20 



BULLETIN 654, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



of little importance in Suit River Valley or in Gila Valley, (he yields 

 in these districts being unsatisfactory. Either one or two crops per 

 year may ho produced, according to the inclination of the grower. 

 In Yuma Valley, where all the alfalfa-seed farms studied for this 

 bulletin were found, the yields are usually highly satisfactory, the 

 average for the farms studied being 285 pounds per acre; and as much 

 as 1,300 pounds of salable seed per acre from two crops in a single 

 season has been reported on one farm. It is the most profit able enter- 

 prise found in this valley, constituted the principal source of receipts 

 on 12 of the farms studied, and was an important side line on many 

 others. The 12 farms averaged 71 acres in size, and the average 

 results obtained were as follows: Receipts, $3,750; farm income, 

 $2,479; labor income, $1,273. The sale of hay was made an impor- 

 tant secondary enterprise on 'these 12 farms, the average receipts 

 from hay being 22.9 per cent of the total receipts, while alfalfa seed 

 furnished an average of 58.6 per cent of the total. 



DAIRY FARMING. 



Dairy farming is a well-established enterprise, and is steadily 

 growing in importance. The mild winter climate, the long growing 

 season, and the abundance of green forage due to the thrifty alfalfa 

 plant, all combine to make southern Arizona a congenial home for 

 the dairy cow. The farmers are coming more and more to realize 

 the stability of the dairy enterprise, and at the present time there 

 are more than twice as many men making dairying a leading enter- 

 prise as can be found engaged in its nearest competitor, hay farming. 



Of 627 farms studied, dairying was a leading enterprise on 178, con- 

 tributing an average of 67.7 per cent of the total receipts. Upon 38 

 farms dairying was combined with some other enterprise, the two 

 enterprises contributing more than 80 per cent of the total receipts. 

 In addition to these 216 farms upon which dairying was the most 

 important enterprise, there were 109 diversified farms upon which 

 dairying contributed an average of 22.3 per cent of the total receipts, 

 a larger amount than was contributed by any other one of the various 

 enterprises found on these farms. The general results obtained in 

 dairy farming are presented in Table X: 



Table X. — Results obtained in dairy farming in the irrigated valleys of southern Arizona, 



1913 to 1915. 



Type of farmin g and percent age of recei pts 

 and leading enterprises. 



Dairy, 67.7... 

 Poult rv, 7.5. . 

 Daily, 4S.3... 

 Poultry, 36.8. 

 Dairy, 41.1... 

 Hay, 40.5 



Number 

 or farms. 



18 



Average 

 area. 



A CTCS. 



83 



Number 

 failing to 

 make 8 

 percent. 



Average 



Total 



receipts. 



1,366 

 2,792 



Average 



farm 

 income. 



$2,600 



1.012 

 1,709 



Average 

 labor 

 income. 



Sl,081 

 173 



556 



