THE DIVERSIFIED FARM. 



21 In diversified farming- by irrigation lies the salvation of agriculture. d 



THE AGE wants to brighten the pages of its Diversified Farm department and with 

 this object in view it requests its readers everywhere to send in photographs and pic- 

 tures of fields, orchards and farm homes; prize-taking horses, cattle, sheep or hogs, 

 Also sketches or plans of convenient and commodious barns, hen houses, earn cribs, 

 etc. Sketches of labor-saving devices, such as ditch cleaners and watering troughs. 

 A good illustration of a windmill irrigation plant is always interesting. Will you help 

 us improve the appearance of THE AGE? 



SOME WESTERN GRASSES. 

 The native grasses of the west are val- 

 uable forage plants, sustaining great herds 

 of horses, cattle and sheep, throughout the 

 dry summers and cold winters, and mak- 

 ing good growth upon the most arid lands. 

 Many short tuft grasses appear with the 

 eai'ly spring rains, or immediately after 

 the snow disappears from the mountain 

 forests, and bv July are perfectly dry. 

 Other more hardy varieties start with the 

 spring rains and continue grooving, as the 

 summer showers supply the necessary mois- 

 ture, until fall, when they seem to take a 

 new lease on life and get their full growth 

 :and mature seeds. The Buffalo grass, 

 prairie June grass, sheep fescue, blue 

 grass and the regular, never-failing bunch 

 grass are among the list of several hun- 

 dred distinct species especially useful on 

 mountain ranges and upland mesas. 

 These grasses supply summer range on 

 .the mountain slopes and summits, and 

 winter feed in the lower valleys, for herds 

 that are annually shipped direct to the 

 eastern markets without any additional 

 feeding. 



In some sections of the Northwest the 

 -warm Chinook winds carry away the snow 

 a few hours after it falls, thereby enabling 

 the horses, cattle and sheep to feed upon 

 the succulent grasses, without other food 

 or shelter, and come out in the spring fat 

 and sleek. When the Mormons settled 

 some of the coldest valleys of Utah, they 

 had no feed for their animals, and were 

 compelled to shovel away the snow, some- 

 times three feet in depth, to give the cattle 



and horses the necessary native food. In 

 some instances the horns of cattle were 

 sharpened by filing in order to help them 

 in cutting through the crust of frozen 

 snow to the brown grass. Indians under- 

 stand the nutritive value of the several 

 grasses and native plants and are continu- 

 ally moving about to find the particular 

 feed adapted to each season. They es- 

 teem the white sage, greaswood, Montana 

 pea and other similar arid bushes and 

 plants as most valuable forage, even bet- 

 ter than grasses for sheep ranges. 



The wild hay, of which many thousand 

 tons are harvested every season through- 

 out the western states, possesses feeding 

 virtues not found in the cultivated clovers, 

 alfalfa or timothy. Farmers frequently 

 plow their wild meadows to increase the 

 yield and make new sod or a better plan 

 for irrigation. The grasses usually found 

 in these meadows, or bottoms, are wheat 

 grass, blue stem, rushes, red top, foxtail, 

 brome grass and many others suitable to 

 excessive irrigation. After irrigating the 

 cultivated area in the uplands or higher 

 fields, the surplus water of spring and 

 summer goes upon the meadow and soaks 

 into the marshy peat, forming great bogs 

 and making luxurious growth of the mix- 

 ture, which is cut for hay. The more 

 water applied during the spring and early 

 summer the greater yield of hay in July 

 and August. In most valleys the under- 

 flow or surplus of surface irrigation in the 

 uplands, will flood the meadows about 

 September, hence hay must be made while 

 the sun shines on dry land. 



