THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



217 



bad been prepared by a small boy with the 

 aid of a balky mule, and the water run by 

 a fellow that let nature run its course. 

 This class of people wonder why their 

 trees look dry and curled and the fruit so 

 small and pinched. 



This country is becoming thickly settled, 

 and a very large amount of water will be 

 needed to govern it. My opinion is, if we 

 want to prosper, development must con- 

 tinue, and we must use the water in a 

 manner that the tree will feel every drop, 

 and cultivate and pulverize the soil in such 

 a way that the moisture will be the longest 

 retained. 



C. T. HARRIS. 



Read before the Pomological Society at 

 Covina, Cal. 



TREATING OF GREEN-MANURING 

 PLANTS FOR ORCHARDS. 



During the past year the Arizona 

 Experiment station has been testing 

 plants that gave promise of being useful 

 for plowing under to improve the soil. 

 Special attention has been given to plants 

 suitable for growth in orchards. The two 

 best plants tested were Melliotus Indica 

 and alfalfa. The former is the plant com- 

 monly called "sour clover" in Arizona. It 

 belongs to the same class as white sweet 

 clover (Melliotus Alba), the flowers being 

 yellow instead of white. It is an annual, 

 while the clover is a biennial. 



Yellow sweet clover (sour clover) grows 

 naturally throughout the soutli-west, being 

 commonly considered a weed. In southern 

 Arizona it is quite common in grain fields, 

 this being the source of the seed used for 

 sowing in orchards. Seed can be obtained 

 where grain has been threshed, or at grist 

 and flouring milte, the cost being slight. 



The seed will germinate only during the 

 cool weather, from September to April. 

 The earlier it is sown in the fall the more 

 growth will "be secured for turning under 

 in the spring. If sowed the latter part of 

 September or early in October it will ordi- 

 narily attain a height of three to six inches 

 before being checked by the cold weather 

 of December and January. It may be 



sown as late as December, but will not give 

 as heavy a yield as if sown earlier. About 

 fifty pounds of seed should be sown per 

 acre. 



The method of seeding found to be the 

 best is to level the ground well, sow broad- 

 cast, furrow with a three-shovel furrower, 

 roll and irrigate by running the water in 

 furrows, which should be two or three feet 

 apart. Irrigating it frequently during the 

 winter will not only increase the yield of 

 manuring matter, but benefit the orchard 

 as well. 



It should be plowed under when begin- 

 ning to blossom, which ordinarily will be 

 early in April. At this stage the yield 

 proved to be fifteen to eighteen tons of 

 green matter, or three to four tons of dry 

 matter per acre last April. If permitted 

 to grow longer it becemes more woody, 

 does not turn under so well and decays 

 less rapidly. By attaching a chain to the 

 plow all the growth can be turned under. 

 The alfalfa may be sown earlier than 

 the clover, as the seed will germinate dur- 

 ing warmer weather. It does best if sown 

 in the same manner as described for the 

 clover. As it does not grow as rapidly 

 during the winter, it will usually not be 

 ready to plow under as early. Thirty 

 pounds of seed per acre will be sufficient. 

 Peas sown very thickly, (125 to 200 Ibs. 

 per acre) during fall or winter will give a 

 small yield of vines and in addition fur- 

 nish a supply of green peas. The best var- 

 ieties for this purpose were found to be 

 Yorkshire Hero and Champion of England. 

 White clover makes a luxuriant summer 

 growth, but grows but little in winter. 

 Moreover, it is no better than alfalfa as a 

 summer grower. 



The benefits from winter-grown green- 

 manuring crops are four-fold, at least. In 

 the first place, the soil is thus covered 

 during a portion of the year and the ex- 

 haustion of decayed vegetation by the heat 

 of the sun retarded. In the second place, 

 plant food that would otherwise be washed 

 away by rains and irrigation is appropri- 

 ated by growing plants and thus saved fof 

 the tree. One of the most important bene- 



