THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



783 



ARID AGRICULTURE 



BY 

 B. C. BUFFUM, M. S. 



Manager of the Wyoming Plant and Seed Breeding Company, 

 Worland. Former Professor of Agriculture in the Uni- 

 versity of Wyoming and the Colorado Agricultural 

 College, and Director of the Wyoming 

 Agricultural Experiment 

 Station. 



Grains. 



Barley is a valuable and important crop for the arid 

 region. Our bright sunshine and dry climate gives all our 

 grains superior whiteness and clean appearance. Barley 

 should be more generally raised in 

 the West as an export grain crop. 

 In Europe white brewing barley is 

 used for making the pale ales and 

 in our breweries in this country 

 much of the Eastern barley must be 

 bleached before it is suitable for the 

 manufacture of beer. Barley pro- 

 duces heavier yields than wheat and 

 usually sells for better prices. It is 

 a short season crop and one which 

 is of great value for stock-feeding 

 purposes. The farmer in consider- 

 ing barley has unpleasant thoughts 

 because barley beards are trouble- 

 some to man and beast. Perhaps barley has more distinct 

 types of grain and growth than any other cereal. There is 

 winter barley and spring barley; there are bearded brewing 

 barleys with two-rows, four-rows and six-rows. There are 

 bearded six-row barleys which are hulless. There are beard- 

 less hulless barley and beardless two-row and six-row barleys 

 which retain their hull. The color of brewing barley is white, 

 blue and black, and the color of hulless barleys ranges from 

 purple through the blues and greens to cream white. 



This barley has not been very largely used in the arid 

 region. It is one of the most valuable, however, for drouth 

 icsistance and for, raising at our highest altitudes where 

 farming is practiced. This barley produces a large head, a 

 long, strong beard nnd large plump grain and a compara- 

 tively soft straw. It must be threshed and the grain is valu- 

 able for feed. 



There are several bearded hulless barleys which are 

 valuable grain. The "principal one is the blue or purple 

 hulless. This barley is very heavy and at St. Louis a sam- 

 ple from Wyoming weighted sixty-seven pounds per bushel, 

 being the heaviest grain on exhibition from any part of the 

 world. The most generally grown hulless barley is the 

 "Bald" or "Beardless barley." This is a six-row grain 

 with the beards aborted into a curl or three-cornered scale 

 on the top of the grain. The principal objection to this 

 barley is that the heads are carried on very weak straw, 

 and if allowed to get too ripe there is considerable loss 

 by their breaking off in the field or in handling. Another ob- 

 jection to all of the hulless barleys is their hardness. The 

 grains are so compact and hard that it is almost impossible 

 for animals, even with good chewing teeth, to grind them, 

 and to feed successfully they must be either cooked, soaked 

 or ground. 



The best brewing barleys we have grown at high alti- 

 tudes and in the northern district of irrigated America are 

 the two-row types, "Goldthorpe," "Chevalier" and "Hanna." 

 One of the six-row types is "Mansury." There are many 

 others now being made by breeding and selection, .especially 

 some valuable new sorts from Sweden, but they are not on 

 the market and available so the farmer can get the seed. 



There are two forms of beardless brewing barley. One 

 is a small two-row barley net yet in general cultivation and 

 the value of which has not been determined. The other 

 is a larger six-row barley which, under good conditions, 

 produces excellent growth of straw and large, well-filled 

 heads. This is one of the most important feed grains the 

 western farmer can produce, whether he dry farms or irri- 

 gates his land. The straw is soft, sweet and nutritious. The 

 grain can be cut in the dough stage and fed to stock in 

 the bundle without threshing. There are no beards, and 



stcck fed a ration of this barley in the straw, and al- 

 falfa, seem to thrive and fatten remarkably well. The ob- 

 jection to this barley is that of the other beardless sorts. 

 The heads become brittle and break off or shatter in hand- 

 ling when it gets too ripe. 



Many complain that they do not get as good crops of 

 barley as they have a right to expect. This is generally 

 because they do not follow the correct method of culture. 

 Barley needs a large amount of moisture in the early part 

 of its growth. It needs a goodly supply of available nitrogen 

 in the soil. If these things are absent the barley injures 

 very quickly. Its tendency, when injured by drouth or lack 

 of plant food, is to make very short straw and small, poorly- 

 filled heads. Barley does not show its injury by drouth 

 as do other grains by burning and shriveling up. Before the 

 farmer knows it his barley field may become too dry and 

 subsequent irrigation does not make it recover as it will 

 oats or wheat. Barley soil should be prepared in the fall 

 or irrigated before plowing in the spring. The soil should 

 be watched and if getting dry, even when the plants are 

 very small, irrigation should begin. If the plans are kept 

 moist until the barley is well headed, irrigation may stop 

 and a good crop will be secured. Barley may be planted 

 on new soils or, better, on soils whigh have been in rota- 

 lion, following potatoes, peas or alfalfa. 



Oats are the first and most general crop raised by the 

 and farmer. Farmers know more, perhaps, about this grain 

 than any other. Oats are one of the best crops to raise 

 on sod. They always find home use as feed for teams or 

 other stock, and there is usually a good market for the 

 surplus. Oat culture is as simple and easy as that of any 

 of the grains. Early varieties will mature with compara- 

 tively little moisture, but they respond to frequent irriga- 

 tion and much better water than other grains. Oats on sod 

 land may be irrigated every week or two and when they 

 are high enough to begin to shoot, they should be thoroughly 

 soaked by a complete irrigation. 



Perhaps the best drouth resistant variety for general cul- 

 tivation is the Kherson or the Swedish Select. Some most 

 excellent short-season varieties also are Scottish Chief, Lin- 

 coln, Black Beauty, Big Four and Clydesdale. The best 

 yielding varieties are those which take the longer season 

 to mature. The White Russian side-oat has produced heavier 

 yields, perhaps, than any other in general cultivation. 



Wheat is one of the most important grain crops for the 

 western dry farm and has its place in crop rotations under 

 irrigation. The average yield of wheat in the arid region 

 approximates twenty-five bushels per acre. In round num- 

 bers this is twice the average yield of the humid states. Good 

 farmers, however, are not satisfied with yields of less than 

 forty or fifty bushels per acre. Wheat "should give a net 

 profit, over and above the expense of producing it, of from 

 twelve to fifteen dollars per acre. 



Wheats succeed best on heavier soils, providing they have 

 good drainage and do not contain too much alkali. Light 

 soils are not so favorable for wheat, but under dry farm- 

 ing loamy soils which are somewhat more retentive of mois- 

 % ture_will give best results. Our soils are sufficiently rich 

 in mineral plant foods, the only fertilizing needed being tillage 

 and rotation with peas, alfalfa or potatoes. Wheat ought 

 never to follow others grains, and there should seldom be 

 raised two successive crops of wheat on the same land. 



Wheat succeeds much better in a well compacted soil. 

 Fall plowing or early spring plowing will usually give 

 best results. Under irrigation deep plowing is not so 

 necessary or advisable as it is for other crops. The land 

 should be harrowed to form a good seed bed and save 

 moisture. 



There are a large number of varieties of spring wheat 

 which may be successfully grown in the West. In Utah, 

 eastern Oregon, Washington and in the Southwest, the 

 square head wheats or club wheats are grown because 

 they _ do not shell out and may be allowed to get fully 

 ripe in the field so they may be harvested with combined 

 harvesters arid threshers, or headed and taken at once to 

 the threshing machine. In the northern portion of the 

 mountain region the Fife and Blue Stem, known as 

 Northern Hard wheats are the best milling- sorts. For 

 the southern half of this region wheats of the Defiance 

 type or White House are the leading varieties. For dry 

 farming the most successful and valuable spring wheat 

 is the Kubanka type of Durum wheat. For feeding pur- 



