280 Annual Report Agricultural Experiment Station 



residence and other necessary farm buildings ; a well, equipped with 

 a splendid pump and pump house ; two silos of 47 tons capacity- 

 each, one built in 1916, the other in 1918. The farm was well 

 equipped with stock and implements. Tests were being made in 

 growing wheat, barley, oats, and sweet clover. About three acres 

 were in orchard, 3 years old, containing apples, pears, peaches, apri- 

 cots, nectarines, and six varieties of grapes. The culture of tepary 

 beans was found to be, perhaps, the most successful test that has 

 been made on the farm. This crop was planted July, 1916, har- 

 vested October, 1916, and yielded a net profit of $37.89 per acre. 

 Mr. Spaulding, who had been on the farm about three years, m- 

 formed the committee that thus far no experiments in dry-farming, 

 unaided by some irrigation, had proved sufficiently profitable to 

 warrant advising prospective farmers to rely on dry-farming as a 

 means of support ; however, he called attention to the fact that the 

 well on the farm was only 100 feet deep and had been drilled to the 

 third stratum of water. The supply of water was sufficient for 

 domestic purposes and with the rainfall would irrigate ten acres. 



The number of visitors at this farm was limited. This was be- 

 lieved to be due to two facts ; the thinly populated section in which 

 the farm is located and the narrow limits within which experiments 

 have been carried on. 



On both the Yuma Date Orchard and the Sulphur Spring Val- 

 ley Dry-farm failures as well as successes had been met in experi- 

 mental work. This was forcibly illustrated by an immense date 

 pa^m in the Yuma Orchard. The tree was large and laden with 

 fruit, but the quality rendered is of no value. In closing, the com- 

 mittee reported : 



We believe that failures demonstrate facts of as much value as 

 the successful work. The "danger signal" is as necessary as the 

 "sign board" that points to the path of safety ; hence, we consider 

 the work on the experimental farms, under efficient management, 

 of inestimable value and believe the money thus spent by the State 

 is a wise investment. 



PERSONNEL 



The Administration and Stafif of the Experiment Station has 

 suffered numerous changes during the fiscal year. Director R. H. 

 Forbes, after more than twenty years efficient and devoted service 

 as Chemist, Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station, and 

 Dean of the College of Agriculture, has been appointed Research 

 Specialist on leave so that his wide experience and exact knowledge 



