THE WORK OF THE HUNTLEY EXPERIMENT EARM IN 1912.^ 



By Dan Hansen, Farm Superintendent, Office of Western Irrigation Agriculture. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The work being carried on at the Huntley Experiment Farm (fig. 1) 

 is devoted mainly to experiments wath crops under irrigation. These 

 include crop rotation and tillage methods, variety testmg of field 

 crops, and tests of fruit trees, small fruits, and vegetables. 



In addition to the work on irrigated land a tract of 20 acres \jing 

 above the iiTigation canal is being used for a series of experiments in 

 crop rotation and tillage methods under the supervision of the Office 

 of Dry-Land Agriculture, and some additional work wdth field crops 

 has been conducted on other tracts above the ditch. 



CONDITIONS ON THE PROJECT. 



In many respects the season of 1912 was rather unusual. Spring 

 came late, and the cold, wet weather made it difficult to get land into 

 proper condition for seeding. In early July an unusually severe 

 storm, which came in the form of hail on some parts of the project, 

 damaged gro^^•ing crops to some extent, but perhaps the greatest dam- 

 age was done to the first cutting of alfalfa, both in the field and in the 

 stack. The season's rainfall was somewhat above the average. A 

 large proportion of the precipitation came during September and 

 October and interfered seriously with the harvest of beets and other 

 late crops. 



During the year 1912 the farms on the Huntley Project for which 

 water applications had been made comprised a total irrigable area of 

 20,200 acres, included in 505 farms. Of tliis an area of 14,425 acres 



1 Issued Apr. 12, 1913. 



The Huntley Experiment Farm is located on the Huntley (Mont.) Irrigation Project, adjacent to the 

 Osljom town site. It comprises al)out 200 acres of public land withheld from entry by the Department of 

 the Interior at the time of the opening of the project, to be used as an experiment farm. Of the 200 acres, 

 only about SO acres are irrigable, some of the land being occupied by two railroads, the main irrigation 

 canal, and a large waste ditch, and part of it lying above the canal. In addition to the land mentioned, a 

 tract of 40 acres of the heavy land near the town of Worden is used for experiments in reclaiming alkaline 

 soils. The work of the farm is inider the supervision of the OflBce of Western Irrigation Agriculture, 

 Bureau of Plant Industry. Other ofTices in the Bureau of Plant Industry and the Montana Agricultural 

 Experiment Station are cooperating in the investigational work. 



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