22 Bulletin' 85 



Table II Carloads of Hay Forwarded ix 1916-1917 



Station Carload, 1916 



Carload, 1917 

 I (To Octohcr) 



Peoria I 661 | 597 



Glendale I 475 1 • 503 



Phoenix 1 457 | 632 



Tempe I 262 | 290 



Mesa and Gilbert I 1781 I 1877 



Chandler - I 563 1 565 



Total I 4199 | 4464 



It will be noted that there is a heavy movement of hay from cer- 

 tain sections of the Valley. Yields vary with soil and cultural condi- 

 tions, but average 5 tons per acre. Little or no attempt has been made 

 to grade alfalfa hay. The careless producer secures nearly as good 

 prices as the farmer who has gone to some trouble to put up a superior 

 product. Johnson grass is a troublesome pest in some sections of the 

 Valley and where it has taken hold it constitutes the chief foreign 

 element in the hay. Weed seeds carried by the wind and irrigation 

 water have caused the hay in certain fields to be of inferior grade. 

 Climatic conditions are such that hay of an excellent color can be put 

 up if care is exercised. 



Large quantities are shipped to the mining centers in Arizona and 

 New Mexico. Jerome, Globe, Douglas, Bisbee, Nogales, Naco, Fort 

 Huachuca and Prescott, in Arizona, and Hachita, Deming, Lordsburg 

 and Gallup, in New Mexico, use large quantities of Salt River Valley 

 hay. Much of the hay billed to Naco, Douglas and Nogales finds its 

 way into the mining districts of Northern Mexico. During the past 

 two years there has also been a considerable movement of hay from 

 Valley points to El Paso for diversion to points across the border into 

 Mexico or to smaller towns in Western Texas. In 19 17, owing to the 

 drought which prevailed in Western Texas, hay from the Salt River 

 Valley was shipped as far East as Houston and San Antonio. As a 

 matter of fact, Western Texas is usually an excellent market for con- 

 siderable quantities of alfalfa hay from the Salt River Valley and other 

 irrigated valleys in the West. 



Hay prices to producers have varied greatly in past years. Data 

 compiled by the United States Reclamation Service indicates that prices 

 have ranged as low as $6 per ton at the farm. The average price 

 paid the farmer for hay in 1916 ranged from $12 to $15 per ton. 

 Prior to the first cutting in 1917, some growers were contracting with 

 buyers for hay delivery at about $12 per ton. With an extraordinary 

 demand becoming manifest early in the season, the price rose rapidly, 



