The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1909-11-19
100000 IS SPENT IN IN
PROvEMENTS
Year 1909 Has Been Epoch Making
and from Country Village Wenat-
chez Now Has the Appearance of a
City---The Year 1910 Promises to Be
the Best in History

the use OF legumeS. we nave not
formally set apart an orchard for
clean culture and another for leg
umes and mulch. Our tests, how
ever, have come upon us without an
effort on our part and to some ex-
tent against our efforts to prevent
such thing. Our orchards are sur
rounded by alfalfa fields. The wind
will blow the seed to some extent and
as most of the laterals have alfalfa
growing along their sides, the seeds
are carried by the water. On &C
count of this tendency of alfalfa to
encroach on our orchards we fought
against it for time We would send
hands through our orchards to grub
out every alfalfa. but in spite of the
opposition on our part the alfalfa
established itself in some parts of
our orchards and especially along
our laterals. In the course of my
studies in the benefits of legumes
l began to realize that alfalfa was not
to be feared if it did not encroach
on our orchards, so we gave up the
light. The result is that we have
spots in our orchards where the al
falfa holds sway Where this state of
things exists our trees are more Wig
orous and the fruit finer, larger and
better colored than where we prac-
tice clean culture / was on my fruit
ranch last week and am delighted to
report that where the ground is COM
pletely covered with alfalfa, we were
picking the finest fruit l ever saw on
our ranch. We have shoulderei our
grubbing hoes and our shovels and
have retired from the battle with al
falfa. My experience with alfalfa in
our orchards is such that l was ready
fully to endorse the statement of DIR.
Blalock that alfalfa is far better in
an orchard after it is well established
tudn CIcdu culture.
1t must not be overlooked that this
growing of alfalfa in our orchards, or
any other kind of legumes, or even
weeds, con not be done unless there
is plenty of water. From this it can
be seen that the best results from
growing alfalfa in our orchards will
be possible where we irrigate and
have a good and constant supply of
water. Every living plant on our soils
must use up a certain amount of
water. Statistics show that for every
ton of dry matter produced an aver
age of 325 tons of water must be
used. ct me give an extract from the
valuable book entitled THE Soil"
by Professor F. H. King: "Hellriegel
found, through experiments conduct
ed in Prussia, that the amount of
water withdrawn from the soil and
given to the air, almost wholly
through the plant, were as follows:
Barley used 80 pounds of water for
each pound of dry matter produced,
summer rye 353 pounds, oats 376
poundsfi summer wheat 33S pounds,
horse beans 2S2 pounds, peas 273
pounds. red clover 80 pounds and
buckwheat 363 pounds of water for
one pound of dry matter produced.
This is at the mean rate of 325 tons
of water for each ton of dry matter
produced. Page 1856. 1t must be
remembered that the mineral salts
in the soil must be dissolved by
water before they can enter the
root hairs and the newer parts of the
roots and then must be carried by
water into the leaves, where these
salts combine with the carbon COM
ing from the air through the open
ings in the leaves and then most of
this water passes out through these
openings in the leaves into the aid
by evaporation. This gives us an
idea of the function of water in
plant life and gives us an idea of the
enormous amount of water needed in
all plant growth. We must not,
therefore, overload our soils with
vegetable growth unless we have an
abundant supply by rainfall or by ir-
rigation.