Through the years cattle raising and dairy farming have 

 continued to be an important part of the agriculture in the 

 area between Westley and Gustine. The area around Byron and 

 Westley, once very popular for grain farming, has tended 

 toward truck crops and orchards in the last decade. Cattle 

 raising was also popular in the Gustine-Mendota area until 

 about 1920, when irrigation became more extensive. After 

 19^5, cotton, flax, and rice became more important and 

 cattle ranches disappeared. Cotton remains an important 

 crop, but truck crops have increased steadily even at the 

 expense of some cotton acreage. Cotton has been grown exten- 

 sively in the area from Tulare Lake to Gustine, although 

 very little cotton can be found north of the City of Newman 

 where lima beans are grown widely. 



Double-cropping is a common practice in the Gustine-Mendota 

 area. Rice and barley are the most notable combinations; 

 however, several other combinations are found. The practice 

 of allowing a parcel of land to remain fallow over a period 

 of months has declined in this area due to the economic 

 demands that now are placed on the land. 



C urrent Irrigation 



Irrigated agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley has become 

 more prevalent as features of the Central Valley Project and 

 the State Water Project have developed. 



Sources . In the study area, all fields investigated were 

 furnished with canal water imported chiefly from the Delta. 

 The exception was the Tulare Lake area, where water is 

 routinely pumped and recirculated through an elaborate 

 network of canal and levee systems. Water'applied to a 

 given field depends entirely upon the individual management 

 of the farmer, the crop needs, and the quality of water 

 available. The amount of water needed to grow a particular 

 crop (consumptive use) is nearly the same from one end of 

 the Valley to the other. However, crop irrigation require- 

 ments (10) differ from place to place, depending upon the 

 climate in an area and the type, maturity and condition of 

 crops grown. Adverse soil conditions such as coarse texture 

 and alkalinity can greatly affect the development of crops 

 in some cases and thereby affect their water requirement. 



Typ es of Irrigation . In the study area, furrow irrigation 

 Is the method used most often on truck and field crops. 

 Grain and safflower crops are generally irrigated only once 

 during the year, if at all. 



Preirrigation, a method for providing soil moisture in the 

 eairly spring for seed germination, is a common practice 

 throughout the entire area. 



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