Amador ledger., 1902-08-01

y
have included all known types. Vicia
narbonensis (No. 1909, sown November
6, 1899, blossomed May 25th, and yield
ed, without irrigation. at the rate of
20, 400 pounds per acre. Vicia villosa
however, has done even better under
similar conditions, yielding at the rate
of 32, go pounds per acre. The follow
ing vetches can be highly recommended
after the substation's experience of
from three to ten seasons: V. villosa,
V. sativa cordata, V. sativa, V. mar
Plots of V. villosa on good slate soil,
but unfertilized aud unirrigated, have
| yielded in seasons of heavy rainfall,
such as 1889 go and 1891 90, As high as
twenty tons of fodder to the acre, and
this very valuable plant is now to some
extent naturalized in the pasture and
by the roadsides at the substation.
The well-known Windsor and other
broad beans of Europe mos. 2064, 2065,
2066, 2375, and others of the inventory
have thriven on slate soil when sown
with the first rains, and are a profit
able sorage crop. Only the earliest of
the soy beans can be grown. The
March rape, the Turkestan alfalfa, the
Chick pea or garbanzas, the Tambor
and Voronezh millets, the brewing
barleys, and the hard wheats have
done extremely we'll.
Fertilizer eXperiments.-No problem
of the district is of more Importance
than the improvement of the coarse
sandy soils (decayed granite and diorite
from the higher ranges). The late
DR.. Myers, of the nitrate propaganda,
became interested in this work, and
| furnished the needful fertilizers, which
subvention has been continued by his
successor. Large plots of wheat, oats
and barley have. been grown for hay
several successive seasons. Hay is one
of the principal crops in this region;
very little grain is grown. To one SER
les of fertilized plots, sodium nitrate,
muriate of potash, and Thomas phos-
phate were applied, raising the value
of the yield from S12 to S25 per acre.
| The average cost of fertilizers on this
scale was S. per year; soil, granite and
poor. In another series, on red slate
soil, the application of fertilizers worth
$4.20 per acre raised the value of the
resultant crop from $17.16 to S2S. SO.
Barley hay on slate soil, by the use of
S5. 20 per acre in fertilizers, was made
to show an increase of value of from
$l3. so to S26.66. On very poor gran
ite SOIL which ordinarily has yielded
but one quarter of a ton of hay to the
acre, moderate use of nitrate and
phosphate raised the yield to one and
fourth tons. The crops upon the slate
soils we're proportionately Increased.
Fertilizer experiments were commenced
here in 1896, and have been contin-
ued ever since. The results are more
Immediately manifest in respect to hay
crops; but their value in regard to
| fruits, vines and vegetables is equally
important,
European Lupins for Green Manur
ing.-The experiments continued for
several years show conclusively the
adaptation of this crop to the district.
Several species, but especially the large
white and the blue, when sown with
the first rains, blossom by March and
can be plowed under with ease before
tue end of the rainy season. The fly
which has sometimes injured the stems
of lupin plants here, has done little in-
jury for two seasons. But no plants
are more subject to the ravages of the
well-known jack-rabbits" of the
Sierra foothills, and where these are
plentiful, lupins can be sown only in
!