282 IRRIGATION PRACTICE 



The chief pastures of the irrigated region are those that 

 are irrigated throughout the season; and these pastures 

 are the finest known to agriculture. They may be kept 

 green and luxuriant throughout the season, and, there- 

 fore, will support many times the head of live-stock pos- 

 sible on unirrigated pastures of humid regions. As live- 

 stock husbandry develops under irrigation, pastures will 

 rapidly increase. 



There is as yet no unity in the practice of selecting 

 mixtures of grasses for irrigated pastures. All the stand- 

 ard pasture grasses are used in a variety of combinations 

 under irrigation. Thus, in various combinations accord- 

 ing to soil, climate and individual views, the following 

 are used on the irrigated pastures of the West: Kentucky 

 blue-grass, perennial rye-grass, meadow fescue, red clover, 

 red-top, orchard-grass, white clover, alfalfa, meadow oat- 

 grass, brome-grass, Rhode Island bent, timothy, alsike, 

 and many of the native grasses, which, as they become 

 better known, will become important factors in the 

 reclamation of the West. The proper mixture, culture 

 and irrigation of these plants will give a constant, free, 

 luxuriant pasturage that should bring dairying and 

 related branches of live-stock husbandry to their highest 

 possible development. 



All pastures should receive fairly heavy irrigations in 

 the spring, and if they are used throughout the season 

 should be irrigated during the whole summer. Pastures 

 that are well established on deep soils, should not be irri- 

 gated, after the irrigation season begins, oftener than every 

 two weeks, and then to a depth of 3 to 4 inches. If the pas- 

 tures are on gravelly or shallow lands, water must be 

 applied perhaps as often as once a week, but in such cases 

 less water should be applied at each irrigation. 



