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Show T 1 (T By W. ti. UL1N ! Diversified Xrops - I J Director of Agricul- I THE IMPORTANCE OF CROP ROTATION FOR Te!' I THE IRRIGATION FARMER IJaho- i . . i ' Oregon Short Line Demon juration Train Lecture. Basis of Success. The basis of farm success is organization, organ-ization, system on the fnrtii; the Insis of organization on the farm is crop management; on the successful niaitagement of the crop largely rest these five fundamentals: 1. Economy of Business. 2. Maintenance of Soil Fertility. l Productivity of the Soil. 4. Subsistence for Livestock. 5. Farm Profits at end. of Season. The term "Rotation of Crops" is ued to designate a system of crops which S've a recurring succession of eld plants with differing plant food rccuiaitfS. Reasons for Rotation. The primary purposes of a crop rotation ro-tation are 1st, Prevention of "Crop Sick" soils, the result of continuous cultivation of the same crop for a period pe-riod of years; 2nd, The elimination of weeds, insect pests and crop diseases; 3rd. Increa'se in the productivity of the field crops by conserving the soil fertility. i.. First Irrigated Crop. The first crop to. be grown in any a-ipreciable degree "under the ditch" was wheat. Wheat followed wheat yir after year on the river plain farms of Utah and Idaho until in Eoiue instances the yield of grain fell ;5 and even 50 per cent below what it first gave the farmer. This was on comparatively virgin soil which we think is rich as cream. Why is i this? Feeding at the same depth on j the same plant food elements absorb ! the readily available plant food of this particular element so this class of plants is then sparingly fed. Like a starved pig, it cannot make its owner the profits the well fed ones do. All plants do not feed alike. They either use different foods or the same food from different depths. There-i There-i (ore, plants feeding at different i depths of soil, although they may use he same food elements, the deeper ! .'ceding plants can follow the shallow i feeders without serious immediate loss, although eventually, unless these ; absorbed food elements be restored, the available plant food will become exhausted and the soli will therefore j be impoverished. I The depositor who continues to j draw his money from the bank with-I with-I out making deposits will at last find his checks returned marked "short." No bank will permit continued over-I over-I drafts. We should not be taking off j all the -time, without putting-, back the j food elements upon which plants feed, some of the time. If we do, we have a crop sick soil that does not j "pay its checks" for want of funds ' the available food elements that have been taken through previous withdrawals. with-drawals. Our rtah and Idaho soils are either o' granitic or volcanic rock formation. These soils seem to hold an abund-snce abund-snce of potash, a reasonable amount of phosphates, a limited amount of nitrates, abundance of lime, but a ?reat deficiency in organic matter commonly known as humus. Here sre the essentials we need in these' soils; they constitute the soil barometer barom-eter since the lessened amount of any Me of these will most seriously affect af-fect the general crop culture. Humus not only increases the water holding capacity of the soil but it also carries an appreciable amount of nitrates. Hence we need, early in our cropping, to get humus in the soil. Feed the soil constantly, that it may, in turn, feed our crops. How may we do this? By growing crops that tend to store hat little humus we have w-ith nitro- Sen, while it increases the humus f content of the soil. These are legume wops alfalfa, beans, peas, alsike, red clover and vetches constitute the legume le-gume family group which have I proven profitable for us to grow in ; the west. Choose the one that is best j adapted to your farm environment, jjnd you feel will grow you the most dollars. Give it a permanent place 1,1 'our field crops. These plants seem to have the peculiar pe-culiar property of utilizing the free j"trogen of the air and thus store nitrates ni-trates in the soil, and accumulate hu-us. hu-us. the one thing our soils seem 5?.03t to need. How is this done? 'nrough a most peculiar little family p lower organisms known as bac-wna, bac-wna, which grow on the root hairs "d tiny rootlets of the root system these legume plants. This creates, 3 it were, a fever in that particular PJrt of the plant, calling for more air id more water ja a chemical prows pro-ws not easily understood, the free ir! ,n obtained from the surround-g surround-g air Is worked into nitrates avail-1J'e avail-1J'e to succeeding plant life. f erenn'al legumes are always deep er!?6!"8' bringing a part of their min- fecu d from soil dePtns below the eding ground of ordinary crops, fh Talue to succeeding crops is rv,kWn in the opening paragraph to burns Alfalfa: "There are some koZ .""balers that do their rK with ease and in their way, uore effectually than any team or IsT vVer nitched- The clover plant kt usly famed as one of these, I frorv i'3 its superior. Its roots I '-Jht -jUnday as we" as Saturday, j -snt and day. they strike 5. 10. 15 or 20 feet deep, making innumerable perforations, while storing up nitrogen, nitro-gen, and when these roots decay they leave not only a generous supply of fertility for any desired crop, but millions mil-lions of openings into which the airs and rains of heaven find their way, and help to constitute an unfailing reservoir of wealth, upon which tne husbandman can draw with little fear of protest or overdrafts." Professor Buffum, some years ago at the Wyoming Experiment Station, made a test showing the gain on alfalfa al-falfa ground for small grain and potatoes po-tatoes over the same type of soil where alfalfa was not grown. His re' suits obtained are here given. Wheat, gafn, in bushel per acre, 12; gai i in value' of. harvested crop (local prices), f 10.00. Oata, gain fn bushei per acre, 4lf gain in acre value of harvested crop (local prices), $16.00. Potatoes, gain in bushel per acre, 29; gain in acre value of harvested crop (local prices), $16.00. Therefore, get the laud into a legume le-gume of some kind, alfalfa, vetch or field pea, as soon as ju can that it may be better prepared for successful success-ful and profitable after crops. In case the farmer is in doubt just what crop to put in, be will make -no mistake to seed down to alfalfa while he is planning out the crop rotation that his environment would seem to indicate best for him to adopt. Rotation Destroys Weeds. The elimination of weeds is effectually ef-fectually accomplished by the introduction intro-duction of cultivated crops like potatoes, po-tatoes, stock roots, sugar beets, field beans and truck gardening crops. The irrigation ditch is even a greater carrier car-rier of weeds than the winds. AVhere an entire irrigation district adopts the practice of crop rotation and cutting ditch and canal bank weeds, they can be, and are, exterminated. Most of our worst weed pests are annual and when all users of a given ditch practice prac-tice a good crop rotation the weed qeustion is solved. Get Station Bulletins. Because weed and insect pests as well as fungus diseases are fully discussed dis-cussed In Station bulletins which can be had by addressing the director of your state experiment station. I shall pass up any discussion of them. Rotation Fundamentals. Let us now consider the fundamentals fundamen-tals which we should concern ourselves our-selves with, in adopting a rotation for our irrigated lands, where we cannot afford to grow many cheap forage or grass crops, unless upon said farm we can convert these cheaper crops into more remunerative meat, dairy or poultry products. 1. All plants tend to exhaust the soil. They abstract some one or more food elements to the full amount of availability. 2. All plants do not exhaust the soil in the same way and manner equally. 3. Plants grown constantly or continuously con-tinuously on the same field favor the spread of insect pests and certain plant diseases. 4. Some plants, by methods of tillage, till-age, are favorable to weed growth, while others are not. 5. Plants differ in habits of root growth. 6. All legumes are soil builders and soil renovators. 7. ' Some form of stock raising, combined with crop growing, will furnish fur-nish manure for making humus and building up tha soil. The old English adage "Is'o grass no cattle; no cattle no manure; no manure, no grass," is true everywhere. Rotation on Irrigated Lands. Every rotation on the irrigated lands in this region should contain: 1st, At least one money or cash crop; 2nd, At least one cultivated crop; 3rd, At least one legume crop; 4th, At least one live stock or feeding feed-ing crop; 5th, These should be so grouped as to most economically distribute farm labor throughout the year. 6th. So arrange the rotation that the farm can turn cheap and bulky feeds into milk, poultry or meat products. pro-ducts. 7th, Thus make factory methods on the farm, turn ordinary waste . products pro-ducts into profits. The meat packer so utilizes the calf, lamb and pig that now there is nothing lost but the blat and the squeal. The adoption of a definite crop rotation ro-tation and the practice of factory methods on the farm will stop the leaks which now reduce the profits and tremendously improve the 'quality while it increases the quantity of the output of every farm in this district. I know an irrigated farm in the Rockies where the suggested method named above is followed and the returns re-turns for the period of their crop rotation ro-tation of six years, which I checked up last year, averaged $100 gross per acre crop per season. Do not be satisfied sat-isfied until you feel you have worked out a crop rotation adapted to your soil, clirnato and market environment and that -rotation is averaging you a gross return of $50 per acre crop per season. |