G90 



THE IKRIGATION AGE. 



soil, loosening compacted soils and adding vegetable mat- 

 ter through their own decay when the soil is used for 

 other crops. In growing several crops in a season, which 

 are harvested as hay, there is a considerable deposit on 

 the surface of broken off leaves, small stems, and more 

 especially of stubble, which dies each time from the place 

 cut by the mower to the crown of the plant. These 

 things add much vegetable matter to the surface of the soil. 

 Our studies have convinced us that growing alfalfa on 

 any soil from three to five years adds from thirty to forty 

 dollars worth of available fertilizer when it is plowed up 

 for the production of other crops. By using alfalfa in 

 rotation the raising of intensive crops, like potatoes and 

 sugar beets, is made possible, and rotation with alfalfa in 

 parts of the West has increased the average wheat yields 

 from less than twenty bushels per acre to approximately 

 fifty bushels per acre. Every farmer who can grow alfalfa, 

 whether or not he may use the hay for stock feed, should 

 consider this plant the foundation of his rotations in soil 

 culture. 



When used as a fertilizer many farmers simply leave 

 the alfalfa two years. The alfalfa products themselves are 

 so valuable that in most places when a good stand is se- 

 cured it will pay to let it occupy the ground from three 

 years to seven or eight years, or even much longer 

 periods. 



PASTURING ALFALFA. 



There is objection to the use of alfalfa as pasture for 

 three important reasons. First, sheep or cattle pastured 

 on alfalfa are very apt to bloat. The way pasturing is 

 usually done there is a loss of animals, which may make 

 it unprofitable. Sometimes alfalfa hay will cause bloat 

 when overfed to sheep and cattle. The cured hay at high 

 altitudes where the stems are fine and there is a large 

 percentage of leaves is more apt to cause bloat. Un- 

 doubtedly the best method of feeding green alfalfa is by 

 soiling, in which the alfalfa is cut and carried to the ani- 

 mals each day. 



The second reason for not pasturing alfalfa is that it 

 injures the plants. Tramping and packing the ground by 

 stock, more especially in regions where alfalfa is hard to 

 grow, may cause more damage than profit from the pas- 

 ture. This can be largely obviated by cultivation. 



The third reason for not pasturing alfalfa is that it 

 does much to foster and spread alfalfa diseases. One of 

 the best remedies for our more serious alfalfa diseases is 

 discing and aerating the soil. When soils have beer com- 

 pacted by heavy tramping, those bacteria and fungi which 

 produce disease find conditions most favorable for their 

 development and do the most serious damage. 



Notwithstanding these objections, much profitable 

 pasturing of alfalfa is done. Many large ranch and range 

 men leave the last crop to be fed off by their stock in the 

 fall and early winter. By proper management thero need 

 be little or no loss from bloat. Sometimes the alfalfa is 

 allowed to become more or less cured and sheep or cattle 

 are never turned on when hungry so they will gorge 

 themselves. They should be well filled with other rough- 

 age, and after turning them in the alfalfa fields they are 

 left there continuously. Moving them off and on to the 

 alfalfa will cause serious trouble. Horses, swine and 

 poultry may be pastured on green alfalfa at any time. 



. VALUE OF DIFFERENT CUTTINGS. 



The first crop of alfalfa hay is always prized as the 

 most nutritious and valuable. It contains less moisture, 

 becomes better matured and undoubtedly makes the be?t 

 hay for horses. Some Colorado lamb feeders say the best 

 cutting for lambs is the first, the next best is the third 

 cutting, and the second cutting is poorest of all. The 

 third cutting is most succulent and the best for cows 

 giving milk. 



ALFALFA PRODUCTS. 



Recently the alfalfa meal industry has become a large 

 and important one. Alfalfa is so rich in food elements 

 that it practically becomes a concentrate when reduced 

 to the condition of fine meal. This alfalfa meal is mixed 

 with other things to make complete rations. It is mixed 

 with molasses from the beet sugar factories, and some- 

 times called "Alfalmo." Sugar beet molasses is a carbo- 

 hydrate which widens the ration and gives excellent re- 

 sults. The finer alfalfa meal or flour is put up in boxes 



and sold for poultry breakfast food. Alfalfa meal is 

 mixed with seeds and grains for poultry, with other grains 

 for balanced rations for hogs; still others for horses and 

 for cows. It is probable that the hay itself will give al- 

 most as good results for cows or other animals which 

 need roughage for stomach distention, although it is 

 claimed that alfalfa meal does not pack in the stomach. 

 Some recent experiments in Pennsylvania show that if 

 bran can be obtained for $20 per ton and alfalfa costs 

 $"2 per ton, it is probably more economical to feed bran. 

 Alfalfa meal has high value for dairy cows, and it is 

 economical if the cost of the meal is not excessive. 



WATER FOR TIETON UNIT OF YAKIMA IRRIGA- 

 TION PROJECT TO BE FURNISHED IN 1911. 



The Secretary of the Interior has issued a public 

 notice to the effect that water will be furnished from the 

 Tieton Unit of the Yakima irrigation project, Washing- 

 ton, under the provisions of the Reclamation Act, in the 

 irrigation season of 1911. This water will be furnished 

 for the irrigable lands in private ownership, including 

 State and railroad lands, and also lands heretofore entered 

 (except tracts rendered vacant by the conformation of any 

 prior entries to the farm units) shown on the farm unit 

 plats of 



Township' 13 North. Range -17 East 



13 " " 18 " 



14 " " 16 " 

 14 " " 17 " 

 14 " " 18 



15 



16 

 Willamette Meridian. 



The building charge is $93 per acre of irrigable land, 

 payable in not more than ten instalments, each payment 

 not less than $9.30 or some multiple thereof per acre. Full 

 payment may be made at any time of any balance of the 

 building charge remaining due after certification by the 

 Commissioner of the General Land Office that full com- 

 pliance has been shown with the requirements of the law 

 as to residence, cultivation, and reclamation. 



The operation and maintenance charge for the irri- 

 gation season of 1911, and annually thereafter until fur- 

 ther notice, is $1.50 per acre of irrigable land, whether 

 water is used thereon or not. The first instalment of the 

 building charge is due and payable April 1, 1911, and the 

 instalment for the year 1912 and subsequent years will be 

 due on April 1 of each year until fully paid. Water right 

 applications filed in 1912 and subsequent years must be 

 accompanied by payment of all instalments for building, 

 operation and maintenance which have become due and 

 remain unpaid for prior years. The regulation is made 

 that no water will be furnished in any year until all opera- 

 tion and maintenance charges levied for that year and for 

 prior years shall have been paid in full. It will not be 

 possible, therefore, for irrigators to obtain a water supply 

 for the season of 1911 for any lands until that portion of 

 the instalment for operation and maintenance due on 

 April 1, 1911, has been paid. All charges are payable at 

 the local land office, North Yakima. Washington. Failure 

 to make any two payments of instalments of charges 

 when due will render the water right application subject 

 to cancelation, with forfeiture of all rights thereunder 

 as well as of any moneys paid thereon. 



Send $1.00 for The Irrigation Age.one year and 

 the Primer of Irrigation, a 260-page finely illustrated 

 work for new beginners in irrigation. 



