Arizona republican., 1901-05-08
THE EXPERIMENT STATION
A Description of Interesting Tests in
 Progress There.

touch with the great mass or the con- mon people as. the agricultural depart ment, and in this department the agri- cultural experiment stations are devo- ted to the work of gathering informa- ton of lnaalculable benefit to the indi- vidual farmer. information that the in- tlvidual farmer has neither the time nor the equipment for obtaining through his own efforts. Though the farmers generally have been slow to in- terest themselves In the work of the experiment. stations, it may be said that it Is now fast coming to be appreciated and the following lines are intended to set forth only In the most general way an Idea of the work being done in Arlz- ona by the experiment farm. For In teresting and valuable details the farm CTS should avail themselves of the bull letins isaied periodically, giving the re- suits of different experiments.
 By law the headquarters of the exper- iment station and the directors office, as we'll as the laboratory. are establish ed In conjunction with the Territorial University at Tucson, where the orig inal experiment farm was started. For reasons unnecessary to detail at this time. four sub-stations were created. but eventually local conditions proved the wisdom of abandoning all sub-sta- tions and establishing the principal farm at Phoenix. In connection there with many farmers assist the director of the farm in carrying out on larger scale of experiments suggested by the government officials. and with good re- suits. Prof Forbes, of the University, Is director of the station, but the prac- tical conduct of the. farm Is under the supervision of Prof. A. J. Mcclatchie and Prof A. H. True. The former has charge of the experiments pertaining to crop productions. and the latter con- ducts the experiments in stock growing, dairy products. feeding and the like. Both are accurate and competent scien- tifc men, and are enthusiasts in their work.
 It would be impossible to fully de- sribe in one issue of a newspaper the many experiments in progresp at the Phoenix farm. but through the courte- sy of Prof. McClatchie a reporter of the Republican was permitted to visit it one day last week. and mention will be made of some things being investigated fin the crop growing portion under Prof. McClatchie's direction. that will illus trate what is being done in many lines.
 The farm consists of slxty-five acres of as good soil as one could desire. about three miles northwest of the city. This is divided into two parts. one-half being devoted to the experiments of Prof. True and the other to the exper- iments of Prof. McClatchie. There is a comfortable little office building on the farm, though it would be desirable if the territory could afford to erect a res- idence thereon for the use of the pro- fessors in charge. This cannot be done with the funds appropriated by the gen. erl government. as only a small allow ance Is made for the malntainance of buildings erected by the territory. The farm faces the s. F. P. and P railroad, and handsome and we'll kept front yard. filled with flowers. roses. grass and ornamental shrubbery greets the passerby on train or railroad
 While multiplicity of experiments are being carried on, the greatest at tentlon is being paid to the proper ap- plication of irrigating water to the soil In the raising of various crops. showing the amount needed for different crops. the best time to irrigate, how to irri- gate, what Is the percentage of loss by dry weather and evaporation, the effect of over irrigation as against under ir- rigation, and a dozen other points nec- essary to know for the raising of crops successfully. Great attention is devot- ad tn thfo .f fA,. { t. conceived to be the most important and the least studied from a scientific standpoint in this locality
 Perhaps the most interesting and complete experiments in this line are carried on in an apricot and peach or chard. and will be more fully describ- ed as illustrative of the accurate work being done. This orchard, which has gained the reputation of being the best one in the valley, has already shown some wonderful results in It's handling during the last two years. Last sum- mer mo water was applied during the summer months. but it was kept we'll cultivated and the ground unceasingly stirred up. The result was better crop than orchards that had much more water and less attention. and to which the water was applied haphazard This year it was irrigated last on the 2sth of March. and will have no more water. except through rein. till next November. During the last two years soil samples have been taken as soon as irrigation stopped. each foot to the depth of S4 feet. Samples were again taken in the fall before irrigation be- gan. The samples were weighed and carefully tested and the records show just how much moisture was lost by evaporation and root consumption dur ing the long dry months of summer. Experiments are now under way to test this same idea a great deal more thoroughly.
 A galvanized iror cylinder eight inches in diameter and six feet tall was filled with the earth from a hole just that size sunk in the middle of the or chard. This earth was not thrown in helter-skelter but was carefully taken out of the hole and kept in the order of its excavation and placed in the cylln- der in the order 1t before occupied in the ground viz: the lower foot in the bottom of the cylinder and the top on top just as the soil strata lays in the orchard. There are no roots in 1t or other way for moisture Co evaporate.