The Arizona sentinel., 1909-11-25
TIMELY HINTS
 FOR FARMERS, A Lesson in Intensive Farming by R Il. Forbes, Director and Chemist of Agricultural
 Experiment Station
University of A rizona, January Is. lg07

January I5, 1907.
 Just west of Yuma, Arizona, in the alluvial | flood plain Of the Colorado, lies little farm Of 7.2 acres which on May l, 1905, was virgin bottomland, covered with saltweed, arrow 1 brush and creoSote bushes. The original
 purpose of the tract was for planting selected varieties of date palms imported by the U. S i Department of Agriculture from the Old World. The Experiment. station, May g. be- gan preparing the ground, and on May 20 the work Of lcvelling, bordering and irrigating i the tr.tct and the planting Of l52 palms, was completed.
 THE PLAN or WORK.
 l Recognizing, however, that a farmer with | his living to make meantime cannot afford | to wait for an orchard to come into bearing, 1 1t 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 economize ground the irrigating borders were so placed | as to coincide with the rows of palms. thus utilizing space otherwise usually wasted The tract was divided by the borders into l lands, for the most part One-half an acre in size. lrrigating water from the Colorado Valley F. & l. Canal was obtained in the GUS tomary manner. and E. l.. Crane, himself a Yuma Valley farmer, undertook the care of wilatwas nicknamed our "play farm"
 In size, as well as in the in tensive character, of the work planned, this farm" is the op- pOsite of the average holdings of this locality The prevailing crops of the region are alfalfa corn, barley, and forages in general, compara- lively little attention being given to vege- W lGIdl, lf1e cost or leNeIilng- land in thls region is high, rarely falling be- low twenty dollars an acre at current prices for labor and teams. Moreover, the cost, ex- elusive Of maintenance, of the Government frrigHting system now under construction will be about S350 an acre annually for ten years. To meet these and other heavy items Of eX pense in connection with the establish ment Of q farm in this region, intensive crops of more remunerative character than those now in vogue, are essential. It was partly, therefore, as an object lesson bearing upon these financial aspects of the general situa- ton, that this cultural work was planned.
 RECLAMATION OF THE GROUND
 Tie soil Of our tract, a warm, sandy loam well adapted to gardening operations, was levelled, ditched and boIdered at contract price Of Sl7 2d an acre. considerably less than the average for the locality, reckoning the labor Of men and teams at current rates. In addition, barbed wire and posts for fencing cost S6QlOs lumber fos headgateS cost S39.57: drive we'll point and pipe, a pitcher-spOut pump and a barrel, Sl3.13; small lumber lwo-roclu house. including five and one. half days carpen ter hire, sl52-75; and ~brush-roof shelter for horses, about S5Bo. Only skilled labor employed in dwelling, bordering and ditching the ground, and for part construc- ton of the house, Is included in the above estimates, as the common labor required or would be, and in this case was, fur nlShed by the farmer himself.
 To bring this ground under cultivation and make it habitable for small farmer and his family, as stated above, therefore required a cash outlay of about Si00l0. In addition, in the average instance must be included team, wagon. blow, harrow, having equip ment shovels hoes and other small tools