40 SECOND THOUSAND QUESTIONS IN AGRICULTURE 



cut with a mower but it would not take much of a frost to knock it 

 out. Oats and rye make good hay quickly if you have moisture. You 

 can put in rye for green feeding during the winter. It will grow with 

 less heat than most wild forage plants. 



Wheat in Upper San Joaquin. 



What -variety of wheat would you plant on heavy red soil eight feet 

 to water? It has been sheep-pastured two years. Should it be summer 

 fallowed? Is wheat successfully treated for smut and rust? If so, how? 



White Sonora wheat constitutes something like three-quarters of the 

 wheat crop of your district, and has demonstrated particular adaptation 

 to your conditions. Do not undertake treatment for rust for treatment 

 will not effect anything if rusting conditions prevail in the spring. These 

 are not usually to be expected in your district, therefore, Sonora, though 

 liable to rust, is, 'safe in your region. The seed should be dipped, to kill 

 smut spores, in a solution of bluestone, one pound to four gallons of 

 water. Be sure the seed is thoroughly wetted, and then dry as quickly 

 as possible by exposure to the air. We should plow and disk the land 

 in the winter and surface-work it later, if weeds start start during the 

 summer. When weeds start with the early rains, kill them out once 

 or twice to clean the land before sowing the wheat, which should be 

 done in November or December, according as moisture conditions are right 

 for a sure start. 



Emmer for Dry Lands. 



I solved six acres of "Ammor" barley or Hammor barley which 

 name is correct? Also what is it? Nobody knows what it is. It grows 

 finely. I sowed it in February and now it stands thirty inches high, but 

 gives no sign of heads yet. It is soft and thin, like grass. What is it 

 good for for grain or for hay, and what is the grain used for? 



The grain is "Emmer" ; it is not barley but a near-wheat, although it 

 does hold the husk or chaff on the grain like barley. It comes from the 

 north of Europe, where growing conditions are hard, and it stands both 

 frost and drouth better than wheat or barley and it does not rust. Some 

 dry-farmers on uplands in southern California speak well of it, and it 

 may be more widely useful in this State because of its drouth-resistance. 

 It makes good pasturage because the stem is soft when green, as you des- 

 cribe, but it makes rather poor hay because the thin stem gets very hard 

 unless it is cut very early. It is probably poorer for hay than either 

 wheat or barley. The grain is about as valuable for feeding as barley, 

 and can be used in the same way. (See also Part III, Vol. 1.) 



Barley on Salt Marsh. 



Can I soiv barley on marsh land which has considerable salt grass on 

 it, and in winter it lies under the tide water for about one month? 



You can only tell by trying a little patch on it sowing late in the 

 spring. Usually such land has to be leveed, with gates to exclude tide 

 water and let out rain water, which carries the salt with it. 



