CROPS ON ALKALI LAND, HUNTLEY PROJECT, MONTANA. 
RESULTS OF EXPERI- 
MENTS. 
FIRST METHOD. 
Second method. — The second method included plowing under rye as green manure 
in 1911, followed during the latter part of 1911 and all of the season of 1912 by frequent 
irrigating and cultivating. In September, 1911, the ground was leveled and bordered 
for irrigating in plats containing about one-sixth of an acre. Each irrigation was fol- 
lowed as soon as possible by cultivation. This treatment was applied on plats 15 and 
16 on field M-I. 
Third method. — The third method was the same as the second, except that barnyard 
manure was applied at the rate of 20 loads per acre in 1911 before plowing under the 
rye, and again in 1912. In 1912 the manure was plowed under in June and the land 
was immediately leveled. Alternate irrigation and cultivation was practiced during 
the remainder of the sea- 
son. This method was 
applied on plats 17, 18, 
and 19 on field M-I. 
All of the plats in- 
cluded in the three 
methods were crop- 
ped in 1913. The 
treatments applied 
in 1913 were simply 
the ordinary opera- 
tions in the prepara- 
tion of the seed bed 
and the subsequent 
irrigation and culti- 
vation necessary in 
growing the different 
crops. 
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HUNTLEY EXPERIMENT FARM 
WORD EN TRACT — FIELD M 
Fig. 3.— Diagram of the Worden tract, showing fields M-I and M-II, 
where the experiments discussed in this bulletin were carried on and 
indicating the location of the different crops in 1913. 
Since the soil 
very deficient in 
vegetable matter, it 
was thought that the 
addition of humus 
by plowing under green-manure crops would be one of the best means 
of opening up the surface soil. This appears to have been the case. 
As mentioned previously, all of the land on this tract that was broken 
up in 1910 was planted to winter r^e and the crop plowed under in 
June, 1911. This treatment was repeated in 1912 on part of the 
land. The second rye crop made a much heavier and more uniform 
growth than the crop plowed under in 1911 (fig. 4), and the soil tilth 
appeared to be much improved. 
Effect on the salt content. — Total salt determinations were made in 
May, June, July, September, and October, 1 91 3, with samples taken from 
plats 2, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 12 infield M-I and from adjacent virgin soil. 
