SUGGESTIONS TO SETTLERS IN COLUMBIA RIVER VALLEY. 13 



When it is not possible to got alfalfa or clovor sown in the early 

 fall, rye may be sown alone during October. If the land is irrigated 

 before the rye is sown it should make a good growth before winter. 

 With the land well occupied by rye, alfalfa may be sown in the early 

 spring just as soon as water is available for irrigating. After sowing 

 the alfalfa in the rye with a graui drill, the irrigating furrows are 

 marked off and the land irrigated immediately. 



Where the soil is heavier and there is little danger of blowinir. it is 

 best to use oats or wheat for the nurse crop instead of rye; because 

 they make better hay than does rye. But where the soil is liable to 

 drift, rye gives the best satisfaction, because it is hardier and will 

 stand the cutting eftect of the drifting sand better than any other of 

 our cereal crops. 



Where there is no danger of the soil drifting, greater returns are 

 obtained the first year by sowing alfalfa alone. Nurse crops are 

 recommendetl only where it is dillicult to start clover or alfalfa without 

 protection. Many prefer clover to alfalfa where the crop is to occupy 

 the land but a year or two. Where such preferences prevail clover 

 may be started by precisely the same methods used in seeding alfalfa. 



When a nurse crop is sown with clover or alfalfa it is usually cut 

 with a mower just after the grain has jointed or headed out. That 

 which is cut may be used for hay or left on the ground to serve as 

 a mulch, as necessity may demand. The sickle bar of the mower 

 should be set to run high, in order to cut off as little as possible of the 

 alfalfa or clover. 



ALFALFA AND DAIRYING. 



Since most of the settlers in the irrigated districts alono- the 

 Columbia River have limited means, they wish to know how the quick- 

 est and safest returns may be secured. We have asked this question 

 of a great many who have had experience in the matter, and the 

 answer is almost invariably "Alfalfa and dairying." There are 

 several reasons why dairying and the production of alfalfa hay 

 should have a prominent place in the agricultural development of 

 the region. 



Generally speaking, the soil is very deficient in humus (decaying 

 vegetable matter) and nitrogen." Before orcharding and gardening 

 can become highly successful this condition must be corrected. No 

 other way has yet been developed by which this can be done so suc- 

 cessfully as by growing alfalfa and feeding it to good dairy cows. 

 When a good stand of alfalfa is once established its roots penetrate 

 far into the subsoil. When the alfalfa is plowed up and the roots 

 decay, humus that is rich in nitrogen is thoroughly distributed in 



«See Bulletin 85, Washington Agricultural Experiment Station, entitled "Washing- 

 ton Soil.><.'" 

 [Clr. GO] 



