The Arizona sentinel., 1907-01-30
TIMELY HINTS
 FOR FARMERS.
A Lesson in Intensive Farming by B. ii. Forbes, Director and Chemist of Agricultural
 Experiment Station.
University of Arizona,
 January l5, lN7.

Inst west of Yuma, Arizona, in the alluvial flood plain Of the Colorado, lies a little farm of 72 acres which on May l, l9O5, was virgin botlomland, covered with saltMeeo, arLo"I brush and creoSote bushes. The original purpose of the tract was for planting selected varieties of date palms imported by the C >: Department Of Agriculture rom the Qlu M World. The Experiment station, May z, De gan preparing the ground, and on May 2O the work of levelling, bordering and irrigating the tract and the planting of l02 palms, was
 THE PLAN OF WORK.
 Recognizing, however, that farmer with his living to make meantime, cannot afford to wait for an orchard to come into bearing, it was planned to plant crops for quick re- turns between the tree-rowS, thus putting the work on a feasible basis from the small farm CTS point of view. In order to econolnlZe ground the irTigating borders were so placed as to coincide with the rows or palms, thus ut tiliZing space otherwise usually wasted. Tie tract was divided by the borders into ] lands, for the most part ope-haif an acre in ksiZF Irritating water from the Colorado kNalley P. & l. Canal was obtained in the GUS stotnary manner, and F.. l.. Crane, himself a Innl;l Valley farmer. undertook the care or kwllat was nickname our play Garm."
 In size, as well ;lS in the intensive character kof the work planned, this tSrn IS, khe op- posite of the average holdings Of this locality. ! The prevailing crops of the region are alfalfa, | corn, barley, and fOrageS in general, eoMpar@- ! tiveiy little attention being given 10 HeSe- tables and fruils. Withal, tine cost of leVelllng land in this region is high, rarely falling be- low twenty dollars an acre at current prlces flor labor and teams. Moreover, the cost, eN. | elusive of maintenance, of the Government | irrigating system now under construction | will be about S3.50 an acre annually for ten years. To meet these and other heavy items l of eXperSe in connection with the establish ment of al farm in this region, intensive crops | of a more rcmuneratiVe character than those now in vogue, are essential. It was partly, therefore, as an object lesson bearing upon these fnanciai aspects of the general sltua- | 1
 EXCLAMATION OF THE GROUND.
 The soil Of our tract, warm, sandy loam well adapted to gardening operations, was leVelled, ditched and bOl dered at a contract price of Sl72G an acre, considerably less than the average for the locality, reckoning the labor of men and teams at current rates. In ladditiOn, barbed wire and posts for fencing cost SG0.lU; lumber for headgates cost SS95I 2 drive well point and pipe, a pitcher-spoUt pump and a barrel, Sl3.45; a small lumber | two-roOn house, including five and one hal1 days carpenter hire, Sl52.T5; and a bruSh-roo shelter for horses, about s 60. Only skilled labor employed in levelling, bordering and ditching the ground, and for part c0nstrIc ton or the house, is included in the above estimates, as the common labor required or dinaTily would be, and in this case was, fur nished by the farmer himself.
 To bring this ground under cultivation ant make it habitable for small farmer and hi! family, as stated above, therefore required cash outlay Of about SIO0.N. In addition, II the average instance must be included { | ment, shovels, hoes, and other small tools.
 CROPS AND MARKETS.
 ) The crops selected for the season of l90
 were Early Rose potatoes, White Bermud; onions. RockyfOrd cantaioupeS, Dwarf Cham
 pion and Burpee'S Quarter Century tomatoes
 and alfalfa, besides a few hills of watermelon and sundry vegetables. =
 The produce was marketed in Yuma witt the exception of tomatoes, which, for tn
 largest part, were expressed to Tucson anC , Bisbce The following statements for tn
 various crops are on the basis Of net cash lc
 turns 10 the small farmer, who with ar. aver
 age family of five and team Of horses is as
 stunned to do the work required. as explained below. Items necessitating cash outlay, a , seed, iTrigating water and crates are deducted 7 from gross returns Water costs an aVeTag of 70 cents for irrigation per acre for the crop grown. The yields in certain instances ar , tow, due to the GnimprOvcd condition of tn ] soil, which, like desert soils in general, wa f low in nitrogen and organic matter. Som small salty areas also affected yields locally White Bermuda onions; AT acres; See planted Sept. 27-Oct. B. l905 Young onion , iranSplanted, Feb. 5-9, I9OG. Crop mature about June |. Yield, 39l6 pounds Of dry or
 ions. Highest price received, 2Me a pound
 lowest price received, I.Sc q pound. Entir o crop marketed in Yuma.