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CIRCULAR NO. 119, BUREAU OP PLANT INDUSTRY. 



CONDITIONS ON THE PROJECT. 



Weather conditions on the Belle Fourche Project in 1912 were gen- 

 erally favorable to the growth of irrigated crops. Hailstorms did 

 some damage in restricted localities, particularly to a few small 

 fields of sugar beets. One of the chief difficulties encountered was in 

 getting the land properly graded and prepared for irrigation, as most 

 of the farms were irrigated for the first time. The resulting inefficient 

 irrigation probably had much to do with the low average yields 

 obtained with many of the farm crops. 



The total irrigable area of the farms on the Belle Fourche Project 

 from which crop yields were reported in 1912 was 44,654 acres, included 

 in 537 farms. Of this area 27,897 acres were actually irrigated. 

 Harvests were reported from 24,017 acres; orchard trees were planted 

 on 54 acres, and alfalfa was seeded but not harvested on 3,226 acres. 

 The acreage, yields, and farm values of the crops produced on the 

 project in 1912 are summarized in Table II. The figures were 

 obtained from the United States Reclamation Service. 



Table II. — Acreage, yields, ami farm values of crops on the Belle Fourche Project in 1912. 



IRRIGATED ROTATIONS.' 



During the spring of 1912 a series of 32 rotation experiments under 

 irrigation was commenced. This series requires 86 plats of one- 

 fourth of an aero each and includes the following crops: Alfalfa, 

 sugar beets, clover, flax, oats, wheat, barley, corn, and potatoes 

 (Fig. 2). 



Swedish Select oats, Minnesota No. 169 wheat, Manchuria barley, 

 Northwestern Dent corn, and Rural New Yorker potatoes were 

 used in these experiments in 1912. 



1 These experiments were under the immediate supervision of Mr. N. L. Mattice. 

 [Cir. 119] 



