DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
2 
BULLETIN 1418, U. 8. 
During the first years the water supply was precarious, and the 
danger from overflow was such as to retard the improvement of the 
land. Since the construction of the protecting levees by the Rec- 
lamation Service in 1906 and with the completion in 1912 of irriga- 
tion works which insure an adequate supply of water there has been 
more diversification of crops, and much improvement has taken place. 
Until rather recently alfalfa was by far the most important crop 
on the project. As Table 1 shows, the alfalfa-hay acreage has con- 
stituted at least one-third of the total crop acreage in all years except 
four. It also led any other crop by a considerable margin until 
1918, when it was overtaken by cotton. The cotton acreage was 
much greater than the alfalfa acreage in 1918, 1919, 1920, and 1924, 
but the two were about equal in 1921, 1922, and 1923. The com- 
bined value of the hay and seed crops of alfalfa exceeded that of any 
other crop until 1917, when it was surpassed by the cotton crop. 
Cotton held first place for four years, but was exceeded by alfalfa in 
1921 and 1922. In 1923 cotton again assumed the lead and held it 
through 1924. No other crops in the valley have compared with 
these two in acreage or value during recent years. The acreage of 
alfalfa harvested for hay annually, which also includes the acreage 
devoted to the production of the seed crop a part of the year, has been 
considerably greater than that harvested for seed, but the total value 
of the two crops has not varied widely since 1913. In fact, the 
value of the seed exceeded that of hay in 1915, 1916, 1919, 1920 
and 1921. 
TABLE 1.—Acreage, production, and farm values of alfalfa hay, alfalfa seed, and 
cotton grown on the Yuma Reclamation Project in the 14-year period from 1911 io 
1924, inclusive . 
{Data furnished by the United States Reclamation Service] 
Acreages Production Total farm values Average yield Ber 
| [ 
Alfalfa Alfalfa Alfalfa Alfalfa 
Year | 
Zz a a nD a 
S) = a S av S| ss) aU 
= = S) ay = og iS) ia =| og 
SpBS (a Gol Babee lo gs =a x Sb SS tee lesaert es 
42fi/m2| 2/06 |e] 2} Ss ss B 6 ims] 8&8] 5e 
1911___| 8, 570} 3, 750} 2, 600 30|16, 327| 576, 730 15, 000/$244, 905)$92, 276 $3, 000} 4. 36) 222.00} 500. 00 
1912___/}11, 060} 7, 269) 2, 824 25/27, 078) 814, 186 5, 800} 270, 780} 81, 418 1, 160} 3. 73} 288.00) 232. 00 
1913___|16, 726]10, 321) 3, 388 62/38, 100}1, 139, 100 19, 610} 287, 195}126, 450 4, 128] 3. 69} 336. 00) 316. 00 
1914__ _/22, 568/10, 426) 5, 485] 2, 268/32, 525/1, 246, 318 845, 044) 196, 716|159, 806 78, 399] 3. 12) 227. 00) 373. 00 
1915___]25, 101} 9, 441] 6, 449 709} 24, 277|1, 669, 020 359, 850} 173, 297|249, 331 39, 271] 2. 57} 258. 60) 507. 60 
1916_ __|28, 283/10, 880) 8, 100} 4, 670/28, 029)2, 635, 800} 2, 289, 420) 266, 898]328, 725} 467, 697} 2. 58) 325. 20) 490. 00 
1917___|35, 578)12, 901| 4, 643)12, 706/43, 177/1, 588, 500) 5, 253, 454) 642, 870/262, 928}2, 280, 823) 3. 30) 342.00) 413. 50 
1918__ _|45, 049} 8, 929) 4, 577/28, 608}28, 695|1, 690, 352/10, 854, 525} 565, 322/380, 216|3, 159, 634] 3. 21) 369.30) 379. 40 
1919__ _|52, 324}11, 925] 6, 425/30, 945/31, 773|2, 350, 385)11, 027, 450] 608, 558/698, 164/4, 657, 955} 2. 66] 366. 00) 356. 35 
1920__ _ 154, 484/13, 000) 9, 832/37, 600/28, 862)2, 396, 013/11, 248, 000) 558, 164/646, 918|2, 153, 480} 2. 22) 244.00 299. 14 
1921__ _|52, 390/20, 550)13, &35)18, 425/54, 266/3, 420, 000) 4, 875, 000) 430, 376/477, 970! 797, 500) 2. 64/ 253. 00) 264. 50 
1922 _ _|53, 970/22, 735}16, 475/21, 420/48, 333/3, 482, 665} 4, 225, 000) 676, 662/522, 399}1, 056, 250] 2. 13) 212. 00 197. 00 
1923 _ __|53, 050/21, 915/15, 395/22, 110)53, 881/3, 982, 000! 7, 636, 560) 640, 546/637, 120}2, 290, 968] 2.45) 259. 00) 346. 00 
1924 __|53, 145/17, 418}11, See 240)42, 730)3, 591, 563/11, 660, 894) 640, 840/561, 377/2, 998, 847) 2.45} 312. oe 362. 00 
In the early years alfalfa fields properly handled produced six or 
seven cuttings a year, averaging under most favorable conditions 
nearly a ton per cutting. As early as 1913, Blair’ reported a con- 
1 Bian, R. E. “THE WORK OF THE YUMA RECLAMATION PROJECT EXPERIMENT FARM IN 1913. U.S. 
Dept. Agr., Bur. Plant Indus., West. Irrig. Agr. [unnumbered circ.], p. 18. 
illus, 
1914, 
eee 
