The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1891-06-18
Alfalfa Farms.

Alfalfa Farms.
One OF the greatest irrigation dis
tricts in the United States is in Kern
County, California. Here are some
thrty-fve large canals with branches
and distributing bitches, covering
nearly halfa million acres of very rich,
sandy loam. The largest of the canals
is the Galloway, thirty-two miles long
1t has sixty-6ve distributing bitches,
and covers two hundred thousand
acres of very rich land. Its water ap-
preparation is one thousand four hun
dred and seventy-six cubic feet per Sc
o0nd. .... .-
On the lower side of the canal one
can see fully twenty-five thousand
acres in almost continuous alfalfa
fields. Alfalfa, with water, yields five
crops a year, and two tons to the acre
! at each cutting. " --
About once in six weeks, for eight
months in the year, the alfalfa fields
| are cut, and the crops stacked in great
| piles. The vastness of some fthe
stacks near the ranch-houses OF the
"irrigation- belt" is a constant source
of wonder to tourists. Eight hundred
and fifty tons have been put into one
stack. s..
There are some immense alfalfa
farms in Kern Comfy. The McClurg
and the Rosedale ranches have about
three thousand five hundred acres
each, the Jackson ranch has over
seven thousand, and the Poso ranch
above ten thousand acres.
The process of handling alfalfa on a
large scale is interesting. The derrick
and derrick-fork are used. The stacks
range from one hundred to four hun
dred feet long, and are usually thirty
feet wide and from twenty five to thir-
ty feet high, and on the extensive
ranches one can often seefrom fifty to
a hundred stacks of alfalfa in sight at
one time,
| From six to ten teams are kept busy
supplying the derricks, and from sixty
to one hundred tons can be stacked
in a day. Eight thousand tons have
been stacked in a single ranch and fed
out to livestock.
Cattle, sheep, horses and hogs all
live, to great extent, on alfalfa
How to Get Natural Water Cress.
Every clear running stream of water,
If OF no great depth, may be easily
made to grow a crop OF salad in the
form Of water cress without price. A
little seed scattered on the upper part
Of the stream will, OF itself, soon crop
all down stream. In the absence OF
seeds planting of slips on the banks,
although a slower process, is equally
certain, as after the first year seeding
will take place and sure crop follow.
The kind OF location selected for the
growth of the crop for market is the
low bottom lands liable to overflow
on the banks of the river. Here if it
can be so managed that a spot can be
selected where the water by sluice ways
can be let on SO as to cover the beds
a few inches deep of water and yet all
the time renew itself so as not to get
stagnant, then the very state of things
is at hand for a water cress bed. So
fast do our wants increase that in all
large cities there is ademand for fresh
young water cress the year round.
But this is to feed the epicure mostly.
The time Of all times when a good dish
OF water cress is tasty, is the first
crop in the spring, and almost the
first outside green thing that this
northern latitude produces. To our
mind this is enhanced by rLucking
them ones self, all as it were in astate
ofnature's providing.-Prairie Farm
Ter. ,.....