1 903 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



255 



ordinary two-horse riding cultivator is 

 used. The shovels are so made that 

 they pass only slightly beneath the sur- 

 face, cutting off the weeds, but not ex- 

 posing the moist earth to the sun. No 

 poles are used and the plants spread out 

 to form a compact mat on the ground, 

 where they produce blooms and pods 

 until the September harvest time, when 

 they are cut off just below the ground, 

 two rows at a time, by a one-horse power 

 machine, which works as rapidly as the 

 horse can walk. Men follow 7 with forks, 

 pile the beans in small cocks, and leave 

 them to dry about three weeks before 

 threshing. The thresher is the same 

 which is used for grain, with a few slight 

 modifications to avoid the crushing of 

 the beans. Some planters still use the 

 more primitive methods of trampling 

 with horses, or horses hitched to har- 

 rows or to wagons. After the threshing 

 the beans are hauled to the nearest 

 warehouse to await shipment. 



The irrigation of this crop more than 

 doubles the yield, or increases it from 

 about i ,500 pounds of dried beans to the 

 acre to 3,000 pounds. It will be noted 

 that in the foregoing description of 

 methods of cultivation no mention was 

 made of the application of water, and 

 this points to the notable thing in bean 

 irrigation. It is, generally speaking, a 

 misstatement to say that the beans are 

 irrigated, for the truth of the matter is 

 that they are not touched by water from 

 the time of their planting until they are 

 harvested. The irrigation is applied 

 before the crop is planted, and as the 

 soils of the region are exceedingly re- 

 tentive of moisture, this application lasts 

 the deep-rooted bean throughout its 

 period of growth. A crop planted with- 

 out this preliminary irrigation of the 

 ground is only half of what it might be, 

 unless the last rain is exceedingly heavy 

 and finds the ground well prepared for 

 its reception. The planters who do not 





Courtesy Bureau ol Soils, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 

 WINDBREAKS OK EUCALYPTI'S TREES ACROSS THE DELTA J'ORT'lON OK THE VALLEY. 





