Expe;rimkntal Work in Dry-Farming 571 



through Governor R. E. Sloan of the Territory of Arizona. The 

 operation of the farm since has been financed by appropriations from 

 the State Legislature. 



There were no dry-farms in the immediate vicinity, and the 

 production of crops without irrigation was an untried experiment. 



The southeast corner of the Prescott Dry-farm is the highest 

 point on the place, being 5012 feet above sea-level, and the north- 

 west corner, on Granite Creek, is the lowest, with an elevation of 

 4946 feet. The farm is cut diagonally into two nearly equal areas 

 by a wash which originates in hills directly to the east. This wash 

 is dry except in times of heavy storms when often it carries con- 

 siderable water. 



The higher parts of the farm were covered with a native growth 

 of scrub oak. Other areas supported a fair growth of native grasses 

 including white and blue grama, six weeks, bufifalo, and bunch 

 grasses. Approximately sixty acres are under cultivation. Knolls 

 of the farm expose a red, compact loam which, when dry, is very 

 hard and, when wet, very sticky. This soil contains a relatively 

 large amount of fine clay particles. In places, this soil is mixed 

 with coarse gravel. Soil of the grassy flats of intermediate eleva- 

 tion is darker colored and contains a high percentage of very fine 

 sand particles. The bottom land is fertile, dark loam containing 

 liberal amounts of organic matter and lying immediately adjacent 

 to the creek. For mechanical and chemical analyses see Table X to 

 XIII inclusive. 



From its establishment vintil the present time, efforts on the 

 Prescott Dry-farm have been mostly directed towards finding out 

 the best adapted varieties of agricultural crops, the most practicable 

 cultural operations, and a safe and reasonably dependable system of 

 farm management. 



ALFALFA 



Three plots of alfalfa were planted in 1912 (see Table XLII), 

 one of which was w^inter killed, one was destroyed by drought and 

 rodents, and the third grew to a height of three inches before the 

 cold weather of winter. Growth was renewed the following spring 

 but the alfalfa was killed by drought in June, 1913. In 1913, twelve 

 plots of Grimm, Peruvian, Algerian, Arabian, and Provence alfalfa 

 were planted from seed produced by dry-farming in various localities 



