Arizona Agricultural Expe;riment Station 



2-13 



winter crops of barley, wheat and oats; (3) winter fallow with in- 

 tensively cultivated summer crops of Egyptian cotton and Indian corn ; 

 and (4) pasturing of ditches and waste ground by means of sheep. In 

 this latter connection the Arizona Eastern right-of-way adjoining the 

 farm, hitherto a jungle of Johnson grass, has been leased and already 

 brought under control by means of sheep. 



Fig- 2 The Experiment Station Farm near Mesa, September 3, 1915, showing 

 dense growth of Johnson grass which has since been brought under control. 



According to experience gained, the first method entails expense 

 with no income, and the grass is as yet far from exterminated. In (2) 

 the expense of maintaining summer fallow is offset and a clear profit 

 may be gained from the crop of winter grain. In (3) Egyptian cotton 

 has this year yielded a handsome profit in spite of the large amount of 

 hoeing that was done in order to keep the crop entirely free from grass, 

 while the corn just about offset the expense of intensive summer culti- 

 vation. In the case of sheep, not only were ditches kept clean with a 

 minimum of expense, but the railroad right-of-way, composed of ir- 

 regular ground which could not have been handled in any other way, 

 was brought under control not only at a large saving, but with a small 

 profit from the operation. At present it appears that a combination of 

 sheep and intensive cultivation will take care of the Johnson grass 

 problem in southern Arizona much more profitably than by the old 

 expensive method of continuous dry fallow. 



Experimental acres of alfalfa, lettuce, and various winter growing 



