MEADOWS AND HAY CROPS. 29 



sown, when this is possible. When once the plants have become estab- 

 lished and a soil cover is obtained the battle appears to be nearly won, 

 for with a very moderate amount of water these soils produce much 

 better crops than the lighter better drained nonalkaline areas. Con- 

 stant care is necessary, however, for the breaking of the soil cover 

 over a small area, due to imperfect seeding- or too great an accumula- 

 tion of salt in the surface layers, soon allows salt grass to get a foot- 

 hold, and this needs no encouragement in such soil to take possession 

 very rapidly. With such a limited supply of water as has been avail- 

 able during the past few years it has evidently been exceedingly dif- 

 ficult to get a crop established. Mr. A. F. Campbell showed some 

 areas in one of his tields where it took live years to establish the crop. 

 It is a common thing here, it is said, to see portions of a field which 

 raise line crops having a very noticeable accumulation of salt on the 

 surface in the earl}' spring. This disappears with the establishment 

 of a soil cover. Indeed, several such areas were pointed out, and in 

 one case unmistakable crusts of salt forming 1 after the cuttinc of the 

 second crop were seen. Of course the margin between success and 

 failure under such conditions is very narrow, but the successful cul 

 ture of alfalfa on such lands points to this legume as the leading and 

 most promising alkali-resisting forage crop. 



The greater part of the alfalfa in the valley is raised for sale, although 

 there are many large holders who feed all and more than they can pro- 

 duce themselves. In August, when this region was visited, the crop 

 was selling at $5 per ton in the stack, or $7.^0 per ton baled, f. o. b. 

 at Lovelock. Information from several sources indicates an average 

 yield of -I tons per acre, and the cost of handling it is estimated at 

 about $6 per acre. This leaves a clear profit of about $14 per acre. 

 It is not surprising under the circumstances that alfalfa land com- 

 mands high prices, nor is it strange that more land is brought under 

 cultivation than the water- supply justifies. 



TIMOTHY AND REDTOP. 



The methods of handling timothy and redtop, especially along the 

 upper courses of streams and narrow bottoms, and the reasons for the 

 same, are of interest. A very large proportion of these two crops, 

 except in the Ellensburg region, in Washington, along our line of 

 travel from Wenatchee to the British border, in the Blue Mountains, 

 along the Blitzen River, and in the Warner Mountains of California, 

 is raised on uncultivated land. The small amount of labor involved 

 doubtless accounts for this method of handling the crops, but in many 

 localities it is rendered necessary by the difficulty of getting on the 

 land in the mountain regions until very late in the spring, because of 

 the excessively moist condition of the soil. Again, in many situations 

 where magnificent crops of timothy and redtop are raised it is rather 



