Irrigated Agriculture in the San Luis Valley 27 
heavier lands. As the soils commence to get lighter Kherson will 
be the preferred variety. Kherson will do better at the higher al¬ 
titudes. 
Many other varieties oi oats, such as the New Market, the 
Big Four, the Swedish Select, all do fairly well. It would be best, 
however, for valley growers to confine their selection tO' the Colo¬ 
rado Number 37 and the Kherson, the two' best adapted varieties. 
Oats are excellent feed and also make a very high quality of hay 
if cut for that purpose. 
Seeding .—The amount oI seed to use per acre will depend 
somewhat upon the variety. Large plump seeds require heavier 
seeding than smaller ones, but about eighty pounds of seed per 
acre is the average amount to plant. With very large seeded Colo¬ 
rado Number 37, it will sometimes be advisable to sow as much as 
ninety pounds or even more to get proper results, because the larger 
sized seeds run fewer to the pound. 
barley. 
During the past few years barley has been more or less an un¬ 
certain crop in the Valley, altho in general it has been very well 
adapted to the soil and climatic conditions. However, barley is 
easily affected by changes in soil and soil fertility, and in recent 
seasons very deficient barley growths have been secured. The lia¬ 
bility of the recurrence of this trouble is the strongest objection that 
can be urged to barley as a feed crop, but owing to this objection 
barley will probably be found most valuable as a crop to plant with 
peas. For this purpose the so-called beardless barley is to be rec¬ 
ommended, as the absence of beards is very desirable in feeding 
hay or straw to animals. 
All of the bearded varieties, Hanna, Oderbrucker, and Cali¬ 
fornia do well and produce in normal seasons rather heavy yields 
of thrashed grain. 
Seeding .—Barley can be seeded as early in the spring as peas 
without probable danger of injury from frosts. The earlier planted 
barley seems, in fact, to make a better growth and to be less injured 
by seasonal conditions than that planted later. This has been true 
on experimental plats near San Acacio for the past three years. 
Barley may be planted in late February or early March if seasonal 
conditions permit. When planted alone, about ninety-five pounds 
of seed per acre is required for all of the hulled varieties. Where 
the berry is exceedingly large, more pounds may be needed, and 
where exceedingly small a slight reduction in the amount of seed 
can sometimes be made profitably. With the hulless varieties less 
seed is required, seventy-five to eighty-five pounds being usually suf¬ 
ficient. 
