MEADOWS AND HAY CROPS. Sal 
In Jess Valley, in the Warner Mountains of California, timothy 
especially is being introduced, even into the rocky soils surrounding 
the bottom-land meadows, by diverting the waters from the melting 
snows to these areas and seeding in the manner already described. 
Much of this land could never be cultivated, and a large portion of it 
is altogether too rocky to be mowed without a great deal of labor 
expended in removing the rocks; but the amount of feed secured from 
such areas is greatly increased by this treatment. These areas are 
usually reserved until the hay is removed from the meadows, when 
cattle or sheep are turned into them for fall and winter pasturing. It 
is common here, as well as in the other hay regions visited, for hay to 
be sold in the stack, together with the feed in the field, to be pastured 
and fed out during the fall and winter as the stockman may wish, or 
as may be agreed upon. 
The methods employed in the irrigation of timothy and redtop in 
many of the narrow valleys, especially the Okanogan, Cow Creek, 
Silvies River and its tributaries, and Jess Valley, are very interesting, 
inasmuch as they show that these grasses under certain conditions are 
able to withstand large quantities of water for long periods. The 
method of irrigation is a combination of ditching and damming: pro- 
cesses. The flood water in the early summer, May to July, is diverted 
to the meadows in such a way as to cover them for, periods varying 
from ten days to two or more weeks at a time. Ordinarily this would 
result in the destruction of these crops and in their being entirely sup- 
planted by the sedges and the rushes. However, there is a large 
measure of success attained by this method of handling the waters. 
Being cool at this season and the water being in motion (i. e., flowing 
water), there is not the usual injurious effect. Neither is the method 
wasteful of water, for in a narrow valley there is but little loss to the 
irrigated lands below from having the waters spread out in this way 
in the upper stream courses. In many cases it is actually an advan- 
tage, as the flood waters are checked and distributed over a longer 
period. It would appear that timothy and redtop grown on meadows 
which are occupied to a large extent by sedges and native clovers, when 
handled in the manner described would need much more irrigation 
than when grown on cultivated land. One of these areas along Silvies 
River is shown in Plate VII, fig. 2, where these two crops, together 
with some alfalfa on the better-drained sagebrush areas, are grown. 
The most extensive timothy and redtop region visited was that of 
the Kittitas Valley, at Ellensburg, Wash., from which much hay is 
shipped every year, mainly to Coast points. Thealfalfa shipped from 
here is sold at about $4.50 per ton, while timothy and redtop sell for 
about $9. 
