The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-06-23
RAISES BIC CROP
ON DESERT LAND
Professors Merrill and WidsOe
Show Exhibits From Farm.
RESULTS OF RUSSIAN SEED
EXPERIMENTS FOR FIRST YEAR
GIVE ENCOURAGEMENT

stalks of rye I'VE feet tall and
punches of wheat barley and oats
measurinE over three feet in length,
were amoEg Jhs samples OF Juab coun-
IS sTid flaming, which Professors j..
a. Merrill and j. A. Widts0e were ex-
limiting at the Kenyon hotel last even
ing
with The appropriation of S12.5o0
made by the last legislature. SIX
farms OF forty acres each have been es-
tablished i'm Juab, Iron, Washington,
Tooele. SEWER and San Juan counties,
for the purpose of experimenting in the
raising of crops on desert land
Professor Merrill, agronomist la
charge of the Juab county farm, Is en-
thusiastic over the results of this, the
first years work. In discussing the
subject last evening. he said.
There is no reason why the arid
sandy deserts of Utah cannot be made
to bring forth large profitable crops Of
all kinds of grain and alfalfa. Ny eN-
periments this year have convinced me
of the entire feasibility Of the under
taking
New Methods Employed.
"This dry. sandy soil contains far
more moisture than is generally sus-
peCted. The solution of the question IS
simply TO get plants to extend their
roots deep down into the soil so as TO
absorb all the moisture possible, This
we have accomplished by the follow
ing means;
First, by deep blowing. We have
plowed twelve inches deep, while the
average farmer plows but five or six
inches.
second. by using a drill IN planting
instead of the usual method Of broad
casting. This gives the roots a sure
foundation deep in the soil.
Third, by selection of seed. The
seed usually sOwn on irrigated land or
ON the farms Of the east prove fall
ure here, A large part of our seed was
imported from Russia, where grain has
been raised for many years on arid
land similar TO that of the American
desert. This seed is acclimated, as 1t
were, to this kind Of soil. Other seed
We have obtained by selection We
have been experimenting at Logan for
some years with seed and by planting
and replanting have produced dis
tinct variety specially adapted to this
soil
Then another thing we do that has
proved successful is the use of less
seed than has been customary. Where
the average farmer plants two bushels
to the acre. we are using three pecks
are a month ahead of oats from native
seed on irrigated soil. They win be
ready for harvest in two weeks as viii
our wheat, barley and rye. We plant
ed all our crops in the fall and viii
( have them all harvested before the dry
season commences"
Experiments With Sugar Beets.
Professor VVIdtsoe showed samples
( of sugar beets which he claimed were
at this time OF the year the equal of
any raised on irrigated soil He does
not expect them to mature well this
year when the dry season comes on.
/ He does expect, however, that a few
/ viii come to maturity, enough to give
| seed for another year. BY planting this
! over again and continuing for several
/ seasons to do so. he hopes to develop
I distinct variety that viii do well on
/ arid soil.
The samples of wheat and rye were
I vigorous and of good color, the heads
/ five inches long, were wei filed out
/ An acre of such grain would yield
/ from fifty TO sixty bushels.
! Professor Merrill said that the farm
! ers of Juab county We're taking an in
! teFest in the experiments and one man
/ was breaking up 400 acres Of land with
the purpose Of raising a crop next year
: under the same methods as those used
at the experiment station.
Professors Widtsoe and Merrill are
/ now on their way to investigate the
/ experiments made on the other five
farms in the state, where they hope to
Z ind the results equally as good as
/ those on the Juab farm.
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