GRASSES FOR CANAL BANKS IN WESTERN SOUTH 
DAKOTA? 
By ArtHUR C. DILLMAN,’ Assistant Physiologist, Office of Alkali and Drought 
Resistant Plant Investigations. 
INTRODUCTION. 
In the construction of canals and ditches for the purpose of irri- 
gation, the area of soil exposed and left bare of vegetation is very 
large in the aggregate. Experiments have been conducted on the 
canal banks of the Bellefourche Irrigation Project in western South 
Dakota to determine what grass or combination of grasses will estab- 
lish a satisfactory sod on such banks. This circular describes the 
experimental work and gives such recommendations for seeding 
canal banks on this project as are justified by the results thus far 
obtained. 
THE NEED OF A GRASS COVERING. 
The advantages of a grass sod on the canal and ditch banks are, 
chiefly, to prevent erosion of the soil, to prevent the growth and 
spread of weeds, and to furnish pasture for live stock. 
The erosion of the loose soil on the steep slopes of the ditch 
banks is often serious. Most of the soils of this region are composed 
of fine particles and therefore wash more readily than soils of a 
coarser character. The amount of erosion on any short section of 
ditch bank might not be considered serious, but the quantity of 
soil washed down into the canals and ditches from over 300 
miles of canal banks must be enormous.? Any covering of sod 
which will prevent or lessen this erosion will mean a real economy 
in the maintenance of the project. 
One of the chief uses of a grass covering is to exclude the growth 
of annual weeds which usually infest ditch banks. Unless a perma- 
1JTssued Mar. 1, 1913. 
2 The investigations here reported have been conducted by the writer, representing the 
Office of Alkali and Drought Resistant Plant Investigations, in cooperation with Prof. C. V. 
Piper, of the Office of Forage-Crop Investigations, who has furnished useful suggestions, 
as well as most of the seed required. 
3Mr. F. C. Magruder, project engineer, writes that there are 50 miles of main canal, 
85 miles of main laterals, and 314 miles of small laterals on the Bellefourche Project. 
These canal banks have a total area of about 1,200 acres. 
ECir lst] 23 
