THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



179 



SEED GROWING IN SOUTHERN IDAHO. 



By Herbert Shearer. 



During my stay in the Twin Falls country in 

 southern Idaho, last summer, I had a good opportu- 

 nity to study the growth of seed bearing plants. 



In order to ascertain how well the heads fill and 

 to test the germination and to examine the color 

 as well as the general characteristics and finally 

 the yield, I made another trip into the Twim Falls 

 section last fall. 



I found red clover and alsike clover in abun- 

 dance. There were wonderfully great quantities of 

 alfalfa and I found some farmers who had tried out 

 white clover successfully for seed. 



Several hundred acres of gardem peas were 

 grown last year for seed, on the contract plan, for 

 seedsmen. The original seed was furnished by the 

 seed distributors, and the crops were grown under 

 their direction and supervision!. At harvest time 

 the weight of the original seed was deducted and 

 the balance of the crop was paid for at the rate of 

 three cents per pound for the lighter yielding vari- 

 eties and two and a half cents for the kinds requir- 

 ing less labor to produce. 



I found sweet peas yielding a greater quantity 

 of seed than I ever saw on sweet pea vines before. 

 1 saw carrot seed, parsnip seed, asparagus seed, and 

 different kinds of beans and peas, all of fine color, 

 good weight, and great germination strength. This 

 season will find many more varieties of seeds, some 

 of which, in all probability, will bring the growers 

 considerable money.' 



I visited L. A. Snider, near Twin Falls, who 

 has in three years developed a splendid flint corn 

 that yields well. Last summer Mr. Snider raised 

 five acres of garden peas that yielded at the rate of 

 49 bushels and 53 pounds per acre. After deduct- 

 ing the weight of the seed and 1 per cent for dirt, 

 Mr. Snider's check for his five acres of peas came 

 to $410.88 an average of $82.22 per acre. 



P. W. Hess, one and a half miles south of Kim- 

 berly, had six acres in alsike clover. His total yield 

 from the six acres was 61 bushels, which he sold 

 at 14c per pound, bringing him a return of $514. 



F. A. Kennedy, who lives about three miles 

 southeast of Kimberly, had seventeen acres in alsike 

 clover. He threshed 156 bushels, and received 

 $1,311 in cash for his crop, after keeping out what 

 he thought he would require for seed. 



A. G. Schade, living two miles southeast of 

 Kimberly, had five acres in alsike clover. His total 

 yield was fifty bushels, and he received $450 in cash 

 for the seed. Mr. Schade also had five acres in 

 white clover and blue grass mixed. He sold white 

 clover seed enough to bring him $150 and at that 

 time had on hand 1,000 pounds of blue grass seed. 



Six farmers near Kimberly raised garden peas. 

 Lowest yield of the six crops was 30 bushels per 

 acre, and the highest yield was 62 bushels. The 

 average of the whole six being a little above forty 

 bushels to the acre. The price received was $1.80 

 per bushel, 

 bushels per acre. 



From the Twin Falls District were names of 

 thirty-six farmers ; the average of the thirty-six was 

 51.76" bushels. 



The average crops of thirty-five farmers in the 

 Hanson District was 51.04. At Filer he gave me 

 the names of twenty farmers, having an average 

 yield of 49.76 bushels per acre. 



Of all these crops the lowest was 23 bushels 

 and the highest was 109 bushels per acre. How- 

 ever, I shall qualify this extremely large yield by 

 stating that there was only three acres in the piece 

 and the owner, Mr. D. O. Ewing, had the land well 

 prepared, and grew the wheat more like a garden 

 crop than a field crop. However, such a yield shows 

 the possibilities on such rich land under irrigation, 

 when an expert like Mr. Ewing manages the busi- 

 ness. 



Upon my return to Illinois in December I met 

 Mr. Brown, president of the Alfred J. Brown Seed 

 Company of Grand Rapids, Mich. 



I told Mr. Brown many of the details of my 



M. C. Ware, near Buhl, cut 44 acres of alfalfa 

 for seed, in the summer of 1911. After deducting 

 the cost of the sacks, and threshing expenses, his 

 net return for the seed was $42 per acre. 



C. F. Williams, two miles southeast of Kim- 

 berly, raised 28 acres of alsike clover last summer, 

 which yielded 10 bushels and 18 pounds per acre. 

 His seed check was $2,422.50. 



Mr. Breckenridge, of Twin Falls, contracted to 

 buy alsike clover seed from about 200 acres, grown 

 by nine different farmers. The average yield of 

 seed for the whole nine was 8^4 bushels per acre. 

 Mr. Breckenridge told me that the quality of seed 

 was very satisfactory, and he considers alsike clover 

 one of the most important crops that any farmer 

 cam grow. Mr. Breckenridge is also very enthusi- 

 astic about white clover seed. 



I am indebted to Mr. Breckenridge for a great 

 deal of information in regard to wheat. He gave 

 me the wheat figures of 123 crops. They were 

 taken from his books consecutively, and nothing- 

 was omitted because of the small quantity or small 

 yields. There were on his books the names of 

 thirty-two farmers in the Buhl District. The aver- 

 age yield from these thirty-two farmers was 55^ 

 investigations into the seed possibilities of the Twin 

 Falls country and he became greatly interested. In 

 January Mr. Brown met by appointment H. L. Hoi- 

 lister in his office in Chicago, when I laid before 

 them samples of seeds and grains gathered while in 

 Idaho. The result of that conference was that Mr. 

 Brown agreed to send a carload of garden pea seed 

 to the Twin Falls country and to make contracts 

 for the growing of about 500 acres this year. He 

 has since increased his seed to four cars of peas, 

 which will plant about two thousand acres. 



After investigating conditions on the ground, 

 he decided to extend his operations and has ordered 

 a carload of beans from his California seed-breeding 

 grounds, to be used in the same way. 



The D. M. Ferry Seed Company of Detroit, 

 Mich., are going into the growing of seed peas quite 

 extensively in southern Idaho this vear. 



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