WORK OF THE UMATILLA EXPERIMENT FARM IN 1912. 



29 



Prices are usually good, however, and the output might well be increased. For early 

 production the Early Ohio and Irish Cobbler are the best varieties so far determined. 

 Sommers' Extra-Early, which had been grown but one season, promises to have 

 superior value. 



Eggplant. — Eggplant is a promising crop, as it produces heavy yields of fruit of 

 excellent quality. Since the jjlants are slow to matvu^e, they need to be started in a 

 hotbed. The New York Improved and Black Beauty varieties are preferable. 

 Markets are not yet established for large quantities of eggplant, but from its increasing 

 popularity there appears to be a good future for it. 



Onions. — The moist, subirrigated lands, of which there is a rather large area on the 

 project, are adapted to the production of onions. Early spring seeding is necessary 

 to insure a good stand and to get the crop well grown before warm weather comes on. 

 The Prizetaker yields large crops of medium-sized onions, which are preferred by 

 dealers. The Yellow Globe Danvers is a good variety, but not so productive as the 

 Prizetaker. Onions should be sold in carload lots, so as to diminish the cost of 



marketing. 



SOIL LMPROVEMENT. 



The virgin soils on the Umatilla project are very deficient in 

 nitrogen and humus. The mineral plant foods are more abundant. 

 The quantities of nitrogen, potash, phosphoric acid, and lime found 

 in two samples, one of sandy soil and one of silt loam, are stated m 

 Table VI. 



Table VI. — Analyses of samples of soil on the Umatilla project. 



Constituent. 



Nitrogen per cent. 



Acid-soluble potash do. . . 



Acid-soluble phosphoric acid do — 



Acid-soluble lime do — 



Sandy soil. 



Surface. 



0. 0203 

 .2680 

 .2400 



1. 1900 



Subsoil. 



0.0017 

 . 3600 

 .2&50 

 .8600 



Silt loam, 

 surface. 



0.03 

 .39 

 .19 

 .33 



To determine the quickest and most economical method of in- 

 creasuig the productivity of these soils the follomng experiments 

 have been in progress smce 1910: 



Experiment No. 1 consists of five plats, all planted to apple trees. Plat No. 1 has 

 a winter cover crop of vetch and one garden crop (fig. 3) grown on it each year. Plat 

 No. 2 has a winter cover crop of vetch and some leguminous summer crop (fig. 4) grown 

 on it and incorporated in the soil each year. Plat No. 3 has rye grown on it each 

 winter and is given an occasional light application of manure. Plat No. 4 has alfalfa 

 in the spaces and strips of cultivated land along the tree rows. Plat No. 5 has a solid 

 stand of alfalfa among the trees. 



Experiment No. 2 consists of three tests, which are designed to show, if possible, 

 whether it is best to start an orchard in the virgin soil with no special fertilizer, to 

 start it in this way and enrich the soil with frequent applications of manure and 

 commercial fertilizers, or to start trees on 2-year-old alfalfa sod. Two and one- 

 quarter acres of land are being used for' this experiment and four varieties of peach 

 trees are planted in rows running across the plats. 



Experiment No. 3 is designed to determine what changes can be brought about in 

 the soil by the repeated use oi barnyard manure and commercial fertilizers. Differ- 

 ent crops arc grown on the entire area each year. Some of these are leguminous crops, " 

 LCii-. 129] 



