THE MON'I'III.V Uri.MI'l'IX. ]7!) 



This is done in order to break \\[) the eapilhirity of the surface soil 

 which gradually becomes established as the soil settles, even though it 

 be dry. One of the most important items connected with the cultiva- 

 tion of irrigated land is that regarding the condition of the soil when 

 cultivated. A soil containing any large proportion of clay can be 

 puddled and put in bad physical condition by working it when too 

 wet. Soils once worked in this condition will frecjuently require from 

 one to two years to get them back to as good a physical condition as 

 existed before this maltreatment. 



One of our greatest troubles in this semiarid region, is due to the 

 formation of an irrigation plow sole. This word is used advisedly, 

 as it really is a combination of two terms, "irrigation hardpan" and 

 ''plow sole." Irrigation and cultivation are two very important fac- 

 tors in the formation of this compact layer of soil. Irrigation in 

 furrows tends to stratify the soil, thus concentrating the finer clay par- 

 ticles in a layer which, when dry, becomes so hard as to be almost imper- 

 vious to water. Under most of our cultivation systems an attempt is 

 made to stir up and distribute these stratified layers of soil under the 

 furrow. Difficulty arises in the fact that the bottom of the furrow is 

 often quite wet when the first cultivation is made after the irrigation. 

 The rest of the soil between the furrows may be in a shape to work, 

 while that in the furrow is so wet as to puddle to an extent such as to 

 make the condition much worse than it would have been without any 

 disturbance at all. Again, many do not plow the soil, and constant 

 cultivation at a relatively uniform depth will tend toward this con- 

 dition even though the soil is not often too wet for cultivation. Con-- 

 sidering the value of land in this part of the State, it is well to study 

 the optimum conditions for cultivation after every irrigation. Tem- 

 perature conditions will cause each cultivation to be somewhat different 

 from the one preceding and no set rule can be given even for a single 

 soil type regarding the time which should elapse between irrigation 

 and cultivation. 



It is becoming common knowledge that working the soil too wet is 

 a bad practice, but few seem to recognise the fact that the same results 

 can be obtained by over working dry soil. In stirring air dry soil, the 

 individual soil particles tend to become separated and a fine dust is 

 formed. This dust, upon being wet by irrigation, forms a puddle 

 very similar to that rasulting from stirring a soil saturated with water. 

 For this reason cultivations after the soil mulch has become dry 

 should be as few as are consistent with the maintenance of a proper 

 moisture content in the soil. 



Along the line of cultivation it may not l)e out of place to briefly 

 discuss this subject from the broader standpoint of methods of soil 

 handling. In brief, there are four common methods of handling soil 

 in this part of the State. The most common method is that which calls 

 for cultivation throughout the entire twelve months of the year. 

 During the winter, cultivations are not as frequent as during the 

 irrigation season, but the land is not permitted to really rest during 

 any period of the year. In this way weeds are nevt^r jiermitted to 

 seed and the land may be kept in a practically clean condition. Little 

 work is required to keep the land in a tidy condition under the trees, 

 and for a time very good results are often obtained. 



