IRRIGATION AND SUBSOILING. 



17 



did quite well because it will always do 

 well on well drained soils, even if pretty 

 poor, for to some extent the theory that it 

 makes its own fertilizer seems true. But the 

 food the trees demanded was leached away 

 by the constant run of water, making trees 

 and fruit both small although the trees 

 were lightly loaded; while the trees, sick- 

 ened by having the roots all the time too 

 wet in spite of the drainage, could not pro- 

 duce good fruit even on rich soil. 



As I remarked in the beginning of this 

 work, bad irrigation is generally far ahead 

 of no irrigation, even in those countries 

 where so much can be raised on the rain- 

 fall as to make people feel insulted when 

 you advise them to irrigate. Yet nothing 



is more foolish than to follow the methods 

 of certain sections simply because they are 

 succeeding. You may learn much in the 

 San Joaquin valley about flooding espe- 

 cially on the large scale. But when you 

 have seen it all, spend a few days among 

 the small farmers of Orange county if you 

 want to learn how to make a good living 

 and some money over, out of a small piece 

 of land with, the smallest amount of dis- 

 comfort, and do, it all by flooding. Yet 

 there you can learn nothing much about 

 furrow work for their land is generally too 

 open for it and they should not attempt it. 

 To see that, go to San Bernardino and 

 Riverside counties, and the east half of 

 Los Angeles county. 



IRRIGATION AND SUBSOILING. 



PRACTICAL METHODS IN VOGUE IN MONTANA. 

 BY S. M. EMERY, of BOZEMAN.* 



THE conservation of moisture in the 

 semi- arid States, is quite as important 

 a problem as is that of securing the benefits 

 of irrigation in States where this has not 

 yet been practiced. 



In the Gallatin valley, the acknowledged 

 peer of all agricultural development in 

 Montana, if not, indeed, of all sections of 

 the mountain States, land is cheap and 

 abundant, and the practice of summer fal- 

 lowing is quite universally practiced. 



There are large areas of bench lands 

 above the water course level, on which 

 crops are grown uniformly successfully by 

 summer fallowing each alternate season, 

 winter grains being the common crop. In 

 the valley proper it is the general custom 

 to summer fallow every third year, alter- 

 nating the two seasons to oats and barley, 

 or wheat and barley, and occasionally to 

 wheat and oats. 



By this practice they are able to uni- 

 formly grow crops double and treble those 

 in States where water is not used. 



There are well-grounded objections to 

 this style of farming, especially where 

 irrigation can be practiced. It is an ex- 

 pensive way to farm; the land usually be- 

 comes weed- sown, and scientists teach that 

 it is injurious to soil to turn it up to the 

 summer storms and sunshine unprotected 

 by verdure, and taxes and, too often, in- 

 terest are being assessed, whether the land 

 *Director of the Experiment Station. 



is producing or not. By personal inquiry 

 it was learned that the average of fallowed 

 land in the Gallatin valley in 1895 was 

 more than 100 acres per farm. This 

 affects quite seriously the question of ad- 

 ditional water, when the time comes, as it 

 most certainly will, for yearly cropping of 

 all Montana farm lands. Had the entire 

 area of land under plow in this valley been 

 sown to grain crops in 1895, there would 

 have been many crops injured from lack of 

 sufficient moisture. 



DIVERSIFIED CROPS. 



The Experiment Station Farm is being 

 cropped, every foot of it, each year, and 

 though there is a water right of 100 min- 

 ers' inches to 185 acres, it is ample for the 

 farm requirements. Crops are diversified 

 alfalfa, clover, field peas, potatoes, 

 mangels, carrots are favored crops. In 

 grains wheat, oats, barley, flax and rye 

 are leaders. By thus diversifying, the use 

 of water may be protracted at each end of 

 the grain irrigating season, the grasses 

 and clovers being watered weeks ahead of 

 the grain crops; again, fall irrigation has 

 been practcied with the intent to store 

 moisture against the day of need. 



The writer has been strongly impressed 

 with the importance of deep culture, and 

 is now reaping a mis-benefit therefrom in 

 a phenomenal crop of wild sunflowers on 



