of a dark box six inches square and 20 inches long, with a trap door in front, held up by a wire inside, with a loop hanging- down in the back of the box for the rabbit to push against to let the door down and shut himself in, is one of the cheapest and best traps. ~No bait is used and the rabbit merely runs into the trap to hide. Don't forget to visit the traps and take the rabbits out before they suffer or die of hun- ger. 294 AKID AGRICULTURE. WORD ISTearly all birds are farmer's friends. You should not let the fact that birds do, at times, eat a little of your grain or fruit, irritate you. Re- member that you can afford to feed them. Even if against your own intentions you occasionally supply a young chicken to a too friendly hawk or owl, you should not harbor a resentment that will cause you to indiscriminately take the life of these birds. Killing birds (or killing toads or harmless snakes) is "destroying the goose that lays the golden egg." Often successful farming is successful war against insects and weeds. The best of soldiers to enlist in this warfare are birds. There are a few exceptions, but they may be counted on the fingers of one hand, if you have lost your thumb. I would not let magpies get too numerous, for they are mischievious and great destroyers of other birds' nests. I would never fail to shoot the pesky little sparrow hawk, for he does more damage than good by warring on our better bird friends. Sparrow hawks de- stroy many grasshoppers, but we had better feed the grasshoppers to meadow larks and turkeys. The large-sized, rough legged or Cooper's hawks may be destroyed for the same reason. The Eng- lish sparrow is a pest and altogether too numer- ous. When blackbirds get too thick it is well to put "f our and twenty in a pie." I fully believe in the proper use of game birds in season, but too many are ignorant of the restrictions and are not law-abiding citizens in this regard. The differ- Plate XLV. Sparrow Hawks and Cooper's Hawk. By Permission University of Wyoming. 296 ARID AGRICULTURE. ent States protect insectivorous birds by law, and have specified open seasons for game. This lit- tle bird talk is not sentiment. It is pure philo- sophic economy. Part VI. LIVE STOCK. The rule of mind shall fill the earth With forms to which man gives new birth. With soil, and plant, and given time, He turns to flesh all earthly grime. His cattle all, both large and small shall thrive in field or in the stall. . For great is man and great his rod; He's the perfect image of his true God. CHAPTER XX. THE RANGING OF LIVE STOCK. The nomadic range robber has disappeared before the home-builder, and a more civilized system prevails. EXTENT OP It is comparatively few years since all the THE RANGE ^ re gi on was ran g e . There have^ been en- croachments through reclamation by dry farm- ing and irrigation. The principal condition which has broken up the general free use of the range is that the land, with water, has largely passed into private ownership. Much of the land that can be easily irrigated has been filed on un- der the several land laws, and the water-supply has passed into private ownership and control. A large extent of the arid region will always re- main range land, and the ranging of live stock in connection with the use of the cultivable area will always be an important consideration. It is estimated that after we deduct the lands which can be irrigated, and those available for dry farming, fifty per cent, of the total area still re- mains as forest and grazing land. RANGE ALL There is no opportunity left for new settlers to enter into the business of ranging live stock in the West, unless they secure control of ranch and range by purchase or lease. The free open ranges of the West are all overstocked. During the prosperous times of the past few years sheep- 300 ARID AGRICULTURE. men occupying the great ranges have so in- creased their flocks that the forage is depleted, and undoubtedly there are many ranges upon which grazing animals do not get sufficient feed to do their best. This is evidenced by the de- crease in weight of feeder lambs. Some flock owners whose lambs formerly averaged from sixty-five to seventy pounds when sold in the fall, have found them weighing less than sixty pounds even in a good season, when the only apparent reason for the decrease was the lack of food and their necessity of traveling too far to obtain it. There are a few sections where large open ranges of public land are still in use, but they are controlled by range men, who acquire title to the water-supply and either fence the water or hire riders to see that no stock but their own gain ac- cess to it. Such range men hire a water gang- that looks after the building of small reservoirs or water holes and the development and care of all the water-supply on the range. If an outsider attempts to run his stock on such range, they are kept away from the water unless the owner of the stock pays tribute to the company controlling the range. The free use of the public domain has made it necessary that stockmen exert some manage- ment to make the business certain or profitable. This has everywhere given rise to stock associa- tions. The cattlemen divide among themselves a certain section of the country ; each knows how ARID AGRICULTURE. 301 RATIONAL USE OF THE RANGE AMOUNT OP RANGE REQUIRED many cattle he may run on the range, and lines, called dead lines, are drawn, across which the sheepmen must not range their flocks. Ranchmen who own lands adjoining the range territory naturally have the first right to the use of their proportion of such grazing land. The kind of stock ranged by the smaller ranch- man will, of necessity, he horses or cattle, unless the range area is sufficient in size to support one or more flocks of sheep with a herder. A ranch- man could not afford to hire a herder for a much less number of sheep than 2,000 head. If he has sufficient farm land to raise winter feed for this number of sheep, he should have from five to ten sections of range or from 3,000 to 6,000 acres. If he has only one section of grazing land, he may pasture upon it from ten to twenty head of cattle or horses during the season when they could not be kept in the home fields. The number of acres in native pasture which is necessary to support an animal varies in dif- ferent sections of the country, depending upon the arrangements at the home ranch for the rais- ing of pasture and feed and upon the condition of the native forage plants. Northern ranges and those of high altitudes are covered princi- pally with short grasses, and those further south or at low altitudes may have as their pricipal vegetation sage brush and salt sages. Where the 302 ARID AGRICULTURE. range is the only dependence through the year, the area required will vary from thirty acres to fifty acres for each head of cattle or about one- tenth the amount for each sheep. Sheep bite closer than cattle and also eat many weeds and browse, not so well suited to cattle. Horses also eat grass more closely than cattle and are more active, so they can range over a larger area. WINTER There are considerable areas in the mountain region which are still classed as desert. These deserts are not barren wastes of sand and vacant ground, but support considerable forage. There may be little or no true grass, but they generally produce variable amounts of sage brush, grease- wood, bud-brush, annual weeds, and most impor- tant of all, shad-scale and other salt sages in a number of varieties. These desert areas are far away from water. The water found on them is filled with salts and alkali so it is not fit for man or beast. These lands are proving of great value for winter range where snowdrifts supply moist- ure for sheep. Sheep will thrive for some time without any moisture and go through the winter in good condition where they can get snow. The eastern sheep-raiser thinks that sheep should not be allowed to eat snow. Western sheepmen of long experience testify that their sheep do even better on snow in the winter than where they get water to drink. The desert forage is remarka- bly rich in flesh and wool forming food elements. ARID AGRICULTURE. 303 The alkali salts in the forage take the place of common salt, saving a large item of expense to flock masters who run their sheep at long dis- tance- from railroad points. Stock of all kinds on the range must be salted unless they can get this natural supply. The best ranchmen keep either coarse salt or rock salt before their cattle all the time. Salt is best fed in boxes and near the home ranch. In boxes, because cattle some- times lick up enough gravel and dirt to either in- jure or kill them ; near the home ranch because it induces the cattle to stay where they belong. An example of desert range is the red desert, in Wyoming, which covers an area about as great as Massachusetts and supplies forage through the winter for more than 2,000,000 sheep. SUMMER In the mountain region it is customary to use the mountains for summer range and move the flocks to the lower plains for their winter pasture. The larger part of this mountain range is now controlled by the Forest Reserves. Sheep are usually moved onto mountain ranges just before lambing, or sometimes after lambing and shearing. Cattle are taken to the mountain ranges from the ranch in the early spring or after the July roundup. Permits must be ob- tained from the Bureau of Forestry, and the reg- ulations designate the particular area upon which the stock must be grazed and the fee per head which is charged for this privilege. 304 ARID AGRICULTURE. IMPROVE- That depleted ranges may again be brought MENT OP THE RANGE MEN ' into profitable grazing condition is well estab- lished. There is no inducement, however, to im- prove the open range unless the ranchman is able to control it. Wise range stockmen who are in the business to stay have secured control of these ranges either by lease or in the manner in- dicated under our discussion of the water con- trol. Many western farmers now own sufficient areas of land to make the grazing of their stock in pastures an important part of their business and the grasses in these pastures may be con- trolled and improved in a way that could not be in the open. Many of our native grasses are perennials with root stalks. In time all these grasses will die if not allowed to re-seed them- selves. They may be greatly stimulated and im- proved by soil cultivation. A sharp drag har- row or disc run over the pasture loosens the soil and breaks the root stalks, which makes them throw out new buds and stems. On the open range where associations of stockmen control, the range may be kept in good condition by preventing overstocking. Some large operators do not allow more cattle on the range than the proportion of one animal to each fifty acres. This is a good suggestion for a neighborhood of farmers or ranchmen who are using the range in common, to pursue. Some of our ranges will undoubtedly support as many cattle as one head for each thirty or thirty-five ARID AGRICULTURE. 305 acres and still be maintained in their original productiveness. As a rule, any range can be brought back to its original value by merely giv- ing it rest. Keeping stock off for three years en- ables the grasses to re-seed and thicken up, and will ordinarily be sufficient to entirely reclaim a depleted range. Harrowing or re-seeding the range may be practicable in some instances. Harrowing greatly stimulates the growth of grass, conserves the moisture and makes the plant food in the soil available to plants. We have some drouth-resist- ant forage plants native to the West, which may be increased to advantage. The salt sages more especially are promising for cultivation on alka- lized soils. Western rangemen have found it very profitable to destroy the prairie-dogs, which eat large amounts of grasses. It is also probably advisable to remove poisonous plants on certain areas. NECESSITY Cattlemen are finding that it is no longer OP WINTER ., T r^i i ^i PEED possible or profitable to raise cattle on western ranges if grazing is the only dependence through the year. The percentage of increase in cattle on these ranges is too small, running from forty to fifty per cent., and under the best average, sixty per cent, of calves is considered an excel- lent rate of increase. Where cattle are better cared for on the ranch during the winter season the increase may reach eighty per cent, or better. ARID AGRICULTURE. 307 Sheepmen are buying better stock and giving it better care by keeping on hand a supply of hay to feed during bad storms. The management of cattle will vary in dif- ferent sections and every man will have his own method after years enough of experience. The new method of use of the range is to put the cattle into fields in JSTovember when the calves are separated from the cows and are weaned. The value of food for young stock is now r generally recognized. A calf which is stunted in its early growth never makes profita- ble beef. These young calves, therefore, should be fed. As soon as they are \veaned, they should be given alfalfa hay and native grass pasture and fed some grain in addition. Start in with a quarter or a half-pound of grain per head and in- crease to a pound, feeding them until the grass is good and they are turned onto the range again in the spring. Home grains may be used for this feeding, but they must be ground. Where mill feeds are available mix a little bran, a small amount of corn chop and ground barley, spelt, or Macaroni wheat together to form the ration. Bulls are kept in separate pastures through the winter and should be fed. It never pays to use grade bulls. While it is expensive to pur- chase registered sires, they are the only kind now used by up-to-date ranchmen. One bull is used 308 ARID AGRICULTURE. to each twenty-five to forty cows. The bulls are usually turned with the cows the first week in July and let run with them until the last of No- vember. The calves are mostly dropped in April, at a time when spring feed is getting good. In some sections of the West, where poison weed is bad, the cattle are kept in the fields and fed dur- ing April, until this poison weed gets largo enough so it is beyond being dangerous. Cattle that are turned onto the range are usually rounded up in July, when the calves are branded and the bull calves castrated. It has become common practice to turn or sell the stock quite young. The cows should not be allowed to have their first calves before three years of age. The young stock is fed and pushed and the steers are turned usually as long two- year-olds. It does not pay to keep them longer than this if there is sufficient feed to make them of good size. The cows should be turned at eight or nine years. In the vicinity of sugar beet factories these old cows are being fed beet tops, pulp and alfalfa hay. Cows will often go on producing calves up to the time they are twelve years old, but the best management turns them young enough so -when they are fed they are salable, and bring enough to pay for fattening. The young beaves or feeders are usually sold in November or December. It has been common practice for many years ARID AGRICULTURE. 309 to cross cattle back and forth. By this we mean that a stockman will buy all pure-bred Hereford bulls. These bulls will run with the cows about four years, when they are turned and a new crop of bulls purchased. But the next time he buys full blood Short Horn bulls. Such crossing pro- cures strong, growing young stock, and has gen- erally given most excellent satisfaction. With a reduction of the range area, however, better care and better breeding, many stockmen are dropping this practice and breeding only one kind of stock. Range cattle must have a contin- ual supply of open water in the winter. BANGING J n the early days ranging horses was one of the most profitable kinds of stock business. Western horses on the range practically take care of themselves the year round. The only atten- tion they received or expense they were to the ranchman was rounding up once a year for pur- poses of branding and castrating. Early esti- mates placed the total expense of raising horses old enough to market at one dollar per head. With the breaking up of the large range areas and the improvement in horses, it is probably no longer advisable to attempt the raising of horses on the range. It will pay, however, to range the young stock, and the growing colts may get their food for some time on pasture. As soon as they are old enough to breed, they will require ranch management. 310 ARID AGRICULTURE. BANGING It is not intended to give a complete discus- sion of sheep ranging. The ranging of sheep is a business in itself and does not fit into the farm management of the average settler. Undoubt- edly the modern method of growing sheep in the West would be more profitable than depending upon the open range for running large flocks. A man who can fence his fields to shut out coyotes and develop a home sheep business without run- ning large flocks and hiring a herder, would un- doubtedly find the business profitable. It would be necessary to have enough range adjoining the ranch to support the sheep during the spring and summer when the fields were producing crops. The man who would buy a western sheep ranch and range and go into business on a large scale should not do so without some personal experi- ence or securing as an associate in the business a man who has learned how. CHAPTER XXI. FEEDING ANIMALS (FOOD) USE OF A RATION WESTERN ANIMAL FEEDING. Do not try to keep more animals than you can feed well. Signs of Spring-time starvation are unsightly and unprofitable. Poor animals do not bring forth good off- spring: they do poor work: they are not good meat. Food is the basis of life. As we put coal under a boiler to produce heat, which may be changed into other forms of energy, as motion, electricity, or light, through the agency of steam, so we put food into our bodies for the purpose of creating energy through the agency of our life force. Perhaps we will never know just how food is converted into energy in the ani- mal body, but we do know that it is changed and gives back heat, work and energy in various forms, and that the surplus may be stored up in the body tissues for future use. A ration is a certain combination of foods, given in proper amounts to keep the animal and produce some desired result. We supply food to farm animals for the purpose of producing work, which is manifested in all the life pro- cesses, and is given back to us in flesh, fat, or the work of the animals themselves. It takes a large amount of energy to keep the animal alive and to perform its various functions. For ex- ample, it has been determined that 11 per cent. 312 ARID AGRICULTURE. of the total energy contained in hay may be used up by a horse in the mere process of chewing the hay. Something over 2 per cent, of the energy which may be obtained from oats is used up in working the muscles which move the jaws and grind the grain so it may be digested. Some of this energy may be saved to the animal by chop- ping the hay and grinding the grain. Many of our best feeders have come to believe that it is a matter of economy and profit to always grind the grain which is fed to fattening animals. It takes a portion of the energy obtained from food to carry on each of the life processes in the ani- mal, as breathing, digestion, working the heart, thinking, etc. The actual amount and right pro- portion of food required to carry on the life pro- cesses is called a maintenance ration, and the food eaten in addition to this supplies growth, produces work or lays on fat. FEEDING AS Feeding as an art, or the practice of supply- m & animals with food, is as old as the livestock industry, but the science of feeding is very new. By science we mean a knowledge of why and how the various foods give the results they do when fed to various animals. ~Not knowing why certain foods gave certain results, our forefath- ers could not tell why they made or lost money from feeding their animals, and consequently made the same mistakes over and over again. However, by long experience, they did learn ARID AGRICULTURE. 313 something about suitable foods for different pur- poses, and one of the principal guides they had was the appetite of the animals themselves. If a man is working hard and the weather is very cold, he will crave that kind of food which will supply the fat which may be converted into heat and work. The Esquimo lives on whale blubber and other fat substances, even the tallow candle being a delicacy. Such foods would very quickly nauseate a person living in a warm country. Therefore, the actual needs of the body tell the man who knows nothing about science what kind of food to eat. This was easy to apply to the intelligent thinking man, but dif- ficult when it came to feeding dumb brutes. The first attempt to compare feeding stuffs was made nearly 100 years ago. One hundred pounds of meadow hay was taken as a standard of comparison and was said to be worth so many pounds of other foods, as cabbage, pota- toes, clover or grain. The trouble was that no one could agree on how many pounds of any food was equivalent to 100 pounds of meadow hay, and everyone used different standards. This crude beginning set people to thinking and paved the way for better systems of deter- mining the values of farm food stuffs. Attempts to divide feeding stuffs into different classes of compounds were not made until about 50 years ago, when Grouven's feeding standard for farm animals, based on the protein, carbo-hydrates 314 ARID AGRICULTURE. and fats found in food, was established. His standard would not hold, however, because he did not take into account the ability of the ani- mal to digest these different foods and use them. His work was followed, in 1864, by the Wolfe standard, which was based upon the digestible amount of the protein, carbo-hydrates and fats in the different foods. A COMPAR- BALANCED It will be seen, therefore, that the science of an d feeding is quite new. In fact, it is so new that undoubtedly many modifications will yet be made, and we have only the general laws to follow. It requires an enormous amount of work to determine the different amounts of the different food elements in all of the grains and fodders which we use, and they vary so much from time to time, even in the same kind of grain, or fodder, that our balanced rations are only approximate at the best. However, they are worth the most careful consideration. The scientific principle being correct, it should be applied as far as possible and may mean the difference between failure and success. A balanced ration is one which contains the right proportions of the different food elements. These proportions differ with different kinds and conditions of animals. If a milk cow is fed the same ration that is given to a fattening steer, she will lay on fat, instead of giving a ARID AGRICULTURE. 315 WHAT FOODS CONTAIN MINERAL profitable flow of milk. Young animals need the growth-forming nitrogen compounds. Older animals need more starch and fat. Following out these principles in even a rough, general way, always results in more profitable feeding. The key to scientific feeding is the balanced ration, and the more nearly balanced it can be made the better the results. Good rations may be made up of different combinations of feeds and one combination may be much cheaper than another. If in balance, the cheaper feed will give as good results to the animal as one that may be much more expensive. Animal foods are essentially organic, i. e., they are complex substances which have been built up and compounded by some form of plant life or are taken from animals which have ob- tained them through plants. Animals cannot live on mineral matter alone, but some of the salts, found in the ash, when organic substances are burned, are essential to them. Sometimes they need more salt than they obtain from their natural food and it pays to supply common salt to all farm animals, or wood ashes and coal dust to fattening pigs. While the composition of or- ganic substances is very complex, the food com- pounds may be grouped in the following four classes: While mineral salts are necessary to supply the inorganic substances found in the bones and 316 ARID AGRICULTURE. PROTEIN CARBO- HYDRATES AND PATS other tissues, and in the secretions of the animal, they are everywhere abundant, and outside of an extra supply of common salt no attention need be given them in compounding a balanced ration. Those organic compounds, which contain ni- trogen, are classed as protein. The principal forms of protein are albumen, represented by the white of eggs ; gluten, the gummy substances of wheat and other grains, and casein, repre- sented by the curd of milk. These nitrogen com- pounds are called albuminoids. There are a large number of albuminoids known as amides. They differ from proteids in being soluble in water and are not coagulated with heat. They are abundant in the green parts of plants. Good examples are asparagin, abundant in asparagus, and the soluble part of meat which forms the principal part of beef tea. The nutritive value of the amide compounds is not well known, though they are probably much less valuable than the proteids. The carbo-hydrates and fat are compounds of carbon with hydrogen and oxygen. Starch and sugar and crude fibre or cellulose are carbo- hydrates. The fats are like the carbo-hydrates in being formed of the same elements, but they contain a larger proportion of carbon and their heating value is about two and one-fourth times as much as the sugars and starches, so they are ARID AGRICULTURE. 317 treated as a separate class in compounding a food ration. The fats are dissolved by the chemist with ether, which also dissolves some other sub- stances, so they are put together in our tables under the name of ether extract. HOW THE J n general the nitrogen substances are used FOODS ABE . , , , USED m processes of growth, to lay on muscle or in- crease in size, so larger amounts of them are used in rations for young, growing animals, or for breeding animals, or cows giving large amounts of milk which is rich in nitrogen. The carbo-hydrates produce energy, as work and heat, and the fats both help to lay on fat and produce heat. But the complete function of the classes of food can by no means be so simply stated. Many have the idea that a fattening ration should be especially rich in fat, but that does not follow. It is known that the animal body may break down and change the compounds, even con- verting one into the other. Protein may yield fat and heat, or the carbo-hydrates may be, and are largely, used to store up fat in the body. The feeder needs to supply his animals with each kind of food in the proportion best adapted to the kind of animal for the kind of results sought. DETERMINED Xhe amount of different foods given to ani- BY EXPERT- , T . i T ,. L -i i i 1 .L MEITT mals which may be digested and used is deter- mined by experiment, and we have only these actual feeding trials, along with the analyses of 318 ARID AGRICULTURE. the different foods, to guide us in computing a balanced ration, and determining what is best to feed under the circumstances. These standards of feeding are highly valuable, often enabling the farmer to save large sums by supplying his animals the correct combination of foods from the cheaper feeds on the market, and to reach the best results -from his feeding in the shortest time, THE RATION Western stock foods are as different from those of the East as are our other conditions. This means that recommendations made for humid Eastern States are not suitable for the solution of our own feeding problems. In the West our fodders and grains are unusally rich O tJ in the nitrogen compounds, which we call pro- tein. It is difficult to get enough of the fat- forming elements in our food combinations. Protein does not entirely take the place of car- bo-hydrates and fat. This substance has been the basis upon which rations were built because it is scarce and expensive in most parts of the world. It seems to be true that animals fed a ration which is rich in protein make better growth when young than those which do not re- ceive this growth-producing material ; but older animals do not lay on the fat or make the gains they should if the ration is too rich in protein. The problem in Europe and in the East is to get enough protein; the problem in the West is to get enough carbo-hydrates. ARID AGRICULTURE. 319 TO WIDEN Since the establishment of the sugar-beet f ac- tories, we have a feeding material which may be used in place of corn to widen the ration. This is the waste molasses from these factories. It contains a little nitrogenous material, but is, per- haps, two-thirds sugar, and the sugar is practi- cally all digestible. It is usually fed by mixing with ground alfalfa or pea hay, straw or other roughage, and where it can be obtained it solves the ration problem for our farmers. Other ways of widening rations is to mix al- falfa which is rich in protein with other grasses, grain or straw. Wilcox recommends the "straw sandwich." This is feed composed of a layer of alfalfa and a layer of straw stacked together. Timothy, Brome grass, orchard grass or wheat grass are often planted with alfalfa and the mix- ture helps widen the ration, i. e., makes a larger proportion of carbo-hydrates to protein. The principal way the feeder widens his ra- tions is by the use of corn. Other grains useful for this purpose are either the sweet or non-sac- charine sorghum seeds. It has been found that our western foods are very different in their chemical composition and digestibility from like feeds raised in the East. While the eastern analyses and tables serve a useful purpose as general indications of what and how much we should feed, they are faulty, and we must needs build up a science of arid re- gion stock-feeding just as we must discover our 320 ARID AGRICULTURE. own scientific principles for other branches of farming. Some of the stations are doing much of this kind of work and are already making val- u able discoveries. VALUE or Wheat and corn have been found of prac- BATION^OB tically equal value as stock food, but greater care DAIRY cows must be used in feeding wheat, as it is more apt to injure stock not accustomed to it It is a safe plan to mix wheat with some other food, as ground barley or oats, or the ground grain may be mixed with chopped hay. Some feeders suc- cessfully use wheat alone, but they are careful to feed small amounts at first, gradually increasing the feed until the animals take the full ration. Malt sprouts is a valuable food, rich in nitro- gen, but not very palatable to stock, so cows usu- ally cannot be made to eat more than two pounds per day in connection with other feed. Malt sprouts should be soaked before feeding. As an illustration of what may be clone by the farmer in saving money- on feed, by giving some attention to the computation of rations from cheaper foods, we publish the following five rations, comparing each with the standard as worked out for a 1,000 pound dairy cow giv- ing 22 pounds of milk per day. This compari- son is based upon the principle that the kind of feed is not of so great importance as a combina- tion of foods which gives a well-balanced ration. The five rations, then, are considered approxi- ARID AGRICULTURE. 321 mately equal in their nutritive effect on the cow. There is a great difference in cows and if they will consume more hay in addition to the grain than that given in the ration, we would supply what will he cleaned up: MAIIKKT PRICE OF FEEDS USED IX THE FOLLOW- ING RATIONS. Alfalfa Hay, per ton $ 4.00 Corn Fodder, per ton 4.00 Sugar Beets, at home, per ton 4.00 Malt Sprouts, per ton 10.00 Wheat Bran (Spring Wheat), per ton 14.00 Corn Chop, per 100 Ibs. $1.25 : per ton 25.00 j 1 322 ARID AGRICULTURE. .2 ** "S ^ 4J O GO CO fa d do GO co t--. co 10 dodo d 0^0 <* l & oj O OS - ~ U ">. CO O Tf I T-i >C rH CO co q i q q q q CO CO O N >C TjH rH Hi o ^ t i *o its os i i ;o TT q co q q co rH rH O 00 CO rH rH O O> O Tt< rH I LC jj q i^ os q cC O CO GO I CO -- GO CO rO* GO rH r H CO O t> O co d c* r- co ^ : S, |uc i^awl is g * e - II * s O .K, ARID AGRICULTURE. 323 o' d d o [ d *?!o'2 d o' o d "* co rt* --C O "7 71 71 324 ARID AGRICULTURE. Comparing the results given in the tables, we find that ration No. 1 makes the cost of the food for one cow for a period of 10 months feeding, $46.50. Ration No. 2, costing 1% csnts per day less, makes the feed per cow for 10 months cost $41.25. If 25 cows are being fed, this would result in a net saving to the farmer of $131.25 over Ration No. 1. Ration No. 3 costs 3!/o cents less than No. 1, making the cost for 10 months $36.00, or a net saving over Ration Xo. 1 on 25 cows of $262.50. Ration No. 4 costs the same as No. 3, and would result in the same amount of increased bank account. Ration No. 5 costs 4 cents per day less than No. 1, and the saving on 25 cows would be $300 more than Avhere No. 1 is fed. It is readily seen that the difference in the cost of food may result in a profit or loss to the dairyman. Not only is it perfectly feasible to vary the rations in some such manner as that indicated, but it is a duty every feeder owes to himself. He may often take a profitable advantage of the local fluctua- tions in price. The farmer who has raised corn should sell it and buy wheat bran, if the prices make bran the cheaper feed. A suo- It seems that there is good opportunity for SUMMER FOB western farmers to take advantage of the high FEEDING prices of grain-fed beef in the early fall. In- variably, there is a spread of two to two and one- half cents between prices of grass-fed stuff and ARID AGRICULTURE. 325 CHANGE GRASS-FED TO GRAIN- FED FEEDS TO BE USED corn-fed in October and early November. Cattle from some mountain ranges, like those of North Park, Colorado, are of such quality that they go as grain-fed and their beef is sold as corn-fed beef. It is not easy to produce corn-fattened beef in the hot sultry weather of the Mississippi valley or the eastern states in late summer. With our high altitudes and dry, nippy air, even in summer, where shade is provided, and by the use of some of our less heating, fattening grains, the farmer would be able to take range feeders and reclassify them in from three to four months by grain feeding. It would be convenient to get feeder steers at the time of the July roundups when rangemen brand their calves, and may be induced to sell their best-conditioned grass-fed beaves. Cattle are usually in good grass condition at this time and they could be put on a western grain ration by the middle of July or first of August. A short feeding period would be sufficient to make them grain fed. If young steers or baby beef are fed they could use a comparatively narrow ration. The first crop of alfalfa is usually in the stack as early as the first of July. At our lower altitudes Canada field peas, which are planted early, may be ripened and harvested by the first 326 ARID AGRICULTURE. week in July. This will depend on the amount of moisture, but where dry, they ripen early. Spring-sown small grains would not he available unless carried over from the previous season. Our winter feed grains, however, could be har- vested in time to do the work. Winter wheat might be used in small amounts, but it is diffi- cult to feed wheat, especially in the summer. The AVinter Emmer (Spelt) can be harvested in time. This is a new grain, the seed of which is being increased and developed in northern Wyoming. PROTECT Flies worry cattle in the summer and it might be impossible to make stock fat in fly time if we were unable to meet the difficulty. ^o matter where we learned the trick, but we have good authority, that a certain company in the far south, where ordinarily the cattle are kept skin poor, are turning fat cattle into market off the same feed, and they keep the method a secret from neighbors and would-be competitors. The cattle are protected from flies and this protection alone has brought success to the cattle-feeding industry. The process is simple and cheap. It consists of spraying or putting on with a white- wash brush a solution of Chloro-Xaptholeum as often as may be necessary. Zenoleum or other coal tar products would probably serve the same purpose. Flies don't like it. ARID AGRICULTURE. 327 BALANCED From the best analyses we can obtain, the GRAIN following; grain ration has been worked out. It RATION FOR SUMMER is given as a suggestion to men who desire to try FEEDING fitting top-priced stuff for the fall market : 20 Ibs. mixed alfalfa hay and beardless barley, or as much as the cattle will eat in addition to their grain. 3 Ibs. spelt or emmer. 2 Ibs. field peas (should be ground). -I- Ibs. beet molasx-. This is the amount of feed per day for each 1,000-pound steer. If beardless barley is not available to mix with the alfalfa hay, use oat hay, or timothy or straw. Alfalfa and timothy or brome-grass hay grown in mixture would be good. Our rations are too narrow for good fattening, unless we use some combination like the one suggested. Using beet molasses and mixtures of grass or straw with alfalfa hay seems the only solution of the problem where corn is left out. At some of our higher altitudes in Wyoming and Colorado and farther north in Montana ranchmen have practiced hay fattening of cattle for years. This is possible because of the rich and peculiar composition of the native hay grown in these localities. The higher the altitude at which a forage grows the richer it seems to be in protein. Some of these 328 ARID AGRICULTURE. hays from irrigated meadows are made up largely of rushes, others are principally wheat grasses, and all of them contain a variety of plants which gives a mixture of forage liked by stock. Analyses and digestion experiments have shown these hays to be quite digestible and to contain enough protein so the ration is not so wide as it would be from most hay-feeding with grass hay. The ration in Wyoming seems to be about 1 part of protein to 9 parts of digestible carbo-hydrates, fat and crude fibre. The stand- ard ratio for a fattening steer in the finishing- period is 1 part protein to 6.2 of other food ele- ments. Where hay-fattening is practiced the feeders are usually brought from the range in October or November. They are put on the meadows upon which the hay is stacked and the stacks fenced to keep the cattle away. They are fed in these fields for a period of five or six months and given all or a little more hay each day than they will clean up. These hay-fattened animals bring top prices in the markets and are sold over the block to the consumer as corn-fed beef. So well have hay feeders done with their stock that they are inclined to let good enough alone. However, there is no doubt that better gains could be made by using some barley or barley and flax seed to narrow the ration a little and give a small amount of richer concentrate in connection with the hay. Some ranchmen ARID AGRICULTURE. 329 arc now "rowing black barley or hulless barley at altitudes of over 8,000 feet to increase the efficiency of their winter feed. Pasture fattening is letting the animals feed in the field and do their own harvesting. The dry, open falls and winters, with little snow, makes such feeding possible. The feeding is often done on a large scale by simply herding the lambs in the pea fields. This is a somewhat wasteful method, as the animals run over, tramp down and shell out much of the peas, so they get the poorest feed at the finishing period when they should have the finest and best. The use of division fences or hurdles gives better results. An acre of peas will fatten from eight to twelve lambs. They are turned on the peas the latter part of October or first of November and fed from two and one-half to four months. At first they are run on the peas a few hours and then taken off. This is repeated a few days until the lambs become used to the feed so they will not eat so much as to cause bloat. After that they are allowed to remain and eat the peas at will. Pea-fed lambs are most excellent quality meat and bring good prices. While they do not aver- age quite so high in the market as corn and alfal- fa-fed lambs, they are in good demand and the cheapness with which the fattening is done often makes such feeding highly profitable. The best farmers usually allow hogs to pasture after the 330 AEID AGRICULTURE. lambs to use the shelled peas which are left on the ground. Pasture-feeding peas is one of the best methods of improving the fertility of the soil. There are other forms of pasture fattening and combinations of pasturing and feeding that are useful in the West. The pasturing of root crops, mustard, kohlrabi and rape for sheep and swine, and of artichokes by swine or of alfalfa by pigs on feed, or of beet tops by cattle or sheep, which are being fattened with grain, is profitable and important. With all these pasture crops it is important not to let stock gorge themselves at first by giving them too much when hungry, as all will cause loss from bloat. Sugar beets or tops must be fed carefully to cows in milk as they have a tendency, when fed in excess, to dry up the milk flow and sometimes they cause indi- gestion or paralysis. Measured by results, beet tops have a high feeding value in the first period of fattening, and feeding them results in much saving of hay and grain. BY-PRODUCTS There are two important feeding products to PACT^OBJES k obtained from beet-sugar factories. One is beet molasses, which is becoming a much-sought stock food to mix with ground alfalfa or other roughage, or is fed in combination with other feeds. This seems to be an important substance to help balance up western rations. Another by- product is the beet pulp. This is a succulent ARID AGRICULTURE. 331 feed of low nutritive value, but when fed with alfalfa or with alfalfa and grain, it has proven generally profitable where it can be laid down at one dollar or less per ton. Many old cows, sheep, and lambs are sent to market after being fattened on beet pulp and alfalfa alone. Such animals are soft and shrink heavily in shipping, but the cost of the feed is so low that they sometimes return a larger profit than better meat that has been grain fed. Plate XLIX. Lambs Feeding Pens. on In some experiments by the writer, lambs fed beet pulp and alfalfa showed a profit of $3.40, while those fed grain in addition to the pulp and alfalfa gave a profit of $2.17, and those fed sugar beets, grain and alfalfa gave a profit of $2.23. WESTERN GRAINS The feeding value of spelt is given in the chapter on grains. Many feeders have an idea they must have corn for any stock fattening, and 332 ARID AGRICULTURE. often they feed corn and alfalfa when corn costs $1.30 or more per hundred pounds, and wheat or barley could be obtained for consider- ably less. Some Colorado experiments show that when lambs were finished on wheat this COMPARA- grain gave a value 15 per cent, greater than corn, TIVE VALUES an( j avera g e results show that wheat is equal to OP FEEDS or a little better than corn, pound for pound. Barley is worth a little less than wheat in gen- eral feeding value, but it is easier to feed and often the difference in price makes barley the most profitable grain to use. Oats, spelt, or barley are, undoubtedly, better grains to feed to breeding stock than corn. The western farmer should get away from some of his old ideas and take hold of a few new ones. Undoubtedly corn is one of the best feed grains in the world and corn fodder seems to be more valuable than al- most any other roughage of that nature. Al- falfa hay is worth from two to three times as much as corn fodder. The following table of comparative food values, furnished by Dr. B. F. Kaupp, is of considerable interest : ROUGHNESS. Value a ton when alfalfa is worth $1.00 a ton. Total DRY ROUGHAGE. Nutrients Alfalfa $1.00 Corn fodder 32 Cow peas .97 Fodder corn 40 Millet 64 Oat hay 59 Oat straw . .33 ARID AGRICULTURE. 333 Total Nutrients Orchard grass $ .60 Prairie hay 51 Red clover 70 Sorghum 43 Soy beans 98 Mixed hay 67 Timothy 47 Wheat straw 25 Pea vine 93 GREEN ROUGHAGE. Alfalfa $ .34 Corn Silage 13 Fodder corn 14 Pasture grasses 23 Sorghum fodder 12 Soy beans 28 ROOTS AND TUBERS. Mangels $ .10 Sugar beets 14 Turnips 11 GRAIXS AND BY-PRODUCTS. Value a 100 Ibs. when corn is worth lOc a 100 Ibs. Total CONCENTRATE FEEDS. Nutrients Barley $ .10 Broom corn seed 08 Corn 10 Corn and cob meal 07 Cow peas 15 Cotton seed hulls 02 Cotton seed meal 28 Flaxseed 18 Chicago gluten meal 21 Kaffir corn seed 09 Linseed meal 22 Millet seed 09 Oats 09 Rye 11 Sorghum seed 08 Soy bean meal 25 Wheat 11 Wheat bran 10 Wheat middlings 12 Wheat shorts . .11 ALFALFA FOB 334 ARID AGRICULTURE. AfiTir T tal Nutrients Whole milk 03 Skim milk 02 whay ; ;;;;;; ;.'.';;;;;; ; os Buttermilk 03 This table is not of much importance for the West, further than to serve as a rough indication of comparative values. As it is the table means, that if your alfalfa hay is worth ten dollars per ton the food in your timothy would be worth $4.70. If your corn costs $1.00 per hundred, your barley would be worth $1.00; your wheat, from its food contents, $1.10, and your sorghum seed 80 cents per hundred pounds. Such com- parison may serve as a general guide in buying or selecting feeds which are cheapest and will give most profit from their use. Many still entertain the opinion that alfalfa does not make good horse hay. They think it effects the kidneys badly. The trouble is more apparent than real. Alfalfa hay contains con- siderable moisture and the water is passed off by the kidneys or stores up in the tissue, mak- ing an animal sweat, if it has been fed for some time without being worked or exercised. At the same time, the color of the hay causes stains in the stall, making it appear that the secretion is unusually great. Alfalfa hay does sometime? cause trouble when fed to horses which are not used to it, but the trouble is usually indigestion, ARID AGRICULTURE. 335 flue to the way it is fed, rather than to any bad qualities in the hay. Alfalfa has over twice as much nutriment in it as the best timo- thy, and is so rich and palatable that horses may founder themselves or have their digestion disar- ra Hired, and be affected with kidney or other trou- bles if fed all they will eat of it when not accus- tomed to such feed. The same thing occurs when a hungry horse gets loose in a corn-crib or an oat-bin. Indigestion is often mistaken for kidney trouble. When properly used, alfalfa is good ha\ oven for work horses, and it is doubtful if there i> any other hay equal to it for colts. Thousands i'f work horses on farms in the West get no other kind of hay, and they live as long and do as much hard work as farm horses anywhere. The tirsr cutting makes the best horse hay, and they do better on it if it is allowed to get pretty ripe. CHAPTER XXII. STOCK BBEEDING SUGGESTIONS. Reproduction is the basis of the creation of new wealth. POINTERS ON \y e ma ke no attempt to discuss the princi- BREEDING 1 . -. , ,. , pies of animal breeding, Ihere are a lew points useful to the farmer who is raising any kind of live stock. He should grow the kind of stock suitable to his farm. If he has range he should make use of it. In the arid region the foods are rich in the growth-forming materials and arc especially suitable to the feeding of young stock. The bacon hog, in which the object is to make meat instead of lard, is especially suited to the alfalfa districts. The farmer should always use pure-bred sires. Grades do not pay. It often pays to make a first cross for feeders, but the crossed animals should not be used as sires, even though they appear to be good stock, for the off- spring of grade sires is uncertain and deterior- ates. For various causes some animals will be non-breeders or sterile. Unless the animal is a valuable one, so it will pay to consult a veterin- arian, as soon as proven to be a non-breeder it should be fattened and sold. Contagious abor- tion sometimes interferes with the breeding. "Where this occurs the disease should be cleaned 338 ARID AGRICULTURE. up by the advice of a doctor, or the diseased ani- mals disposed of. PUBERTY, The age of puberty, or the time a young ani- GES^TATION ma ^ w ^ breed, varies greatly in different ani- mals of the same kind. The periods of breeding are also variable, but the gestation is more uni- . form. It seems that highly bred animals that mature at younger ages, have shorter gestation periods than the less refined breeds. This infor- mation is scattered and usually hard to find, but it is so useful to every farmer who deals with any kind of live stock that such of it as is available and reliable is here brought together in con- densed form. THE HORSE Puberty in the mare occurs at from eighteen months to two years of age, but the mare should not be allowed to have her first colt younger than three years. Animals indicate when they arc ready to breed by periods of heat or rutting (oestrum). The mare comes into heat every twenty-one or twenty-two days, though it varies from one to three weeks, and some mares are ap- parently in heat at all times, while others never come into heat at all. Heat does not usually oc- cur while animals are pregnant, though this is not always true. The mare usually stays in heat about three days. The gestation period of the mare (the time she carries the foal) varies from ten months to twelve months, the average ARID AGRICULTURE. 339 time being 330 day-. A mare will raise colts until more than twenty-five years of age. THE cow Puberty in the cow occurs at from nine months old to two years old. Dairy breeds may be bred very young, but beef cattle should no't he allowed to have calves before two and one- half years old. Cows usually come in heat every twenty -one clays, and the periods of heat last from one to four days, the average being about thirty-six hours. The gestation period of the cow is nine months, the average length of time being 183 days. Heifer calves usually drop in 182 days, and bull calves take one or two days longer. Young heifers with first calf, and small cows often go a day or two less. SHEEP AND The lamb sometimes reaches puberty as early GOATS as f[ ve months of age. With most breeds of sheep the heat or rutting season only comes in the fall months. It usually begins about the middle of September, lasts about twenty-four hours, and recurs every fourteen to sixteen days until the end of December. Some breeds, like the Dorsett, may be made to breed at other sea- sons of the year. This is much influenced by the character of feed and treatment. The pe- riod of gestation in the sheep and the goat is five months, the average time being 148 or 149 days. The Rambouillet carries its lambs one or two days less time than the American Merino, and 340 ARID AGRICULTURE. SWINE OTHER ANIMALS CARE OF MOTHERS the coarse-wooled breeds have gestation periods three or four days shorter than fine-wool sheep. The sow reaches puberty at about six months, but brood sows should not be bred as young as this. Sows come into heat in periods of from one to three weeks and stay about one day. They do not come into heat while nursing their pigs, and if it is desired to get a quick second litter, the sow should be bred the day after farrowing, or the pigs should be weaned early. Some breeds may produce two litters of pigs a year, and while breeding so often is not unusual, some good breeders prefer only one litter each year. The gestation period of the sow is four months, aver- aging 119 or 120 days. The bitch comes into heat once in six months, usually in the Spring and autumn, and the rut- ting period lasts from eight to fifteen days. The gestation period in dogs is from two months to nine weeks, the average varying from fifty-six to sixty-five days. The gestation period in the cat is about two months or fifty-five days. In the rabbit it is twenty-eight days, and in the guinea pig thirty- two days. One of the secrets of good and profitable off- spring is an abundant natural food supply. The best mothers supply the largest quantity of milk. ARID AGRICULTURE. 341 Sometimes milking quality is an inherited char- acter in the breed, but it may often be aided and improved by proper feed and care. Animals carrying young should be fed nitrogenous and succulent feed. Where mill feeds can be ob- tained bran and shorts are usually recommended. Good grains to feed bearing ewes or cows are barley or spelt. Oats are a most excellent feed for breeding horses, cows, sheep, or swine. Some swine breeders use oats very freely to feed their brood sows. Succulent roots are good. Care must be taken not to feed too heavily of sugar beets to cows in calf, as it may cause paralysis and abortion, and over-feeding with beets tends to dry up the milk flow. Animals carrying young should be kept in good condition, but should not be fed heating or fattening rations. Animals about to give birth to young, unless on the range, should be given good, roomy, dry and comfortable quarters in box stalls or yards. Sows should have a house so constructed that the mothers are prevented from lying down on the pigs. An "A" pig house is good. The nest may be provided with a two by six-inch plank projecting around the edges and placed six or seven inches from the floor. The little pigs may be pushed or squeezed under this guard without killing or injuring them. Sows sometimes de- vour their young. This is usually due to im- proper feeding with heating or fattening foods 342 ARID AGRICULTURE. or with a ration much out of balance. It may be caused by indigestion or bad physical condi- tion. If it becomes a habit the sow should be fattened and butchered or sold. WEANING With dairy cows the best practice seems to be never to let the calf nurse its mother. ' The first, or colostrum milk, should all be fed to the calf, as 110 artificial food can take the place of this natural secretion. The calves should be far enough removed from their mothers to be "out of sight and out of mind." It is probably bet- ter to teach them to drink at once than it is to bother with any of the patent nipples, teats, or feeding devices on the market. Stock calves are usually weaned when they are six or seven months of age. Colts are weaned at five or six months old. Lambs are weaned at four months, and pigs at two months. Usually all that is nec- essary is to separate them from their mothers, and give plenty of other food. CHAPTER XXIII. VETERINARY MANAGE- MENT COMMON UISKASKS or* LIVE STOCK. Dumb animals are man's most dependable friends, and they must depend on him for the blessings they enjoy, and their ability to give something 1 in return. By veterinary management we mean the common farm surgery which must be practiced on animals and the treatment iid nursing of those that may be ailing. Much of the success in the treatment of any disease by the farmer and stockman Avill depend upon the point of view. The farmer should remember that medi- cines do not cure disease; that nature always makes a tremendous effort to bring about recov- ery. The use of remedial measures is for the purpose of aiding nature. If you look upon the treatment of your animals from this standpoint, you will be more cautious, more humane, and more successful. DRY CLIMATE HEALTHFUL There is probably no place in the world where live stock of all kinds is generally more healthy than in the arid regions of the AVi-st. The los-i we suffer is not so much from the rav- ages of any one or more contagious diseases as it is from the aggregate loss incident to innumer- able minor things, such as accidents, colics, poi- sfinnus plants, etc. Most of this loss is attribu- 344 ARID AGRICULTURE. table either to ignorance or carelessness, and is preventable. RECOGNITION The ability to recognize the more common diseases of live stock by the farmer and stock- man is often the means of saving the lives of valuable animals. A knowledge of how to pre- vent disease is of vastly more importance. TROUBLE BY Domestic animals have lost the power of GIVING rustling for themselves. They have become de- GOOD CARE pendent upon the personal attention of man. It is said that wild cattle will not eat poisonous plants, but tame ones do not seem to discrimi- nate. They take what man gives them. While it is often true that germs cause dis- ease, and are the real and only cause of the dis- ease, yet the fact remains that animals well cared for are not so predisposed to disease. This rule holds good at every stage of the game in the live stock business. Feed your live stock from the day they are born ; feed them well. It will not pay to keep them unless you are prepared to feed them. Tn the arid region we have the very best pos- sible sanitary conditions. If animals are not penned up too closely or given dirty quarters, they naturally keep well. A good, pure water- supply should always be available. Be cautious about feeding any food that is mouldy, musty, ARID AGRICULTURE. 345 dirty, or of a poisonous nature. Most farmers imagine that water that is not fit for human use is still good enough for their stock. STABIiES AND SHELTER With our dry air and little precipitation, animals do not need the close housing which is given in the East. Dry air does not carry with it penetrating cold As a rule, animals do better in the arid regions if kept outdoors. It is im- portant to protect them against winds, which can be done with shelter belts or wind-breaks. It is not necessary to build warm, close stables for horses or cows. General shelter sheds or fences, however, are important Avhere stock is being fed. DO NOT EXPERIMENT The farmer should attempt to do nothing for sick animals if he does not know what the trouble is or what the effect of his attempt will probably be. In cases of complicated disease, and especially Avhere it proves to be contagious or infectious, going from one animal to another, he should call a qualified veterinarian. It is easy, however, for him to become acquainted with the more common and simple troubles and successfully treat them on the ranch. The cen- tral idea is to see that healthy animals receive the best care and attention, and when ani- mals are sick the first thing is always to get them comfortable and make their surroundings such that nature may do her best. Then, if you can 346 ARID AGRICULTURE. assist by the use of certain remedies, very well ; but do not experiment. Always separate your sick animals from those that are well. THE HORSE'S Here is Avhere you are likely to get the worst of it in a horse trade. There is an old saying, "No foot, no horse." There are more diseases in the front feet of a horse to render him unfit for service than all the other diseases combined. The horse should have a broad, deep foot, with wide heels, and his pastern should stand out at an angle of forty-five degrees. There is more weight on the front feet than there is on the hind feet, and from the shape of the leg it is readily seen that there is more concussion on the front feet. Shoeing always injures the feet, no matter how well it is done. If it is necessary to keep the feet shod, do not allow your horse-shoer to touch the feet with buttress or rasp any more than is necessary to remove any loose scales or horn. Do not leave the shoes on more than six weeks without resetting. Remember that the foot grows larger as it grows down, and the nails must give a little or the foot will be pinched. The side along the toe changes the angle of the bones in the feet and one or all of these things combined are sufficient in most cases to bring on one or more of several diseases of the feet. Perhaps you are shoeing your horses more than ARID AGRICULTURE. 347 is necessary. Remember that the bare feet will stand lots of wear until they have once been shod. Do not get into the horse-shoeing habit and think that a farm horse must be shod just because he is a horse. In buying a horse, look well to the feet. COLICS IN THE HORSE Is your horse subject to regular attacks of the colic? If so, the first thing is to see that his teeth are in good condition ; then look to the quality of his food. The worst colics are pro- duced by feeding corn or too much concentrated food, such as wheat or barley or alfalfa. It simply means indigestion. But what are you going to do when he is sick ? If you are living iu a remote district and a veterinarian can not be secured, the following suggestions may be of some service: In the first place, let's look to the "don'ts." SOME DON'TS Do not begin by giving everything that some wise neighbor may suggest he having gotten the remedy from his grandfather, who, accord- ing to tradition, gave some old "geeser" five dol- lars for the remedy because it was known to be a "dend shot v cure. Remember that most horses that have colic will recover without treatment. If you do not know what to do, do nothing but give the horse a good bed to roll on. making him as comfortable as possible. Do not pour modi- 348 ARID AGRICULTURE. cine down the horse's nose; nature never in- tended that way. Neither try to blow powder down his throat the horse may blow first. Do not terrorize the animal by chasing him around and forcing him to exercise. There are more foolish things done for a colicy horse done with the best intentions ; in fact, so much is usually done that the horse simply gives up in despair and dies, when he might have re- covered had he been left to himself. The great- est mistake made in this connection is the com- mon belief that because a horse stretches himself out when he has colic there is necessarily some- thing wrong with his kidneys or bladder. Very seldom is there anything wrong with the horse's bladder or his kidneys ; but when he has pain in his bowels he likes to stretch the muscles over his belly by getting his front and hind legs far apart. Further than that, it is a fact that a horse has cramps in his bowels if he is unable to relieve the bladder. However, the bladder will not suffer from distention for several hours. The result of this common mistake is to give the horse sweet spirits of nitre for his kidneys, or perhaps a little buchu or rosin. TREATMENT Assuming that vou are far from town, with OP COLIC ". , . no competent veterinarian available, and have only household remedies upon which to depend, we will suggest that you give an ounce of tur- ARID AGRICULTURE. 349 pentine in a pint of raw linseed oil to stop the fermentation in the bowels and the accumula- tion of gas. To relieve the pain you will no doubt have at hand some tincture of opium (laudanum), which you can give, say, an ounce in a pint of water. ~No matter what the remedy is, the central idea in treatment for colic is to remove the irritating food in the bowels by means of physics and injections in the rectum of warm water; to stop fermentation of the food by giving anti-ferments, such as salicylic acid, creoline, turpentine, etc., and to remove the pain by means of such remedies as opium, morphine, chloral hydrate, cannibis indica, etc. BLACKLEG Blackleg (Si/nt jttoniatic antlirax) is quite prevalent among live stock in the arid region. Fortunately the disease affects only young cattle and the young of other species. There is no use trying to treat the animals if they once get the disease. The only hope lies in prevention. All preventive measures tried have failed to be of much service except vaccination. Many stock- men have lost faith in the efficacy of vaccination, mainly because it has been their custom to wait until the disease has broken out among the calves. In cases like this a number of calve* will be sure to die, even though they have been vaccinated. The way to do is to vaccinate twice each year and make it a regular chore. Get some good 350 ARID AGRICULTURE. vaccine, either in powder or pill form, give it according to directions, and be very careful in every detail so that you are sure you have vac- cinated every calf. Vaccine may be secured from the U. S. Department of Agriculture, from the Colorado Agricultural College, the Kansas Agricultural College, and several private firms. Blackleg is a germ disease; therefore the car- casses should be burned or deeply buried in the ground. GLANDERS Glanders affects mostly the equine (horse, ass and mule) family; there is no cure for the disease. It is a very dangerous disease, as it is often transmitted to the human. A horse that lias a chronic discharge from the nose and does not seem to be thriving, needs attention at once, and the fact should immediately be reported to the State authorities. The mallein test is given to be sure of the disease. The animals are con- demned and destroyed. In some States the Leg- islatures reimburse the owner in part, at least, for loss from glanders. TUBERCU- LOSIS OF CATTLE Since Koch discovered the germ which pro- duces the disease, the investigation of scientists have kept up a lively general interest in the cause, spread, prevention, and cure of phthisis, or consumption. This is recognized as the most common and the worst disease in the world. ARID AGRIC HI/TURK. 351 only is it a destroyer of more human lives than any other disease afflicting man, but it also in- fests birds and almost all kinds of animals, from the frog to the rhinoceros. Among domesti- cated animals, the horse and the sheep are com- paratively free from tubercle, while the cow -ci'ins to be the natural host of bacillus tubercu- losis. The supposed identity of human and bo- vine tuberculosis has made the matter of more serious import than would be the case if direct financial loss to the cattle industry or swine rais- ing was the only consideration. The health and safety of ourselves and our families are con- cerned and we should neither harbor diseased animals nor use their products. The open dry air and sunshine of the arid region is a natural preventive of tiiberculosis, and our stock are not apt to contract the disease at home unless we bring infected animals from the East. The Tu- berculin test is a sure diagnosis of this trouble and no farmer should ever buy or use a milk cow or an expensive breeding animal without first it tested with tuberculin. INFECTIOUS This is comparatively a new disease of horses in the West. It has been called ''swamp fever," "horse typhoid," "no-name disease/' etc. The symptoms of this disease are not easily described although they are known. The mucus mem- brane of the mouth looks pallid; there mav be 352 ARID AGRICULTURE. some swelling of the liind legs (stocking) ; but in the main the only symptoms are that the ani- mal sweats easily, appears to be feverish at times, stands around yawning like a tired person, eats well, but gradually grows weaker. Host all these cases die at from six weeks to a year and a half. The U. S. Department of Agriculture has investigated the disease. Up to this time there is 110 treatment that is to be recommended. FOOT AND MOUTH . DISEASE This disease is one of the four great bovine scourges. It has made its appearance twice in the Eastern States, and the U. S. Department of Agriculture is now spending large sums of money trying to exterminate it from the coun- try. If it ever gets into the Western States, where live stock range unrestricted in many counties, it Avill be practically impossible to ex- terminate the disease, and the damage to the live stock industry of the West can scarcely be conceived. If you see any cattle suffering with the following symptoms, report it to the State or Federal authorities at once. SYMPTOMS OF FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE A sore mouth, the animal slobbering and re- fusing to eat. An examination of the mouth will reveal the presence of ulcers and the mem- brane will be fiery red from inflammation. The feet will be sore and the animal scarcely able to Avalk. There is a high fever. If in a cow, the ARID AGRICULTURE. 353 milk secretion will stop. The horns are hot and the disease spreads rapidly to the other animals of the same species. DISTEMPER Distemper (colt strangles) is a disease of young horses and is found in all parts of the \Vest. It is probably more prevalent in the spring time, it is an infectious disease. SYMPTOMS The colt appears to be feverish, stupid, does not eat well ; appears to be tired and draws great quantities of water. In two or three days the throat is found to be very sore and there is usu- ally a swelling behind the angles of the jaws. In two or three days more this swelling softens and pus is discharged freely. If the disease runs a normal course, the colt recovers within a \veek or two. If it runs an irregular course, it may mean the accumulation of pus in the gut- tural pouches just below the ears on one or both sides. There may be inflammation of the throat that strangles the colt and makes breathing diffi- cult. There is likely to be inflammation of the lungs. Or, a bad diarrhoea may set in. One of the worst complications shows itself two or three weeks after the colt has apparently recov- ered. A swelling will suddenly appear in some unusual place on the body. Within a day or two this will be found filled with pus ; soon other abscesses will appear and the animal is in very bad shape. 12 354: ARID AGRICULTURE. TREATMENT OF DIS- TEMPER HOVEN OR BLOAT The all-important thing when the animal first comes down is to see that the colt does not get w T et; that he is kept in and given a little grain and the very best of care. Other compli- cations should be treated as they appear. The throat can be poulticed and the guttural pouches opened from the outside. Abscesses on the body should always be opened with a sharp knife as soon as they become soft. If the colt is choking badly from the inflammation in the throat, he may be treated by causing him to inhale carbol- ized steam. Put two quarts of bran into a gunny sack and dip it into a pailful of boiling-hot water, in which has been placed a tablespoonful of carbolic acid. Lift the sack over the head, allowing him to inhale the vapor. Bloat is caused by the rapid formation of gas in the paunch of cattle or sheep. It is caused from over-eating of green or succulent food, which ferments before it can digest. Bloat is a very common trouble in the West where alfalfa is pastured or where other green forage is used, such as peas, rape, or clover. Sometimes dry alfalfa hay causes bloating when it is very fine stemmed, leafy and moist. If the bloating is severe it causes the death of the animal through stopping the heart and pressure on the lungs. Animals which show that they are filling up with .gas should be attended to promptly. Cat^e may be relieved by puncturing the rumen or ARID AGRICULTURE. 355 paunch with a knife or trocar and canula. Al- ways do this on the left side, half way between tiie hip bone and the ribs. In severe cases I have known a farmer to use a butcher-knife and make a hole large enough to run in his hand and pull out the alfalfa. This is not necessary, as a hole large enough to allow the gas to escape is sufficient. A trocar and canula should be kept for the purpose. Many recommend the same treatment for bloat in lambs or sheep, but while the treatment is always successful, the sheep so treated usually dies. A better remedy with lambs is to use the "probang." This is simply a piece of rubber hose one-half inch in diameter and three or four feet long. Block the mouth of the sheep open so it cannot bite off the tube and then run it down into the paunch like a stomach pump. Work it around until the gas is reached and allowed to escape. In several years' experience feeding lambs at a high alti- tude where the alfalfa hay produced bloat in many animals, we never lost a lamb where they were discovered in time, and we could get to them with our rubber tube before they died. GRAIN Often a horse or cow will get loose and help themselves to grain from a bin or sack left where they can reach it. Such gorging often produces the death of the animal unless it is discovered in time. Physiq such an animal at once. Give the horse a quart of raw linseed oil and the cow 356 ARID AGRICULTURE. MILK FEVER CONTAGIOUS ABORTION a pound or two of glaiiber salts as a drench. The veterinary doctor also injects eserine to pro- duce action of the bowels, and where they get to a case in time they are pretty sure to save the animal. Dairy cows often have milk fever soon after calving. They usually get down and so sick they are unconscious before the disease is dis- covered. A remedy has been found which is so simple and sure that it is no less than marvelous. This remedy is to milk out the udder and then force air into the teats until the udder is blown up like a balloon. This may be done with a bicycle pump and any small tube that can be pushed into the teat opening. A cow that is apparently dead when given this treatment w r ill usually revive and be on her feet in an hour after it is done. The after-treatment consists of care- ful feeding with bran mashes and often some stimulant like four ounces of whiskey or two ounces of Jamaica ginger is given every four hours, for a day or two. Contagious abortion causes much loss with o cattle. It is transmitted from one cow to an- other or by infected bulls, and the surest remedy is to get rid of infected animals by sending them to slaughter. Mayo says that salting pregnant cows two or three times a week with a small handful of a mixture of ten pounds of common ARID AGRICULTURE. 357 salt, one pound of sulphur, and one pound of pulverized hyposulphate of soda seems a good preventive. If animals that are valuable become affected they may be cured by thorough and often repeated disinfection. The stable should be thoroughly disinfected with 5 per cent, car- bolic acid solution. Anyone who would try to cure the trouble should do so under the advice of some one who has had experience. On nearly all cattle ranges contagious abor- tion is present and causes more or less loss. The best range practice in dealing with this disease seems to be to promptly and carefully bury or burn the dead calf and tissues and isolate the cow in a pasture or field kept for that purpose. Send such cows to market as soon as in condition or a shipment of other stock is made. One large range man in the West says he has kept his loss from abortion down to less than one per cent, bv this method. CHAPTER XXIV. POISONOUS PLANTS POISONOUS PLANTS OF THE WEST. Poisonous plants occur locally, and when they are found our domesticated animals have no more sense than to eat them. Poison weeds are sometimes a serious prob- lem with the western stockman, and almost all the trouble is caused by about six different spe- cies of plants. Every stockman should at least be able to identify these plants in order that he may become familiar with them and take some measure to avoid them. LOCO WEED There are several species of loco weed, but two, the white and purple loco, are known to be the chief offenders. The U. S. Department of Agriculture, in conjunction with the Colorado Experiment Station, has been investigating the loco problem the last four years. They report that the poison in the weed is the inorganic sub- stance, barium. Up to the present time an effect- ive remedy or an antidote has not been deter- mined. Loco leaves its impress upon the nerv- ous sytem to such an extent that altho the ani- mal seems to have fully recovered from its effects it may break out at any time. A locoed horse may not show that he is diseased, unless he is ARID AGRICULTURE. 359 heated up or excited. The first thing to do is to become familiar with the plants and with the symptoms of the disease, keeping the live stock away from it. When a locoed animal is found it should be immediately taken up, given a good physic, and then plenty of grain. Sheep and cattle, if not too badly locoed, will make a fairly good recovery, put on flesh, and may be sold for the block. It seems useless to try to exterminate loco weeds from the range. The symptoms of the disease are lack of thrift, temporary blind- ness and crazy staggers. LARKSPUR In amount of damage done to livestock in- terests of the West larkspur is second in import- ance only to loco. It is widely spread and in many places the only serious poison weed. There are several different species of larkspur. These are commonly known as the tall and the dwarf larkspur. It appears that they are all poisonous and they may all be recognized when in bloom from the characteristic color (blue) and shape of the flower. Larkspur does its dam- age to live stock in the early spring, and almost invariably just after a rain or a snow storm. SYMPTOMS OP The animal is seen to stiffen its legs and will POISONING stroll along for a while and finally fall ; and it will be found to be bloated much the same as from eating alfalfa. The animal slobbers at the mouth and swallows continually. 360 ARID AGRICULTURE. TREATMENT OP LARKSPUR DEATH CAMA WILD PARSNIP If the animal is extremely bloated, it should be tapped through the left side, high up, with a trocar, or, in the absence of a trocar, with a jack- knife. It should be pulled around, if necessary, and its head turned uphill. The stockmen claim there is much benefit derived from bleeding the animal from the ear vein or under the tail. Potassium permanganate, twenty grains to a pint of water, poured down the animal's throat, is a chemical antidote and is almost a sure cure. The active poison in the plant is Delphinine, and it kills by depressing the heart's action and the breathing. This plant has a bulb and looks somewhat like the wild onion. It grows sparingly in the ravines and sometimes over the western ranges on either side of the Rocky Mountains. It is a very deadly plant, but fortunately grows so sparsely that animals seldom get enough at any one time to kill them. In the case of poison it is usually not more than one or two of a herd that become affected, not like larkspur, where fifty or a hundred may get down at one time. There is no knoAvn cure for Camus poisoning. The wild parsnip (Wyoming water hem- lock) is a deadly plant, but fortunately the pois- on is mostly in the roots. The roots pull easily with the plant, and are sometimes eaten with deadly effect. The plant grows along ditch ARID AGRICULTURE. 361 SYMPTOMS OP PARSNIP POISONING LUPINE SYMPTOMS OP LUPINOSIS banks and in wet meadows. It has an umbrella- shaped top and looks something like the garden parsnip. In the case of poisoning by this plant the animal is thrown in convulsions and the most excruciating pain. He will thrash his head upon the ground ; the abdominal muscles will draw up convulsively and there will be passage of blood from the bowels and often with the urine. Only one or two animals in a herd are poisoned at a time. Treatment is not often effectual. The remedy is prevention, by digging out the plants. This plant grows all over the West, by the roadside, in the meadows, and on the sides of the mountains. It grows one to three feet high and has a bright blue flower. When it goes to seed it has a pod which resembles the garden bean ; hence the name "Buffalo bean." The only part of the plant that is poisonous is the seed. The plant is often cut for hay and makes most excellent forage. The only thing to guard against is that it be not cut after it has gone to seed. Or, if it is cut for hay late in the season, it should be harvested only after the pods have broken open and the seeds have fallen to the ground. The symptoms in sheep that have eaten tin- seeds of lupine are unmistakable. The sheep 362 AEID AGRICULTURE. appear to be blind; they will fall over one an- other, run into the fences, and they may go into convulsions. If they get lupinosis in a chronic form, the skin turns yellow. Horses are affected in the same way, more commonly with the chronic form. OTHER There are many poisonous plants that are POISONOUS ,, J . V -.. PLANTS occasionally eaten with more or Jess disastrous effects. The branches and leaves of the wild cherry, just at the time of wilting, will kill an animal quickly from prussic acid poisoning. The same may be said of Johnson grass. Sec- ond growth sorghum and Kafir corn, when grown in a stunted condition, will often kill from the same cause. Musty oats will seriously affect the horse's kidneys. Mold that grows on potatoes, carrots, and other vegetables in damp cellars, or mouldy sugar beet tops in the field are danger- ous when eaten by animals. Potatoes exposed to the sun turn green and become poisonous. The Rubber weed does not kill by the presence of a poison, but by fatally obstructing the bowels. The Giant grass, or horsetail, that grows in sloughs and is relished by horses, is often deadly. The so-called skunk cabbage (Wild lobelia), grows from three to six feet high in the lofty ravines and has a leaf as big as the hand. It is very poisonous to live stock. The Monk's hood (aconite) has a purple flower and is shaped, as its name implies, like a ARID AGRICULTURE. 363 monk's hood. This plant is very deadly, but is not often eaten by live stock. All stockmen should become familiar with the plants to which their stock has access, especially those that may be poisonous. CHAPTER XXV. COMMON SURGERY ON THE FARM COMMON FAEM SURGERY. The Secret of Success in Surgery is Cleanliness. There is a certain amount of surgery neces- sary on the farm that can be done by the farmer himself or one of his men who chances to be handy at such things. DEHORNING If the ranchman raises a breed of cattle that grows horns, he must amputate the horns. Horns may be useful on the open range, where bulls must fight and the survival of the fittest makes it important that the strongest gains ascendency, . but they are useless and worse than useless in the home field or in the feed lot. There are three ways of getting rid of the horns. One is to make a circle around the but- ton, when the calf is a week old, with a sharp knife and remove the horn core entirely. This method is to be recommended on the farm, but is not useful under range conditions, because the calves are not at hand when the operation should be performed. Another method of dehorning is to use the dehorning shears, of which there are several dif- ferent kinds on the market. The important thing is to have them sharp and to have your ARID AGRICULTURE. 365 BREEDING OFF THE HORNS stocks fixed so that they can be properly secured for the operation. In using the shears it is necessary to cut the horn off very close to the head. A third method is to use a sharp saw. This is to be recommended for old animals after the horn has become hollow and brittle. Dehorning by the use of chemicals, such as caustic potash, etc., is so unsatisfactory in many cases that it is not to be recommended. The most modern cattle are those which are polled or naturally hornless. Rangemen have long thought that cattle with horns were more hardy or presented some other advantage where they must survive on the open range. The day of the open range is past, except as it is used in connection with the home ranch. There has been such a great improvement in breeds of cat- tle the past few years that there are hornless strains of the most important ones. Polled Angus and Galloways, and the Red Polled cattle and Polled Short Horns have been carefully bred and improved, and we now have a polled Here- ford, which promises to take the place of the old horned tribes. DETAILING The tail of a sheep seems to serve no useful purpose. There are so many reasons why it should be removed and so few reasons why it- should not, that it has become the general prac- 306 ARID AGRICULTURE. tice to cut off the tails of lambs when they are a few weeks old. THE WAY TO The lamb is caught and thrown upon its back. The attendant sits across its neck, grasping the hind legs of the lamb and holding them far for- ward, while the operator grasps the tail about three inches from the body with his left hand, pushes the skin up on the tail, and with one downward sweep of the knife cuts off the tail at the joint. Now, if the operator is not on his guard, the blood from the severed artery will spurt into his face. One of the difficulties of the operation has been the excessive bleeding which follows. Various methods have been adopted to check this loss of blood, such as burning the stub of the tail with a hot iron, the use of caustic, tying the end of the tail with a string or cloth, ete. Here is a suggestion which, if adopted, will make this matter of hemorrhage a thing of least importance. Go into the drug store, or to a physician, or send away to some instrument house and get some artery forceps, which will cost a dollar or two. Having these little forceps at hand when the tail has been cut off, you sim- ply grasp the bleeding artery that protrudes and can always be caught at the first attempt. Close your forceps on the artery, twist the instrument once and a half around, remove the forceps, and the bleeding has stopped. ARID AGRICUI/n'KK. 367 In cutting off the tails of sheep the same as with other farm operations, the greatest of care should be exercised in having the instrument in hand perfectly clean. A good antiseptic to use on the instruments and the hands and as a dress- ing for all kinds of wounds on the farm, for man and beast, is Creoline. This can be secured at any drug store and should be used in the strength of a teaspoonful in a pint of boiling water. CASTRATION In castrating animals on the farm it will pay in the long run to use soap and water and Creo- line as an antiseptic freely over the scrotum be- fore making an incision with the knife. CASTRATING CALVES CASTRATING COLTS In castrating calves a good, sharp, clean knife is sufficient Always make a long incision on the sides of the scrotum or cut off at least one- fourth of the same at the lower end. This is done to prevent healing too quickly and to secure good drainage. The cord should be scraped off high up. The castrating of calves should not be attended with the loss of a single animal if the operation is properly done. The horse is very much subject to inflamma- tion following castration, and the work should either be done by a veterinarian or an experi- enced castrator in the neighborhood. The secrets of success are, first, to have everything in con- nection with the operation perfectly clean ; sec- 368 ARID AGRICULTURE. oiid, to make incisions at least four inches long so as to secure perfect drainage, and, third, to cut the artery in such a way that there will not be excessive bleeding following the operation. The cord and artery should be removed two inches above the bulb. The easiest, as well as the most scientific way, is to cut off the cord and the artery at the same time with an emasculator, an instrument which every stockman should have, and which can be secured from any instru- ment house for $6. This instrument will often come in handy in doing other farm operations, such as the removal of tumors. CASTRATING The castration of sheep is attended with many difficulties. The scrotum of the sheep is so large that the inflammation following an oper- ation often causes serious difficulty. A large part of the scrotum should be removed and the cords are usually pulled out. It is not necessary to do this with the teeth the hand will do. In the castration of all animals the clamps are no longer used, neither is the hot iron for searing the end of the artery. Tying the end of the artery with a string often results in a tum- orous growth in the end of the cord, which has to be removed later. All animals that have been castrated should be watched, and if it is found that they are swelling badly after a few days, it will indicate that the opening of the wound has closed and that pus is accumulating above. In ARID AGRICULTURE. 369 CASTRATING PIGS this case, no matter whether it he the sheep, the calf, or the colt, YOU should catch and hold the animal and push the finger greased with cosmo- line up into the wound and free the imprisoned matter. The swelling will usually disappear within a few hours after this is done. The colt that has heen castrated should be exercised every day. The calf will seldom need any attention. In the case of sheep the long wool, which is likely to get into the wound, should be clipped off with shears at the time the operation is performed, at least if the animals are allowed to get too old before the operation. On the pig the operation is performed much the same as with the calf. There are seldom any bad results following the castration of pigs. The main thing is to make the opening low enough so there will be drainage from the bottom of the sack. AGE FOB CASTRATING ANIMALS In the castration of a colt the age should de- pend much upon the animal. Get that idea out of your head that spring is the only time to cas- trate animals. The time of the year makes no difference, providing the weather is good, your knife sharp, and the flies are not too bothers- >mc. When a colt is well developed in the neck and shoulders, he should be castrated the spring fol- lowing his birth one vear old. If the colt is 370 ARID AGRICULTURE. built more like a female, well developed in the hind quarters and not well developed in the neck and shoulders, he should not be castrated until he is two or possibly three years old. Calves should be castrated any time from three months up, until there is danger of leaving them with the herd, which would be from ten to twelve months. Sheep should be castrated when young, if you wish to avoid heavy loss. This will mean at from two to four months old. Pigs are usually castrated when about four months old. BARBED WIRE CUTS AND OTHER WOUNDS In the case of a barbed wire cut the first thing is to stop the bleeding. Don't get foolish and put on a lot of cobwebs, axle grease, cow manure, and such things that may result in in- fecting the wound and cause serious trouble. A clean bandage of white muslin, tied firmly around or just above the wound will stop the bleeding in a short time. After the bleeding has stopped the bandage should be removed, the rag- ged ends of all tissue should be clipped off, the clots of blood removed, and an antiseptic dress- ing applied. Do not keep the wound tied up, as it is impossible for you to keep it antiseptic. It is better to leave it exposed to the air. For a good dressing on a fresh wound any one of the following are to be recommended : Carbolic acid in water ; one to fifty. ARID AGRICULTURE. 371 SEWING UP WOUNDS Creoline, one teaspoonful to a pint of boiled water. The same for Zenoleum. Corrosive sublimate tablets may be obtained at any drug store and used in water according to directions on the bottle. As a dressing for a wound that is not fresh, peroxide of hydrogen in full strength, or diluted one-half with water is especially good. Com- mon air-slaked lime, boracic acid and iodoform are valuable remedies. In fly time use some sub- stance like chloronaptholeum to keep them away. A ragged barbed wire cut on the muscles or tendons of the legs is seldom sewed up with any benefit. The muscles tear out the stitches and in two or three days the wound is gaping open. Neither can a bandage be applied with any bene- fit. Wounds in the fleshy part of the body should always be carefully sewed up, being sure to leave an opening at the lowest part of the wound to insure good drainage. In case of emergency, in the absence of a surgeon's needle and silk, a wound may be temporarily brought together with heavy cotton thread and a heavy sewing needle secured from the housewife. FISTULA AND POLL EVIL Fistula and the poll-evil are the same thing, only in different places on the animal. The treatment of this condition should always be left to a qualified veterinarian if possible. The poll- 372 ARID AGRICULTURE. evil is more difficult to cure than the fistulous withers or a fistula almost anywhere else on the body. Remember this, that the secret of success is not in the reckless use of the knife or the injec- tion of any one remedy that is specially effica- cious, and it is only evidence of ignorance and a relic of the superstition of primitive man to rec- ommend one particular remedy, as a cure-all for such conditions. The great secret of success, more than any other, is, no doubt, the securing of drainage from the bottom of the fistula all the time. This can be done by a large incision or by the use of setons. The fistula must be faithfully attended if you wish to succeed. The farmer and stockman, even if he knows just how to handle these cases, usually gets discouraged and neglects them be- fore enough time is given and failure is the re- sult. SPAVIN, The farmer should remember that as long as AND^SPLHTTS ^ ie breeds animals with these troubles, just so long will he have colts predisposed to such con- ditions. Spavin, ringbone and splints are the same thing, only found in different parts of the ani- mal. They are incurable. Spavin and ring- bone depreciate the animal about ninety per cent. The splint, in not being connected with the joint, usually causes only temporary lame- AKID AGRICULTURE. 373 ness. Blisters and other irritants are of benefit only as they hasten the process of bone forma- tion. THE TEETH Next to the feet, there is no one thing of so much importance to take into account in the buy- ing of a horse, as well as in his care, as the teeth. Remember, that the horse's food is not cooked, nor is it prepared for digestion. His grist mill must be in perfect order ; otherwise, he will not thrive, no matter how much grain you feed him. The teeth of most horses are inade- quate. The teeth of the ordinary horse at fifteen years are found to be uneven, or decayed in such condition that the horse is hard to keep in his usual condition and flesh. Whenever you see a horse twenty-five years old still at work and in good condition you will find that nature has given him a good set of teeth. In buying horses it is always well to look at the teeth and take them into serious consideration before giving up your money. Two or three hours spent in smoothing down the teeth of a horse once a year will often save many dollars in the price of the feed. Of THE UNIVERSITY CF Part VII. HOME BUILDING. And noic wc'cc reached the final stage Of entering our heritage. On plateau, plain or mountain slope We'll build a home with faith and hope. We're here to stay, let fall what may And building for a future day \\~h-n heaven icithin trill still all fears, When life shall ripen with the happy years. CHAPTER XXVI. .1 TINTS ox SELECTING A WKSTERX FARM. Many think they know much because they were "brought up" on a farm. Perhaps it was not a western farm. One who has merely learned to milk a cow may make mistakes in hitching 1 up a horse. GENERAL The newcomer who would build a home in ^ e W est should remember that he is now meet- ing with conditions about which he knows noth- ing. So far as he understands the principles which underlie the science and practice of agri- culture hi< education will be useful. What he may know about local practice and the experi- ence which fixes his method of judging that some fact must be true here, because certain relation- ships make it true where he was raised, should be entirely forgotten and laid aside. The West establishes new relationships and new facts which are seldom what they appear to be. The "tenderfoot" who would secure a farm in the arid region should have disinterested and expert advice if he has to pay for it. ~Not all land agents are the get-rich-quick kind. Those that are reliable act upon the realization that the success of the man to whom they sell land is of much importance to thorn. Such men know the first principle of all successful business, that fraud profits them nothing in the end. The 378 ARID AGRICULTURE. DISTANCE FROM RAILROAD TRANSPOR- TATION man who would buy land should select that kind of an agent. The arid West is a big country. It is a land of grand and magnificent distances. The arid rancher thinks nothing of traveling fifty miles one day to attend a dance given by a neighbor and go back home again the next day. The cli- mate, the roads, the horses, make fifty or seven- ty-five miles a day merely pleasure excursions. The man who is going to locate a farm, however, will give this matter of distance his earnest at- tention. If he is going to raise cattle, horses, or sheep, and can walk all he produces to market, the distance from a railroad is of less importance than securing conditions of ranch and range most suitable to his stock. The farmer who would raise grains for market or who produces stock feeds, and makes the feeding industry the main part of his operations, should not ordinarily locate more than ten or tw r enty miles from a ship- ping point. The pure farmer who raises sugar beets, potatoes or fruits, will generally find it un- profitable to haul his products in wagons more than four or five miles. WATER SUPPLY The nomadic sheepherder and his flock will thrive through the winter on waterless deserts, if there is even a limited snow supply. The home builder must have water. The rainfall is not sufficient in amount or constant enough ARID AGRICULTURE. 379 in supply to enable the settler to cateh water from the roofs of his buildings for storage in barrels or cisterns. He must depend on run- ning streams or underground supply. If range or pasture is secured, a constant and sufficient supply of stock Avater must be provided. The man who buys an irrigated farm should investi- gate the supply for this purpose and his right and title to use that supply. The dry farmer will also be concerned with his soil reservoir and the possibility of practical conservation. EXPOSURE There are no sections of the West, where domestic water can be secured, that are not in- habitable. There are vast differences, however, in exposure and its effect on the kind of crops raised or the general comfort of man and beast. Protection from winds, from storms, from snow drifts, either by natural lay of the land in rela- tion to the force and direction from which storms come, or by artificial wind breaks, should be taken into consideration. If there is no air drainage, late and early frosts may be annoying. If there is not good soil drainage, there may be accumulation of alkali in irrigated districts. The influence of mountain ranges is marked and usually nearness to the mountains or hills secures most favorable climatic conditions. Xever put the house or stable in the bottom of a dry gulch. The agency which formed these gulches may simply be sleeping for the time and 380 ARID AGRICULTURE. the time may be long enough so the place has no appearance of a water-course. A water spout or "sudden melting of snow may show you how the place happened to be there. Too often men ignore both climatology and the force of gravi- tation. A STOCK Distance from market is a secondary consid- eration. There must be water for stock and man. Take into consideration the character of the range. Is there range enough ? Is there summer and winter range so stock may alternate and give each section of grass an occasional rest ? What is the character of the forage ? Is there grass for cattle and horses or a variety of browse for sheep ? Are there areas on this range cov- ered with poison weeds which cannot be avoided at seasons of the year when running stock on them would occasion loss ? Are there forest reservations, where pasture can be secured a part of the year ? Are there school or other state lands that can be leased ? Is the range an open one and already fully occupied ? Take into consideration the arable land. Are there native meadows which can be irrigated for the production of winter feed? Are there areas where more concentrated stock foods, like grains, alfalfa, peas and root-crops can be raised in sufficient amount ? In looking over all the advantages do not fail to consider the "drawbacks." There may be im- ARID AGRICULTUIJK. 381 portant advantage in high altitude; in growth and quality of grass and forage ; and in climate favorable to the feeding of stock. Range stock from some of these high mountain or plateau ranches brings full price of corn-fed meat. If a place is suitable to a certain kind of stock do not try to force profits out of raising something for which it is not so well suited. What are the con- ditions of climate ? There may be blizzards or cold, wet spring storms, which must be prepared against. Other things may suggest themselves to the man Avho wants a stock ranch. Many of his considerations will be those of personal taste, and there is much opportunity in the arid re- gion for men to control their conditions and build without interference of natural forces. A DRY There are great dry farms in parts of the West where grain raising is the principal indus- try. Such products may be hauled some dis- tance to market and if stock raising is combined with crop production, nearness to town may not be a very important consideration. In selecting a dry farm, give weighty consideration to three things. First, can good domestic water be had ? Second, is the rainfall (including snow) suffi- cient for profitable crop growing ? Third, is the soil such that this moisture can be successfully stored for the use of the crop and will this soil be productive. 382 ARID AGRICULTURE. The new dry farmer must get much of his information from the experience of those who have been growing crops. He need not neces- sarily listen to the "oldest inhabitant/' Unless the local man has honestly tried out an advanced method,rhe is unacquainted with the possibilities of his own country and may be loaded up with prejudice. Some of the Western States have es- tablished dry farm demonstrations and all of them have Government Experiment Stations. From either of these sources the newcomer may obtain reliable information of methods and pos- sibilities in any particular region so far as they are known. There are considerable areas in the West which are suitable for dry farming that are already in private ownership, but undevel- oped. Alternate sections of railroad lands with- in the land grants have largely been purchased by stockmen for range purposes. Some of the government land in these grants and elsewhere have become titled lands under the several land laws. Other areas are still open for entry under the homestead acts. Any man who wishes to build a dry farm home, should secure not less than a half section and combining more land than this with his stock industry will bring greater prosperity. Economic conditions call for large dry farms as insistently as they de- mand small irrigated farms. ARID AGRICULTURE. 383 SELECTING AN IRRIGATED FARM Purchasers of western homes will find two conditions of irrigated farms. First, those which have been irrigated and developed. Sec- ond, raw lands for the reclamation of which irri- gation works have been or are being constructed. No advice is needed by the man w r ho is going to buy a developed farm, save the general advice not to buy more than he can work and manage with the greatest profit, and to understand the nature of his water right. To the farmer who would acquire title to new land under private ditches, Carey Act projects or Government reclamation enterprises, much more should be said than the limitations of a brief chapter permit. The most happy, prosperous and quickly de- veloped homes may be, and are, built in the arid region by and thru the use of our perennial water supply. Since the early days water has so increased in value that permanent water rights are often cheap at thirty dollars to fifty dollars per acre. One who pays these prices for his water rights should use judgment in the selection of the land. There are few poor lands and practically none which will not produce crops. Some are far more suitable than others for certain intensive culture crops. There are ]><>r;>ro soils, sugar beet soils, grain soils and fruit soils. 384 ARID AGRICULTURE. GEOPHYTICS OR CHAR- ACTER OF son; TOLD BY PLANTS For many years the writer has seriously thought of calling attention to a new science for the West and calling it by some mysterious word not found in the dictionaries. This science would classify different characters of soils by the kind of native vegetation they produce and also according to the classes of crops which could be best grown on them. For example, as we indi- cate elsewhere, scientists are now finding out that there are potato soils in the West and soils that are not potato soils. Again, experienced western farmers know at once from the appear- ance of the native plants growing on a soil whether that soil would be suitable when re- claimed for crop production. We show that pov- erty weed grows on a soil without aeration and tilth. It is a common expression that soils which will grow "black sage" are good soils soils that grow gramma grass and cactus are easy soils to work soils that grow grease-wood are strong soils, but sometimes difficult to bring into high production. Certain plants, like drop seed grass, salt grass, salt sages and others grow on soils rich in alkali salts and the kind of plants indicate the character of the alkali. This is true in an important and highly practical way and may be made use of by the man who is selecting land for a farm. The underlying principles of this science have not been worked out but its ap- plication is apparent and useful. ARID AGRICULTURE. 385 WATER SUPPLY AND WATER BIGHTS THE LAY OF THE LAND The water supply in most sections of the arid region is limited. There is more land than there is water. The water is the valuable asset the land is practically thrown in. There are different laws in the different arid States govern- ing the appropriation and use of water. The new settler should become familiar with these hi\\s. He should satisfy himself in regard to the water available for his use and know that he has a right to that use which will be protected. The laws in some States provide that the waters of the State belong to the State ; that the water belongs to the land for which a decree of appro- priation is granted ; that this water can only be used on this particular land, and that there shall be no monopoly of or bartering and speculation in water for irrigation. The principle of right by prior appropriation is maintained and the new home builder should be acquainted with the significance of these laws. Some lands are so rough or rolling, or steep, or flat, or hard, or leaky, that they can never be profitably irrigated. Here, as under dry farm- ing, the manner in which the soil will act toward water is important, Some soils break up into a loose dust that will be carried away by water; others may dissolve like sugar or salt and others may swell up or sink. Of course these soils are rare and seldom occur over any extent of surface, but the discriminating buyer will try to know 13 386 ARID AGRICULTURE. what per cent of his soil is good or bad. Soils that have been formed by rivers that have washed the materials long distances, are apt to be spotted. There may be gravel beds, sand beds, clay banks or river silt. The winds may have shifted the sands into dunes. Usually spotted- ness in new soils will show plainly in spotted crops for a year or more, but after a few seasons of cultivation they become tamed alike and the crop will be even in stand, growth and time of maturing. Land and water are so valuable that, it often pays to level down small hills and smooth up comparatively rough land to put it in condi- tion for irrigation. The points we have suggested in regard to soil drainage and air drainage, are important in selecting an irrigated farm. Where dairying or special crop farming is practiced, the land should be practically near a town or station. SUPPLE- By supplemental farming we mean the com- bination of dry f armirfg with the irrigated ranch, or the use of small or irregular water supply for irrigating a garden or other portion of a dry farm. There are many locations where a good home could be built and where neither the irriga- tion farming or the dry farming would be suc- cessful alone. There are many others where such combinations would complete the system and be highly profitable. This system has not been given the notice it deserves. We believe it ARID AGRICULTURE. 387 a most important consideration. The man who would select this kind of farm will make the most of his dry farm soil or of his opportunities to irrigate by the pumping of water, or catching flood water in small reservoirs or by winter irri- gation. CHAPTER XXVII. CONSIDERA- TIONS OP CASH CAPITAL AT HAND STARTING A WESTERN FARM HOME. A home is not builclecl in a day. It takes years and decades for the fruition of hope and to establish heart and soul associations between men and materials. Few men who attempt to build a home are supplied with enough capital. Whether a man without any capital will succeed depends en- tirely on personal qualifications. One man with nothing, under most trying circumstances, will accumulate an independent fortune. Another man with apparently sufficient money, will starve out and move on. It is a question of tem- perament and management. The average man has a limited bank account. He must husband and use it in accordance with natural principles of economy. We deplore stinginess. Penuriousness runs into error and often causes loss which defeats itself, while a generous liberality of heart and soul, balanced iy intelligent management, results in accumula- tion and happiness. It may not be wise to sug- gest that a man should not attempt to secure a home unless he has sufficient cash. If he has a family he certainly should have enough means either in money or credit to make his first pay- ments, secure his necessary equipment and pro- vide living two or three years before he can be 390 ARID AGRICULTURE. certain that the land will sustain him. The active development now going on in the West insures that an industrious man can always find something to do at high wages, and many work out one-half the year, in order to get means to develop their homes the other half year. As a general rule a man should not attempt more than forty acres to eighty acres under irrigation. More money is made by proper intensive culti- vation on the small farm unit under irrigation. ~No return should be expected from the land the first year outside of garden or feed for home use, and maintenance of cow and work animals. A prevalent fault with most men who become en- thusiastic over a new country is an uncontroll- able desire to own all of it. ~ The new farmer should be willing to pioneer BEGINNING MAKES FOR for a while. He should rough it and build IMANENCE ^ first put as small outlay as possible in dead stock those things which will give no cash return from use of capital employed. Make the live stock part of the investment as good and permanent as possible. By "live stock" we mean all those things which will give returns, whether they be pigs, chickens, soil culture or crops. It is stock in trade. Buildings for first occupancy of man or animals may be temporary and cheap. In the West none need shun the outdoors. Night air is as healthy as day air there is no danger ARID AGRICULTURE. 391 in drafts there is no swamp miasma or disease- breeding mosquito from below and compara- tively little wet from above. However, personal comfort should never be neglected. It is your main stock in trade the chief element of your success. First make yourself and family com- fortable. Then let your income improve your improvements. FAMILY COMFORT FIRST The family comfort depends mainly on three things a warm house, though it be small, a good and convenient water supply, comfortable and sanitary convenience for waste house, well, closet. THE TENT HOUSE It is possible to get along with considerable comfort the first season in well constructed tent- houses. A good tent, stretched over a frame work, with floor inside and banked up outside with soil, will be found habitable. A house tent, however, should have a fly over the top, and where the winters are cold or windy, a double wall will pay. THE DUGOUT Where there is good drainage or a side hill is available, a dugout may be constructed which will do for temporary occupancy. Such dugout may be covered over the top with timbers, boards, building paper or tar paper, and four or five inches of soil. The average American will not 392 ARID AGRICULTURE. THE SOD HOUSE take kindly to this idea. Many have to learn that there is no disgrace in frugal beginnings for a high and honest purpose. In many places on the Western plains, it is possible to cut good heavy sods to use for build- Plate LIV. These Sod Houses Are Comfortable. ing material. Such sod should be cut a foot or more wide, from one to three feet long, and as thick as the grass roots will hold the soil to- gether. They may be laid up like bricks. The roof should be made with generous eaves which will carry the moisture far enough over so it will ARID AGRICULTURE. 393 ADOBE HOUSE LOG HOUSES not drain down the sides and wash away the walls. Clay soils may often be found which will mix with straw, brush, gravel or other materials and can be used to construct a wall by pouring muck into molds. The mold may be simply a plank placed on each side, the mixed muck poured and pounded in between, and the planks raised as the wall is builded. The same kind of roof as that used for sod houses should be put on. Houses built in this way are warm and in our dry climate last for many years. A good tight roof can be made by laying timber across the walls and bending boards over them to make a curved roof, which need not be steep. Over these boards place a tough fibrous building pa- per or tar paper and then lay on four to six inches of soil. Where timber is available or if one can reach the Timber Reserve and use the dead trees, log buildings can be constructed with little money outlay. Buildings of logs are very comfortable if properly made and chinked. Where sawed timbers can be obtained they make one of the easiest constructed and best house walls. We do not need to suggest methods of building with lumber, for where lumber can be obtained, every man will be able to work out his own building problem. 394 ARID AGRICULTURE. .DOMESTIC The second of our three essential elements of comfort is water. The first thing the new farmer should do is to develop his water-supply. If he has any money left, it may be put into buildings and other things. Too many new farmers leave this until the last, and haul water so long that they use up more valuable effort and time, many times over, than the first cost of a home supply would amount to. No man should begin to haul water if he can avoid it. Water is a necessity to drink and an occasional rotation of the water bath with the dust bath, in season, is not altogether a luxury. Over most of the arid region well water can be obtained. In many sections there are artesian basins, and wherever a deep well will secure a supply of water which is uncontaminated with surface drainage or with alkali, deep wells should be bored. Some scheme for power pumping is generally an economy on the farm. In much of the arid region there is sufficient Avind movement to make windmills practicable. In other places the gasoline or a hot-air engine is more advisable. It requires a comparatively small outlay to establish a pump and power. Either a tank above ground or a pressure tank underneath should be installed to furnish a supply of running water, both in the barn yard and in the house. With a pressure tank the farmer can have his hot and coldwater and bath in the house,, a sprinkler on the lawn, and a supply of water on tap wherever needed. ARID AGRICULTURE. 395 SANITARY Our third element of comfort is the sanitary disposal of waste. The farm house should have its drain from the kitchen and a cesspool, if there is no other means of disposal of waste water. On the dry farm do not waste the waste water. Use it on the garden. Every farm house may have a sanitary closet. If water pressure is not available and the water closet can not be installed, which is usually the case on new farms, the soil closet may take its place. For some reasons the soil closet is the most econom- ical and best. There is no greater deodorant and disinfectant than dry soil, and in parts of Europe soil closets are used in the best houses. The soil closet enables the farmer to save the last element of fertility which is usually wasted. His night soil can be placed in the garden or where it will do the most good. The soil closet may be built in the form of the ordinary privy, mak- ing a box in the shape of a draw r er which slides underneath the seat. This box should be placed on two-by-four runners with a clevis attached, so a horse can haul it away, to be dumped. The seat above should be on a hinge so that it may be lifted. A box of soil should be kept at hand and plenty of it used every day. Such closets are free from smell and from disease germs, clean and comfortable. They may be placed near so it will not be necessary to make long journeys through storm and mud. They should be tightly enclosed so they will be comfortable. 396 ARID AGRICULTURE. OTHER BUILDINGS- BARNS In the West it is not so necessary to house stock in the winter as it is in the more humid sections. A barn or stable may simply be made convenient for the handling and feeding of stock. A cheap, warm, and efficient barn may be made out of baled straw. The roof should be supported on posts and may be made of tim- bers which will support a quantity of loose straw or of shingles or galvanized iron. New farmers often build their barns by setting posts and stretching wire on both sides, filling in between with loose straw. In many places bailing wire is abundant, and the only cost of such buildings is the work of constructing them. POULTRY HOUSE The poultry house should be so built that the chickens or turkeys can be inclosed at night to save them from coyotes and other animals. It is important to have the poultry house warm in winter. It may be banked with straw or soil. Usually there is no more profitable thing on the farm than winter-laying hens. HOG HOUSE Every farm should have its pig-pen and pig shelter. One of the cheapest and best pig shel- ters is a board house, made in the form of a let- ter A. It is constructed with sixteen-foot boards, cut in two, slanted from the ground to the peak, making a house eight feet square on the ground and as high as eight-foot boards slanted in this ARID AGRICULTURE. 397 way will reach. The ends are covered, with the exception of a door, which may be left open. The cracks should be battened and a small open- ing for ventilation left near the peak of roof on the side opposite the door. This is a good house Plate LV. The "A" Hog House. By Permission Colo. Agrl. College. for brood sows, as the slanting roof will give room for young pigs and prevent the mother from lying on and killing them. The house may be moved to the alfalfa pasture in the spring or summer and placed in the barnyard in winter. To build this pig house requires one hundred 398 ARID AGRICULTURE. GRANARY ROOT CELLAR FENCING THE FARM and eighty feet of sixteen-foot boards, two two- by-fours sixteen feet long, about eighteen battens sixteen feet long, a total of three hundred square feet of lumber and ten cents' worth of nails. Nearly every farmer will need a granary and a root cellar for storing crops. It is necessary to secure lumber for building the granary. AVe would merely suggest that it is better to store grain in open bins than in sacks, because there is less damage from mice or chipmunks. The root cellar may be built entirely under ground or on top of the ground. Where potatoes are raised in quantity large root cellars should usually be built on top of the ground with double doors at each end, and a driveway so a wagon can be driven through. The roof of the root cellar may be of timbers, brush, straw, and dirt, from one to two feet of covering being required in the ^Northern region to keep out the winter frost. There should always be one or more ven- tilators in the roof; the double doors should be made as tight as possible. It may be necessary to watch the root cellar every day in cold weather. Have a thermometer and do not let things freeze if you find it necessary to carry in hot ashes or build a fire. The new farmer usually makes costly mis- takes in his fencing. A good fence is good econ- ARID AGRICULTURE. 399 omj. The time is coming when a ranch or farm will not be considered one unless fenced with woven wire, or something else equally as good. Barbed wire is the material usually used. ^X posts of some kind of timber are ordina- rily used, it will be found advisable to treat them to increase their length of life. An ordinary, dry cottonwood or spruce post placed in the ground will rot off in two years. Posts made of mountain spruce are very short-lived. Pitch- pine or cedar posts will last from ten to fifteen years when set in the ground. Many ranchmen who have land to spare build buck fences. The bucks are made by setting a post at an angle of from thirty to forty-five degrees, supporting them with one. or two sticks used as props set in or POSTS 400 ARID AGRICULTURE. holes bored near the top of the post. Such bucks of pine merely rot off slightly at the bottom where they come in contact with -the ground, and get about four or five inches shorter in twenty years' time. Many methods of treating fence posts have been devised and recommended. Most of these methods, such as treating with creosote or corro- sive sublimate require the use of large tanks and careful attention to the proper recipes. In ex- periments carried on by the author in treating pitch pine posts, he found that the life of the post was indefinitely extended by the following treat- ment : Paint or dip the lower end of the post a little higher than it is to go into the ground with crude petroleum. Place in small piles of half a dozen posts and burn off the petroleum. Do not let burn too long. They should get hot enough to force the oil into the wood and pro- duce a slight blackening on the outside. Posts treated in this way seem to be so well protected from dry rot that they will last many times as long as untreated posts. The treatment costs but a few cents for each post, and saves both in cost of renewal and the work of building new fences. GATES The ordinary barbed wire gate is an abomi- nation and an expensive nuisance if where it must be used several times a day. To make a good gate out of timber and swing it on a post ARID AGRICULTURE. 401 will cost little more than the wire. Automatic iron gates can now be obtained. The best ones are those Avhich swing and are operated by tog- gles worked by the wheel of the wagon. Such gates open and close automatically, save the farmer time, prevent runaways, and generally give such satisfaction that the increased first cost is not regretted if a man has means enough to af- ford good improvements. CHAPTER XXVIII. THE HOME GARDEX. The man who has always lived in a large city does not know what wholesome eating* is. Had he possession of unlimited wealth he could not buy freshness. WHAT THE The garden is the small piece of intensively GABD DOES cultivated ground which no home, wherever it may be located, should be without. This garden may be a tomato can growing a single plant or it may cover an acre. It may be for beautifying a place by raising decorative plants or it may be used to supply the principal living for the fam- ily. It is this latter kind of garden that fits into the necessary economy of the successful farm. The garden supplies genuine food. It is pure food. ~No other food can take the place of or excel fresh garden truck. This food, raised at home by the application of a little time and labor, brings more happiness and thrift per square rod than the rest of the farm does per square acre. It furnishes sustenance and cheap- ens the cost of living. The garden, the cow, the hen and the pig are home economies which fur- nish a living unexcelled, and the farmer who husbands his resources and saves money in these several ways, never fails. It has been the gardeners of the West that 404 ARID AGRICULTURE. have demonstrated our larger agricultural pos- sibilities. Could the large rangemen have pre- vented the planting of gardens they could have undisputed possession of the arid region forever. The garden displays the richness of the soil, the suitableness of the climate, the results of in- tensive culture. The closer study given plants and their relationships in the garden give clearer insight into the underlying principles of soil and plant culture. Its educational value is no small part of the profit of a garden. A well-kept gar- den gives a keen and lively interest in plant life and in the advantages of the new country to every member of the family, and may be shown with pride to visiting friends. It inspires hope and confidence in future prosperity. HOW TO Plant a. wind-break along the border of the GARDEN garden, generally leaving it open to the South to receive the most sun. Thicken the wind- break with Boxthorne or Honey Locust hedge. Put in a row or two of apple trees, and cherries, currants and gooseberries, and dwarf mountain cherry. These things are hardy and stand drouth. Fertilize with forty to sixty loads of manure per acre. Use sheep manure if you can get it. Disc the manure into top soil and then plow deep and harrow until the best possible seed bed is obtained. Do this even if the garden is only a few rods square. Plant all garden stuff in rows far enough apart so cultivation may ARID AGRICULTURE. 405 be done with a horse. Small plants may be sown in double rows with two feet or more between for horse cultivation. THE DRY FARM GARDEN WATER WHERE POSSIBLE The best results will be obtained where the moisture may be conserved for a season before planting, but do not wait to do this. Have some kind of garden the first year. Plants that will stand a great amount of drouth are Horseradish, Rhubarb, Jerusalem Artichoke, Tansy, Beans, Pop Corn, Sweet Corn, Potatoes, Peas, Summer and . Winter Squash, Pumpkin, Asparagus, Winter Onions, Tomatoes, Salsify, Beets, Car- rots, Parsnips, Rutabegas. These have been named somewhat in the order of their drouth-re- sistance. The only suggestion needed here is to make the soil rich, not filled with too much loose material, which will cause it to dry out, and keep the soil cultivated and aerated to save moisture, prevent weeds and make the crops grow. Gen- eral directions for planting, and amount of seed are given on seed packets and in garden catalogs. In a press bulletin of the Colorado Experi- ment Station, J. E. Payne gives the following- advice to dry farmers: "Plant a garden. If you have no well, plant a small plat near the house and water it with the waste water. Bury every drop of waste water beside some vegetable by making a furrow beside the plants and after the water has sunk away fill the furrow with dry 406 ARID AGRICULTURE. dirt. Old tin cans sunk in the ground by the side of hills of cucumbers aid in watering them economically. Punch holes in the bottoms of the cans." "If you have a well, plant a large garden, but plant all garden stuff in rows so that it may be cultivated with horse power. Use the water with the same economy that you would if using only waste water. Never flood the ground purposely. If any should be flooded, stir it thoroughly as soon as it is dry enough." "It is a common mistake with beginners in irrigation to try to make water take the place of cultivation. The result is failure. Another common mistake is to plant a larger area than can be watered from the well. Better begin with only a few square rods and extend the area as ex- perience dictates. * * * By planting the following seven varieties of sweet corn on the same day and often near the last of May I have had roasting ears from July 26th to September 26th. The varieties were Cory, Black Mexican, Perry's Hybrid, Stowell's Evergreen, Country Gentle- man, Mammoth Evergreen and Egyptian. The large varieties may be dried for winter use or allowed to ripen to be used parched. Parched sweet corn is a luxury, but one which is in the reach of the poorest settler. White Pearl and Queen's Golden pop corn have done well for me, ARID AGRICULTURE. 407 and my family have had many meals consisting of whipped cream and popcorn." 'There is no necessity of giving detailed in- structions for irrigating each of the garden vegetables. In general, furrow irrigation should be practiced. The garden plants should be grown in rows wide apart and watered in furrows deep enough so the top of the rows are never under w r ater. Quick and frequent irrigations followed by careful cultivation is the secret of greatest success. There are a few plants, notably the onion, which seem to give larger crops if flood irrigated. The onion bed may be surrounded with furrows or levees from six inches to a foot high and irrigated by filling with water. Un- less there is good, quick-acting under-drainage, the water should be drawn off the bed after standing a couple of hours. Plants which require and stand the most w^ater are celery, cabbage, cauliflower, radishes and turnips. Such things as spinach, lettuce and melons need frequent irrigations and culti- vations to keep the soil moist and warm. Often where water is scarce a garden may be irrigated by catehing a bank of snow T in winter or by winter irrigation, or by catching the flood w r ater from sudden storms or melting snow. Flood water may be stored in a small reservoir, and if it supplies only one light irrigation it will pay. Methods of dry farm practice to store moisture in the soil are always valuable. 408 AEID AGRICULTURE. SOME SIMPLE SUG- GESTIONS PROTECTION FROM FROST Many things may be easily done to aid plants in their growth and usefulness by simply taking serious thought and doing them the right way. Knowing the origin or the little freaks of char- acter in plants often gives us a clue which will help us make them do their best. As examples, beets came from the salt sea side, peas from the North, celery from the swamp, alfalfa from dry regions. Beets will stand alkali peas a short cool season celery wants wet feet alfalfa will drown if its feet are kept wet. The way the sun and wind strikes the furrow makes a. great differ- ence in the little local climate immediately sur- rounding the plant. At low altitudes, where the sun is hot, such things as garden peas should be planted on the north slope of the furrow to keep the young seedlings cool. Melons and cucum- bers may be planted on the south side of the fur- row to keep them warm. Always set young cab- bage, cauliflower, or celery plants on the north side of the furrow so they are protected some- what from the hot sun rays. Tomatoes should be planted in deep furrows, which are gradually filled up, making them deeper rooted than if planted at the surface. These directions are suggestive of others that the thoughtful gardener and farmer may apply. Much security from damage to garden truck by late and early frosts may be had by very sim- ple means. One of the best protections from ARID AGRICULTURE. 409 frost is water. If there is frost indication, run water through the furrows in the garden or orchard and the latent heat it will give out is often an effectual saving of the crop. A simple and effective prevention of damage from light frosts is to thoroughly sprinkle the plants with a sprinkling pot or spray pump. It takes much frost to freeze plants when they are wet. We have seen water freeze into solid sheets of ice on the leaves of sweet potatoes and tomatoes with- out injuring the plants in the least. Usually, if plants can be saved at the time of the first fall frost, their time of usefulness is extended some Aveeks. When the garden does freeze, save all the green tomatoes, cantaloupe and other prod- ucts by piling them up in piles or putting under a shed. They will go on ripening and those not used by the family make excellent feed for the cows and pigs, and other stock. If sweet potato vines are frosted, cut them off at once at top of ground. The roots may be left for later digging. Much may be done in places which have a season too short for certain tender vegetables. A good melon crop may be matured by protecting early planted hills during cold days, or at night with glass-covered boxes. Place a common sheet of window pane, 12x14 inches in size, at an angle of forty-five degrees, on top of a box made of one-inch boards, and set over the melon hills MAKING THE 410 ARID AGBICULTUKE. in the spring with the glass facing the south to catch the sun. Take them off during the warm parts of the day to allow the plants to get air, and to dry off any accumulated moisture. Some- times the soil may be made several degrees warm- er in the spring by rolling with a smooth roller. Break it up again with the harrow in a few days to save the moisture. The suggestions here made along with suggestions for protecting from frost, enable us to grow more tender plants and keep them producing a longer time. CHAPTER XXIX. TREES. The man who grows trees where none grew before has accomplished something 1 worth while. SHOULD THE Everyone loves trees. Few progressive men pLAirr ARMEB w ^ ke sat i sn>e d to build permanent homes with- TREES? out securing the association of trees. They add more to man's comfort and welfare than can be told in a small book. They make his landscape. They delight his eye. They provide shade and shelter. They furnish music and company. They supply wood and fruit. There is no place where trees cannot be made to grow if they are given the right treatment. Unless they can be properly cared for do not at- tempt to grow them. Neglect will result in greater expense and loss when dealing with trees than any farm dissipation we know about unless it is fast horses. Be sure you are right make haste slowly proceed deliberately and with con- sideration, and good results are sure to follow. To attempt is made to give instruction relative to fruit growing or general horticulture, but the following brief recommendations should be fol- lowed by every farmer who expects to set out trees, whether he can irrigate much or little or not at all. A S O I ^ W 2 >, s : 3 o >> PH ARID AGRICULTURE. 413 PREPARA- Do not attempt to plant trees the first year TION OF SO! FOB TREES IXl iii sod ground. The land should be plowed deeply, preferably in the fall, and summer tilled one year to conserve moisture. Xo weeds should be allowed to grow or mature. In digging holes in which to set the trees make them large. Throw the top soil in a pile by itself so that when the trees are set this top soil can be placed immedi- ately around the roots. If there is hard-pan or any impervious sub-soil, it is a most excellent plan to put in a charge of dynamite wherever it. will do the most good. In setting trees or shrubs close together, as for wind-breaks or hedge, much time and labor may be saved by plowing a deep furrow and running the sub- soiler sixteen or eighteen inches deep. This loosens up the ground and makes digging the holes easy. A good preparation of soil for trees is to sow alfalfa, sweet clover, field peas or other legumes, and plow under the crop to increase the humus in the soil. It is a good practice to use an old alfalfa field in which to set young trees, but the alfalfa should be plowed under before the trees have thrown out feeder roots through the surface soil. SETTING OUT Over the larger part of the arid region the THE TREE ()1] ] y ^ Q time to set out trees is in the spring. The killing back of young trees is largely due to their drying out. The long winters and drying 414 ARID AGRICULTURE. effects of the' wind, while the roots are dormant, seems to be the main cause of killing back the tops of the tree. If trees or shrubs are obtained in the fall, they may be heeled in by laying lengthwise in deep trenches and covering the whole tree with enough earth to keep it moist. They should be taken out and planted where wanted as soon as the frost is out of the ground in the spring. If left in the pits too long, the buds will start and will be so tender when set out, that all will die back to the trunk and it will be necessary for new buds to form if the tree lives. Deep planting should be practiced. Trees should always be put a few inches deeper than they grew in the nursery. We cannot tell just how far this system of deep planting can be car- ried with success. One dry farmer of many years' experience in Utah testifies that he planted poplar trees with four feet of the trunks beneath the surface of the ground. A deep trench was dug to get the roots down where they could reach some sub-surface moisture which oc- curred in that locality, and the trench was after- wards slowly filled level with the surface. He said these treeshad beengrowing for many years. I would never attempt to set a tree without the use of water, even if I had to haul it in barrels. Set the trees in the hole, cover the roots with sur- face soil, tramp it down firmly and fill the re- ARID AGRICULTURE. 415 mainder of the hole with water. After the water has soaked away, finish filling the hole with soil and firm it well with the feet If there is danger of winds loosening the tree, set one or two stakes and tie the tree to the stake with strips of soft rag. They should be watched, and if the trunks loosen an opening in the soil, tramp it tightly against the tree. If possible irrigate the trees from a canal or home water supply, but if this cannot be done, try one of the following methods. TIN-CAN IRRIGATION TO START TREES When setting out the tree plant at a distance of eight inches or a foot from the trunk, a five- gallon oil can or other tin of like nature, putting- it as deep as convenient in the soil. With a sharp awl puncture a very small hole in the bot- tom of the can. When the can is filled with water it will insure the soil around the roots re- maining moist for a long enough period to start the growth of the tree. If water is convenient, a piece of stovepipe set next to a tree and the bottom half of it pounded full of manure, makes an excellent method of supplying water and at the same time stimulating with liquid plant food. ARTIFICIAL BOOT PRESSURE Some years ago Professor Goff, of Wiscon- sin, introduced a scheme of supplying artificial root pressure to start newly-planted trees. Ex- periments indicated that the method was very 416 ARID AGRICULTURE. successful. It is known that the sap in a grow- ing tree exerts considerable pressure while the roots are absorbing water. When a tree is set out or transplanted, all the root hairs which ab- sorb moisture are destroyed and new root-hairs must be thrown out before the root-pressure can be re-established. The method of supplying this pressure tem- porarily is to place a can or bottle as high or higher than thejupper limbs of a tree and con- nect it by a pfpe or tube to the end of one of the f reshly-cut-off roots at the bottom of the tree. If a pipe is used, connection between the pipe and the root is made with a small piece of soft rub- ber tubing which can be made tight so it will not leak. The can or bottle is filled with water and connection made when the tree is planted. This supplies both moisture and pressure, can be very cheaply done, and we suggest that dry-farmers who are planting trees under trying conditions give it a trial. TEMPORARY Some protection from the wind should al- PROTECTION -, i i mi 11 c ^ ways be provided. This may be done for each tree by wrapping the trunk with paper or setting a board on the side from which the prevailing wind conies. It often pays to provide shade for the trunks of newly-planted trees, and this is important in certain parts of the arid region. Some shade should be set on the south and west si f 14 418 ARID AGRICULTURE. sides to protect the tree trunks from simscald, and if small evergreens are planted it is neces- sary to furnish some kind of shade the first season. Plate LIX. A Good Way to Leave the Top. Plate LX. A Bad Way to Cut Back a Tree Top. CULTIVATION AND CARE OF TREES Never allow grasses or weeds to grow close around the trunks of young trees. They use up plant food and pump out of the soil enormous amounts of water. Clean cultivation in or- chards or tree plantations should never be neg- lected. Plowing around the trees forces them ARID AGRICULTURE. 419 to send their roots deeply into the soil, where they will not be caught by temporary drouth. During the season the surface cultivation main- tains the soil mulch, saves the moisture, aerates the soil, warms it, fosters the bacteria and chem- ical action which makes plant food available and supplies the small feeding rootlets sent up from below with moisture and food. When the trees are first set out the tops may be trimmed back, but as a rule we would rather take chances on leaving most of the top, at least the terminal bud, as cutting them back often allows them to dry out and they recover slowly or not at all. If the top is to be trimmed back, merely trim the side branches or cut them out, and if any large branch is cut off, paint the wound with white lead. The best time to trim most trees is in spring or early summer. Do not cut off the limbs just before growth starts in the spring, because when the sap comes up, these fresh cuts will bleed and they furnish entrance places for in- sects and fungus diseases. WINTER A mulch of three or four inches of barn-yard MULCHING * . . , manure around each tree during the winter sup- plies plant food, saves moisture and prevents winter thawing of the frozen ground. Do not put such mulch immediately against the trunk of the tree, for it harbors mice, which may gir- dle the tree by eating the bark. Where standing 420 ARID AGRICULTURE. KIND OF TREES TO PLANT water gives a supply of ice that is convenient, mulching by placing lumps of ice around the tree has given most excellent results. This ice keeps the tree dormant, in a measure preventing the swelling of the buds too early in the spring, as well as keeping the soil from drying out. Some Northern fruit growers are practicing using the ice mulch and testify to its efficiency. The list of trees for general planting is a short one. In favorable locations and with pro- tection a large variety of trees succeed. In towns and cities where there is protection af- forded by many buildings, where the water sup- ply is always available and the grower can give much attention to his trees, practically all the varieties that grow in like latitudes elsewhere will thrive. A good example of this may be cited in the trees of Denver, where the long list of varieties includes everything from the oak, linden, chestnut, walnut, horse-chestnut, etc., down to the ever-present and most hardy cotton- wood. DROUTH- RESISTANT As yet few trees have been inured to drouth. In the warmer parts of California the Eucalyp- tus thrives with little summer moisture. For the colder mountain and great basin regions the trees which will grow with least moisture are the common Pine, Englemann's Spruce, Xorway ARID AGRICULTURE. 421 TBEES FOB HIGH ALTITUDES KEY TO GROW Spruce, Douglas Spruce, Box Elder, Green Ash, White Ash and Elm. While they are general lovers of water, there are none which are so sure to succeed on arid farms as the Cottonwood, Russian Willows and Poplar. Always plant the Cottonless Cottonwood. The Cottonwood is a native and so hardy that it succeeds with little moisture, where others fail. The most drouth-resistant fruit trees are sour cherries and the more hardy apples. There are many producing orchards above irrigation where only the rainfall is depended on, of cher- ries and apples. The more hardy apples are among the hardiest of all trees. Above 6,000 feet altitude on the plateau re- gions, plant only the Cottonless Cottonwood, the Willow and the Pine. In yards for ornamental purposes the Colorado Blue Spruce and the na- tive Red Cedars will succeed anywhere if they can be watered. Hardy apples, cherries, and American plums succeed where any protection and care can be given them. The choicest hard wood trees are the Elm and White or Green Ash. The writer has seen splendid specimens of the Russian Mulberry, loaded with fruit, in a pro- tected place about 7,000 feet altitude in North- ern Colorado. A partial list of the trees which are now wn, growing successfully in the different sections of the arid region will indicate the known possibil- 422 ARID AGRICULTURE. ALTITUDE 7,000 FEET ALTITUDE 6,000 FEET ALTITUDE 5,000 FEET ities. What has been done, can be done, and more is sure to be accomplished in the future. The following lists should be important guides to those who will plant. At Laramie, Wyoming, the following list of trees are growing in the city : Cottonless Cotton- wood, Native Black Oottonwood, Russian Wil- low, White Willow, Native Balm of Gilead, Quaking Aspen, Silver Poplar, Colorado Blue Spruce, Native Pine, Douglas Spruce, Tartarian Maple, Siberian Crab, Wealthy Apple, Dutch- ess Apple. All are irrigated. Wind breaks are necessary to make trees succeed. At Cheyenne, Wyoming, all the trees named for Laramie are growing, and in addition we have noted the following : Horse Chestnut, Car- olina Poplar, Honey Locust, Elm, White Ash, Eed Cedar, Box Elder. Wind breaks are nec- essary. In Northern Colorado are grown all the trees we have named for higher altitudes in Wyoming and in addition a long list might be added. We mention a few of the more desirable additions. Here, as elsewhere in the West, the more hardy C'ottonwoods, Willows and Poplars are first choice for new planting. Any of this collection of trees should grow as well at the lower alti- tudes in Wyoming, Montana, Nevada, Idaho, ARID AGRICULTURE. 423 Utah and Western Kansas and Nebraska. Wind breaks are important for protection of young planting. Carolina Poplar, Norway Poplar, Siberian Poplar, Lombardy Poplar, Elm, White Ash, Green Ash, Soft Maple, Cut-Leaved Birch, the Hardy Catalpa (Catalpa Speciosa), Honey Lo- cust, Black Locust, Black Walnut, Hackberry, Horse Chestnut, Mountain Ash, Russian Mul- berry, Russian Olive, Silver Poplar, Silver Ma- ple, Norway Spruce, Box Elder, Black Cherry. The most hardy varieties of apples are Wealthy, Yellow Transparent, Northwest Greening, Pe- ter, McMahan, Gano, etc. SOME or THE The following list of shrubs have proven to SHRUBS AND ke hardy under the most trying climate and sea- VINES son. Flowering Currant, Native Gooseberry, Box Thorn or Matrimony \ 7 ine, Lilac, Bridal Wreath (Spirea Van Houteii) Buffalo Berry, Silverberry, Choke Cherry, Native Roses, Tar- tarian Honeysuckle. The four most hardy vines are the Annual Wild Cucumber or Balsam Apple, native Hops, of which the roots live through the winter, Native Clematis, which is a very hardy perennial, and Virginia Creeper. CHAPTER XXX. WIND BREAKS. Our winds are useful, but it is well not to get too much of a good thing 1 . GIVE THE Over the greater part of the plateau region WIND TOUR , . ~. r ' . ATTENTION an( l ln eastern Oregon and Washington there is considerable wind movement. The windy sea- son usually occurs during the spring months and while these storms are not destructive to prop- erty they greatly influence growing crops. In some places the drifting of soils is a factor that must be considered. The winds are dry and have much to do with the evaporation of moist- ure from soils and trees. These winds often carry along with them solid particles of snow, ice and sand, which may damage small seedlings of grains or other crops, and cause discomfort to stock. The value of brush and trees as shelter for stock is appreciated by many rangemen. There are some simple "kinks" in dodging the bad effects of winds that farmers may practice to their advantage. SMALL WIND- In our soil culture talk we recommend the P plowing and planting to be done at right angles to the direction of the wind. The rough fur- rows break up the force of the wind and prevent ARID AGRICULTUEE. 425 TEMPORARY PLANT WIND- the drifting of the soil. The small furrows left by the drill or the ridges formed by the harrow have the same effect and are valuable protection to seedling grains from the cutting effect of blow- ing sand and snow. In places the throwing up of small dykes or high furrow slices makes a wind-break which is worth while. Where the land is fairly level or smooth a low obstruction will cause the air that strikes it to be lifted so it does not again strike the land with force for con- siderable distances. Experiments have shown that an obstruction two or three feet high may be noticeable protection for a quarter mile beyond. Three or four rows of tall growing corn, like the flour corn, which makes large growth, but does not mature in the north, or rows of Sor- ghum or Kafir corn, will make useful wind- breaks for young plantings. The stalks may be left standing thru the year. A few years ago, in parts of Dakota, the Siberian wormwood was introduced. It is an annual sagebrush, which makes tall growth and the dead plants will stand some years. The Russian Sunflower planted closely and in double rows, would be effectual for one season. Many other annual plants which could be used for this purpose will suggest themselves to the farmer. PERMANENT WIND- BREAKS For permanent wind-breaks use quick-grow- ing trees. Plant them thick in rows so the alter- 426 ARID AGRICULTURE. nate trees are opposite the space left in the next row. Set the rows at right angles to the prevail- ing winds on the sides of the farm from which the winds come. This will be on the West and North or Southwest and North sides of the place in most parts of the arid region. WIND- At high altitudes nothing has been found to BREAK TREES take the place of the cottonwood and willow. Evergreens, Pines and Spruce are promising, but have not been planted to any extent. At altitudes below five thousand feet in the middle West, the Carolina Poplar, is one of the most rapid-growing and successful wind-break trees. It is easy to plant and by heading back it throws out many side limbs from the trunks to fill in the space. Plant four feet apart in rows four feet apart, letting the trees alternate in each row. The Russian and White Willows and Golden Willows make quick-growing wind-breaks, but are slower to start. These trees usually spend one or two seasons making roots and small side shoots before they throw up their central trunk. In, many places, however, they will make thick wind-breaks from twelve to twenty feet high in four or five years. The Box Elder is a suitable wind-belt tree in many places, and a large num- ber of other kinds will be useful. The Green Ash is one of the best drouth-resistant hard wood trees. The "Apple King" of Kansas says he plants apple trees for windbreaks and if he AKID AGRICULTURE. 427 wants more wind-breaks, he plants more apple trees. Such trees are dual purpose, furnishing both fruit and shelter. Where enough time can be used they will do. Such trees should be headed as near the ground as possible and allow soil cultivation close to the trunks. SHRUB OB SEDGE WIND- BREAK Double rows of smaller growing hardy shrubs are both useful and ornamental. The hardiest and quickest growing is the Box Thorn or Matrimony Vine (Lycium Vugare}. Hedges may be grown of California Privet, Lilac, Honey Locust, Barberries, Willows or Osage Orange. Permanent rows of currants and gooseberries, Dwarf Cherries, Bush Honey Suckle (Tartarian), Buffalo Berries, and many others may be used. Some shrubs may be set in trenches placing them one to three feet apart and allowing them to thicken up. Where dry farm- ing is practiced, some water should be used to start the plants, or moisture should be first stored by at least a vear of tillage. SHELTER BELTS Shelter belts several rods wide are often used and are advantageous where the winds blow long and strong. Such shelter belts are best composed of several varieties of trees. Plant the more hardy trees as Cottonwood, Poplars or Locust in the outer rows four or eight feet apart; then more compact-growing Box Elders or Green or White Ash. The Russian Olive is hardy and ARID AGRICULTURE. 429 may be worked in to advantage and rows of wil- lows find a place in such plantings. Plant the inside rows closer together. A low trench left by furrowing with a lister or by back furrowing leaving the soil higher between the rows, will cause the moisture to run toward the newly planted young trees in the trenches. Shelter belts also catch drifting snows and are often more successful than single rows or narrow wind- breaks. COMBINED WIND- BREAK AND FOREST In many parts of the West the growing of trees for commercial purposes is becoming profit- able. In California, Eucalyptus plantations are grown for wood, and harvested in five or six years from planting. In part? of Kansas, Ne- braska and Colorado, plantations of Catalpa and Black Locust are being set out for the production of railroad ties and fence posts. It is expected they will reach sufficient size in twelve to eighteen years. Some are even setting out black walnut groves for future lumber with the knowl- edge that there must be a wait of from fifty to eighty years to reap what has been sown. Such timber plantations, if located with the object in view, furnish both wind-breaks and stock shelter. FENCE WIND- BREAKS Board, pole, log or brush fences are often used by range sheepmen to protect their flocks at night or during storms. Such fences make 430 ARID AGRICULTURE. effective wind protection for newly planted trees. Board fences constructed like the railroad snow fences, either supported on slanting "bucks" or on upright posts, cause eddies in the winds which will form snow banks where wanted and prevent deep snow drifts where they are not wanted. Not a few ranchmen use such fences to collect the snow for accumulation of moisture where they wish to grow their garden or some field crop. THE END. INDEX. PAGE Abortion, contagious 356 Adobe house 393 Agriculture, arid 11 western new 14 Alfalfa, clipping young plants 125 cultivation of hay 134 diseases, some new 280 fertilization of flowers 124 as a fertilizer 141 furrow irrigation for 137 German 129 Grimm's 127 harvest after any injury 140 harvesting hay 138 hay culture 130 for horses 334 inoculation of soil 135 in Western agriculture 121 irrigation of hay 136 leaf spot of 279 meal 145 mixtures 136 pasturing 1 planting with nurse crop 133 preparation of land for 131 products 145 seed, crop for 126 seed crop, will there be a 125 seed, cultivation for 123 seed culture 121 seed, good 129 seed, harvesting and threshing 123 seed, injury by chalsis 270 seed, irrigation for 123 seed, planting for 122 seed, probable yield of 124 seed, stacking for 126 seed, time to harvest 126 seeding for hay 132 soils for 130 storing green 140 time to sow 131 Turkestan 127 value of different cuttings 144 varieties of 127 Alkali, crops for 85 effects of 84 irrigation and 83 land for sugar beets 207 remedies for 85 432 INDEX. PAGE Anemia, infectious 351 Animal Breeding, pointers on 336 Animals, care of 344 Animal castration, age for 369 Animals, stables and shelter 345 Antiseptics for stock 370 Ants 270 how to kill 272 Arid farming, new 29 Region, the 11 Region, opportunity in 38 Aridity, different from East 16 Arsenate of lead 263 Artichoke, Jerusalem 226 Barbed wire cuts 370 Barley 172 beardless brewing 175 culture 175 Hulless 174 Two-row black 173 varieties for brewing 174 Barns 396 Beans 223 Bean beetles 266 Beets and alkali land , 207 Beet beetles 265 growing improves land 206 growing is intensive 202 Beets, pasturing 225 use clean ground for 210 water used by 53 Birds, a word about 294 Bisulphide of carbon for ants 272 of carbon for rodents 288 Blackleg 349 Bloat and treatment 354 Bokhara clover, feeding value of 161 Bordeaux mixture 280 Breeding Animals, pointers on 336 Breeding Hornless Cattle 365 Brush plows 110 Buckwheat 222 Bugs, kerosene emulsion for 262 Cabbage lice 269 worms 268 Cama, death 360 Canada Thistle 253 Care of Mothers 340 Castration of Animals 367 Castrating Calves 367 Colts 367 Castration of Sheep 368 Cattle feeding with hay 327 feeding in summer 324 ranging 307 Chloro-Naptholeum for flies 326 INDEX. 433 PAGE Climate, the dry 20 dry, healthful to stock 343 effect on plants 233 Clover Seed Chalsis 270 White Sweet 160 Cockle 254 Comfort of Family 391 Contents 7 Corn 153 Culture of 155 Harvest of for Fodder 155 Varieties of for West 154 Corrosive Sublimate for Potato Seed 191 Cottonwood Borer 266 Cow, Gestation Period of 33S Cows, Rations for 322 Crab Grass 7 255 Crop Management 64 Crop, Planting- the 65 Crops, Average not Profitable 204 Disease-resistant 64 Drouth-resistant 64 Hail-resistant 64 Hay and Forage 147 Irrigation of 86 Crops, Miscellaneous 221 Crops, Resistant 64 Root 224 Seed Planting for Irrigated 89 Crown Gall of Trees 279 Culverts 116 Cut Worms . 265 Dandelion 251 Dehorning 364 Detailing Lambs 365 Development, more intensive 13 progress of 11 Disease, recognition of 344 Distemper 353 treatment or 354 Ditch-making Tools 110 Dodder 249 Domestic Water Supply 394 Dry Farm, Selection of . . 381 Dry Farms, Size of 36. Dry Farming, an old practice 34 Cultivating grains in 71 Equipment for 36 Exceptions to Rules for 41 Fertilizing the Soil for 75 Harvesting Grain in 71 Key to 35 Method 35 Personal Elements of Success 40 Rotation of Crops for 74 Success of 34 Suitable Soils for 39 the Term 33 Dugout, the 391 43-1 INDEX. PAGE Earth Worms, Effect of 272 Remedy for 273 Emmer, Feeding Value of 186 or Spelt 185 Farm Areas 19 Farms, Distance from Railroad 378 Farm, Dry, Size of 36 Exposure 379 Irrigated, Size of 79 Surgery 364 Farming, Arid 33 Dry 33 Mixed 37 Must Learn Western 15 Pure and Mixed 80 Scientific 33 Systems of in West 18 Supplemental 386 Feeding Animals 311 Feeding, a New Science 314 as Science and Art 312 Balanced Rations 314 Balanced Rations for Cows 320 Carbohydrates 316 How Foods are Used 317 Minerals 315 Protein 316 Ration Determined by Experiment 317 Ration for Summer Feeding 327 The Ration Problem 318 Use of a Ration 311 Value of Western Grains 331 What Foods Contain 315 Widen Western Rations 319 Fence Posts, Treatment of 399 Fencing the Farm 398 Fistula 371 Flax, Culture of 221 Feeding of Seed 222 Flea Beetles 268 Flies, Protect Cattle from 326 Foot and Mouth Disease 352 Forage Crops 147 Foreword 5 Formalin, for Smut 282 Frost Protection 408 Fuma 288 Garden, Dry Farm 405 How to Make a 404 Irrigated 407 Gardening Suggestions 408 Garden, What It Does 403 Gates 400 Geophytics 384 Gestation in Cats 340 Period in Cow 339 IXDEX. 435 PAGE Gestation Continued. Period in Dogs 340 Period of Guinea Pig 340 Period in Horse 338 Period of Rabbit 340 Period in Sheep and Goats 339 in Swine 340 Glanders 350 Gopher, the Pocket 291 the Pocket, How to Exterminate 292 Grains 172 Grain. Cultivation of for Dry Farming 71 Farming ' 72 Gorging 355 Harvesting Dry Farm 71 Poisoned for Prairie Dogs 289 Smuts 281 Smut, Formalin for 282 Smut. Hot Water Treatment 283 Stooling of 68 Time to Sow 66 Grains, Water Used by 54 Granary 398 Grasshoppers 263 Grass Mixtures 167 Grubbers for Sagebrush 108 Harrow, Acme 61 The Alfalfa 61 The Disc 60 The Drag or Tooth 61 The Spring Tooth 61 When and What to 63 Harrowing 60 After Harvest 71 Good , 62 Grain 71 Sugar Beets 212 Winter Wheat 71 Hay, Best Method of Measuring 170 Cubic Feet in a Ton 170 Feeding 327 and Forage Crops 147 Methods of Measuring 168 Selling by Measure 167 Sweet Clover 162 Headgates 114 Hog House 396 Horses, Alfalfa for 334 Horse, Castration of 367 Colics in 347 Colic, Treatment of 348 Distemper in 358 Foot Troubles 346 Gestation and Heat, Period of 338 Ranging 309 the Teeth of the 373 House, Adobe 393 Flies . 270 436 INDEX. PAGE House Continued. Log 393 Sod, the 392 Tent 391 Hoven 354 Humus 57 Infectious Anemia 351 Insects, Ants, How to Kill 272 Ants, Why Kill Them 270 Bean Beetles 266 Cabbage Lice 269 Cabbage Worms 268 Chewing 261 Clover Seed Chalsis 270 Cottonwood Borer 266 Cut Worms 265 False Chinch Bug 269 Flea Beetles 268 Grasshoppers 263 House Flies 270 Pea Weavels . . 267 Potato and Beet Beetles 265 That Suck 260 Useful Insects 259 What Are 259 Western Army Worm 269 Investment Suggestions to Beginners 390 Irrigate, Time to , 86 Irrigated Farm, Lay of the Land 385 Farm, Selecting an 383 Irrigation and Alkali 83 Amount of Water Required 90 The Basin Method 104 Canvas Dams 113 Check Method 101 and Deep Rooting of Plants 92 Ditch-Making Tools 110 Drops 115 of Farm and Garden Crops 86 Farm Level 117 Flooding from Field Ditches 96 Furrow Method of 98 Growth in Methods 93 Headgates 114 Home-Made Appliances 108 Irrigator's Problem 94 Leveling Implements 112 Local Methods of 93 Marker 114 Methods for Clay Soils 105 Methods for Sandy Soils 106 Methods for Slight Slopes 106 Methods for Steep Slopes 106 Natural Sub 102 Small Flumes 116 Smqll Tools 112 Soil Culture for. . 81 INDEX. 437 PAGE Irrigation Continued. and Soil Fertility 82 Sub by Pipes 103 of Sugar Beets 216 Tapoons 113 of Wheat 181 Wild Flooding 94 Winter 89 Jerusalem Artichoke 226 Kaflr Corn 156 Kerosene Emulsion . . . ' 262 Kohlrabi 164 lamb Feeding on Peas 329 Land Levelers, H6w Ma'de 112 Lands, Richness of 20 Larkspur 359 Poisoning. Treatment of 360 Level, the Farm 117 Leveler, the Land 112 Live Stock. Necessity of Winter Feed for 305 Loco Weed 358 Log Houses 393 Lupinosis 361 Milk Fever 356 Millet 158 Moisture. Conservation of 53 to Make Soils Absorb 55 Molasses from Beets for Feed 319 Mothers, Care of 340 Mulch, the Soil 55 Mustard, Sulphate of Iron, Spray for 257 Nurse Crop for Alfalfa 133 Oats 176 and Peas 153 Varieties of 176 Packer, the Subsurface 58 Paris Green and Bran 264 for Insects 263 Pasture Fattening 329 Grass for 164 Pasturing Alfalfa 142 Beets 225 Root Crops 330 Pea Weavels 267 Canada Field 147 Combining With Oats 153 Cultivation of 149 Feeding: Value of 150 Harvesting by Pasturing 151 Irrigation of 149 Planting 14g Pulling or Mowing 152 438 INDEX. PAGE Peas Continued. Soils for 148 Varieties of 147 Petroleum, Crude for Posts 400 Pigs, Castrating 369 Pintsch Gas for Rodents 288 Plants Adapt Themselves 233 Plant Breeders, Early 234 Plant Breeders of Today 236 Plant Breeding, History of 228 Need of 239 Value of 237 What Farmer Can Do In 242 What It Is 236 Plant Diseases, Not Much Trouble With 274 Plants, Domesticating 230 Deep Rooting of 92 Effect of Climate on 233 Plant Lice, Tobacco for 262 Whale Oil Soap for 262 Plants, Must Improve 241 Sex in 231 Water Requirements of 53 Plow 42 Plows, Disc 49 Mold Board 50 Plow, When to 48 Why Deep 43 Plows, A Word About 49 Plowing Deep Gives Root Pasture 45 Deep Increases Storage Capacity 44 Depth of 43 Good 47 Deep May Not Do 45 Power 51 Pulverizes the Soil 44 Deep Saves the Soil 45 Second 46 Subsoil 46 Poisoned Grain, How to Use 291 Poisonous Plants 358 Poison Plants, Kafir Corn and Sorghum 362 Larkspur 359 Lobelia 362 Loco 358 Death Cama 360 Lupine 361 Monk's Hood 362 Wild Parsnip 360 Poll Evil 371 Potato Beetles 265 as an Irrigated Crop 189 Culture 188 Diseases 275 the, for Dry Farming 188 Flea Beetles 268 Machinery 198 Seed, Corrosive Sublimate for 191 Seed, Cutting 191 Seed, Treatment of 190 the Western Blight 277 INDEX. 439 PAGE Potatoes, Cultivation of 196 Harvesting and Sorting 198 Irrigation of 196 Market Demands 199 Preparation of Soil for 192 in Rotation 197 Seed 192 Varieties of 189 Way to Plant 194 Poultry House 396 Poverty Weed 256 Prairie Dog Poison 289 Precipitation in Arid Region 23 Press Drill, the 65 Packing With 59 Prickly Lettuce 254 Puberty in Animals 338 Babbits, Injury by 293 Rabbit Trap, the Wellhouse 293 Rainfall of Arid Region 23 in Growing Season 55 Season of 27 Table 25 Range, the 299 Improvement of 304 Rational Use of 301 for Stock. Amount Required 301 Summer Range 303 Winter Range 302 Ranging Cattle 307 Horses 309 Sheep 310 Rape, Dwarf 163 Rhyzoctonia '. 276 Ringbone 372 Rodents, Damage Done by 285 Destroying with Gas 288 Give the Boy a Gun 286 Keeping Cats for 288 Poison for 289 Traps for 287 of West 284 Roller. Use of the 58 Root Crops for Feed 225 Cellar 398 Rotation with Alfalfa 141 of Potatoes 197 Russian Thistle 256 Rutting in Sheep 339 Rye 184 Sagebrush Grubbers 10S Salt Bush, Australian 159 Salt Sage 159 Season, the Growing 22 Lengthening Growing 409 Seed, Acclimated 70 per Acre 67 440 INDEX. PAGE Seed Continued. Broadcasting 65 Potato 192 Table 69 Some Suggestions 70 Selection, Beginning of 232 Shelter Belts 427 Sheep, Castration of 368 and Goats, Gestation and Heat Period of 339 Ranging 310 Shrubs, Most Hardy 423 for Wind Breaks 427 Smut, Treatment of 282 "Snow on the Mountain," Weed 246 Soil, Character Told by Plants 384 Closet, the 395 Soil, Crops for Alkali 85 Culture for Irrigation 81 Soil Fertility and Irrigation 82 Flocculation of 40 Mulch the 55 Packing the 57 Preparation for Wheat 178 Pulverizing by Plowing 44 Remedies for Alkali 85 Reservoir for Water 39 Rolling the 58 Soil, Storage of Water in 44 Soil Treatment After Harvest 71 Soils, Arid 27 Soils, Composition of 29 Soils, Fertilized by Alfalfa 141 Soils, Sandy 39 Soils, Suitable for Dry Farming 39 Soils for Wheat 177 Sorghum 156 Varieties of 157 Spavin 372 Spelt, Feeding Value of 186 Russian 185 Splints 372 Squash, Bacterial Disease of 278 Squirrel Tail Grass 254 Stock Foods, Comparative Value of 332 Stock Ranch, Selecting a 380 Storms, Freedom from 22 Sub-Soil Packing 59 Plowing 46 Sugar Beet, the 201 Sugar Beet Culture 208 Curly Top of 278 Diseases of 277 Feeding Value 219 Harrowing 212 Harvesting of 217 Hoeing 215 Irrigation of 216 Leaf Spot of 278 and Prosperity 204 Sugar Beet Seed, Irrigating 212 Sugar Beet Tops, Care of 218 INDEX. 441 PAGE Sugar Beets, Cost and Profit 218 Cultivation of 214 Ripening of 217 Seeding of 211 Thinning 212 Time to Plant 210 Sugar Factory By-Products 330 Sulphate of Iron for Weeds 257 Supplemental Farming 386 Surgery on the Farm 364 Sweet Clover, Making Hay 162 Swine, Gestation and Heat Periods 340 Teeth of the Horse 373 Trees, Artificial Root Pressure 415 Crown Gall of 279 Cultivation and Care of 418 Deep Planting of 414 for Different Altitudes 422 Drouth-Resistant 420 for High Altitudes 421 Key to Those Which Will Grow 421 Kind to Plant 420 Preparation of Soil for 413 Setting Out 413 Should the Dry Farmer Plant? 411 Temporary Protection of 416 Tin Can Irrigation for 415 for Wind Breaks 426 Winter Mulching of 419 Tobacco for Plant Lice 262 Tuberculosis . 350 Vaccination for Blackleg 350 Vegetable Mold 57 Veterinary Management 343 Vines, Most Hardy 423 Waste, Sanitary Disposal of 395 Water, Capillary Movement of 56 Rights 385 Requirements of Plants 53 Supply, the Home 378 Supply for Irrigation 385 Used by Beet Crop 53 Used by Grains 54 Weaning Young Animals 342 Weed, Sweet Clover Not a Bad 163 Weeds, Bind Weed 253 Canada Thistle 253 Cockle 254 Crab Grass 255 Dandelion 251 Dodder 249 Fox Tail or Wild Barley 254 Harbor Insects 247 Injurious to Stock 247 Iron . 250 442 INDEX. PAGE Weeds Continued. Killing with Sprays 248 Mustard 257 Poison to People 246 Poverty Weed 256 Prickly Lettuce 254 Russian Thistle 256 Weeds, What They Do 245 Wild Oats 252 Weeder, the 62 Western Farm, Selection of 377 Home, Capital Needed 389 Wheat 177 Irrigation of 181 Planting 180 Soils 177 as Stock Feed 182 Time to Harvest 182 Time to Sow 181 Varieties of 178 White Sweet Clover 160 Wild Oats 252 Parsnip Poisoning 361 Wind Breaks 424 Break Combined with Forest 429 Breaks of Fences 429 Permanent 425 of Shrubs 427 Temporary Plant 425 Break Trees 426 Wounds of Stock 370 Treatment of 371 ILLUSTRATIONS. PLATE PAGE I. Some Arid Land Opened for Settlement 10 II. Wyoming State Dry Farm 32 III. Plowing 42 IV. Plowing Dry Sod Seven Inches Deep 50 V. Plowing Stubble Eleven Inches Deep 51 VI. The Weeder in Grain 62 VII. The Press Drill 66 VIII. Dr. Cooke and Beardless Barley 72 IX. Coming Thru the Rye 73 X. Government Farm, Cheyenne. 74 XI. Outlet of Cloud Peak Lake 78 XII. Mountain Snows Make Flood Waters 87 XIII. Hanover Canal in Winter 88 XIV. Rock River, with Irrigated Meadows 95 XV. Furrow Irrigation 98 XVI. The Big Horn River is a Grand Stream 107 XVII. Sybille Valley and Wheatland Canal Ill XVIII. Turkey Red Winter Wheat Dry Grown 120 XIX. Wonderful Alfalfa Specimens 1*28 XX. A Good Way to Make Large Stacks 138 XXI. "Go-Devil" and Stacker Putting Up Alfalfa. . 139 XXII. Blooded Rams on Alfalfa Pasture 143 XXIII. Stacking Hay 145 XXIV. Canada Field Peas .. 149 INDEX. 443 PLATE PAGE XXV. Putting Up Native Hay in North Park 165 XXVI. A Field of Awnless Brome Grass 166 XXVII. Timothy Hay on Native Sod 169 XXVIII. Grains Grown at Altitude Over 7,000 Feet. 172 XXIX. Winter Wheats Dry Grown 178 XXX. Some Western Flour Wheats 179 XXXI. Some Western Feed Wheats 183 XXXII. A Colorado Grain Field 187 XXXIII. John Gordon and His Dry Farm Potatoes. 188 XXXIV. Potatoes on the YU Ranch 190 XXXV. Planting Potatoes (below) 193 XXXV. Harvesting Potatoes (above) 193 XXXVI. Cultivating Potatoes (below) 195 XXXVI. Ditching Potatoes (above) 195 XXXVII. A Good Potato Crop 199 XXXVIII. A Perfect Shaped Sugar Beet 203 XXXIX. Boys Thinning Beets 213 XL. A Colorado Sugar Factory 220 XLI. Wheat Breeding by the Author 229 XLII. Breeding Black Winter Emmer 240 XL1II. A Good Use for Prairie-Dog Holes 244 XLJV. The Wyoming Ground Squirrel 285 XLV. Sparrow Hawks and Cooper's Hawk 295 XLVI. Summer Shade Adds Comfort 298 XLVII. A Well-Sodded Wheat Grass Pasture 306 XLVIII. A Beef Cattle Round-Up 306 XLJX. Lambs in Feeding Pens 331 L. "Full-Bloods" on Home Meadows 337 LI. Many Cozy Nooks Adjoining the Range 376 LIT. Grand Mountains Add Beauty 388 LIII. Modest and Neat Ranch Improvements 88 LIV. These Sod Houses Are Comfortable 392 LV. The "A" Hog House 3"97 LVI. A Full Set of Buildings 402 LVII. Old Cotton woods Lend Shade and Beauty... 4~12 LVIII. Good Improvements Trees Would Help... 417 LIX. A Good Way to Leave the Tree Top 418 LX. A Bad Way to Cut Back a Tree Top 418 LXI. An Artificial Forest 428 RETURN TO the circulation desk of any University of California Library or to the NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY Bldg. 400, Richmond Field Station University of California Richmond, CA 94804-4698 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 2-month loans may be renewed by calling (510)642-6753 1-year loans may be recharged by bringing books to NRLF Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days prior to due date DUE AS STAMPED BELOW SFP8 1992 00)604199? JLJLJ iJl-95m-7,'37 .ID ,