The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1910-07-05

Best to Count on LeveIing Of
Land for Econor"icaI Irrigation
Fall Flowing 10 Preferable and II
Should Not 30 More Than Five to
Seven Inches Deep-Harrow-
Ing Should Follow Quickly.
(By JOHN U. M'PHERsON.)

+ -
Land first cleared and then leveled
always settles more or less unevenly
after the first seasons irrigation and
consequently 1t Is generally best to
count on the permanent leveling Of
the land for economical irrigation Of
such permanent crops as alfalfa,
clover or orchard after some cereal
crop has been grown and the land is
irrigated during the first year.
AS soon as possible after the land
has been cleared of sage brush either
In the fall, winter or very early
spring. the fall being preferable, 1t
should be plowed If the clearing is
done In the fall. and the soil is in con-
dition for fall blowing 1t is better to
pillow then, provided, of course, the
soil Is not of leachy nature. The
blowing of land for the first time is
not done very deep, that is, not more
than five to seven inches, in order that
the top or humus soil may not be
turned too deep and the roots of the
plants, during their early growth, may
have the advantage Of the humus.
1t is probably preferable to pillow
the first year with mold board
pillow on land where surface rock may
not interfere, though l have seen sue
cessful first year crops grown on land
plowed with disk plows; in fact, our
entire acreage was done with disk
plows this year and good crop re-
suits were gotten. W
Narrowing as a general rule should
be done as soon after blowing as pos
sible. The ideal condition after spring
blowing Is to harrow each day the
blowing that has been done on that
day, and where an individual is farm
ing a small acreage you will find it
about as economical and very essen
ttal In the conserving of the moisture
I to follow this plan. OF course, in
large acreages, this ideal condition
Is not practical. but the next thing
to 1t Is the narrowing just as soon
after the blowing as possible.
AS general rule 1t is better to har-
row the land at once each way. This
pulverizes the soil, conserves the
moisture, and makes better seed bed
than narrowing once, though we
found 1t necessary with the large
work we had In hand this year to
harrow some of our land once only
and substantial first year crops were
produced.
Either disk or spike tooth harrow
is used in this work with good results
with preference for the disk harrow
where the soil Is tough and cloddy.
1t has been unnecessary in the
sandy soils to do any narrowing, but
instead of the floats which are used In
leveling and which l will describe
later. Immediately follow the blowing
About as important as any one oil
the operations In connection with
cereal production on the first yeal
land is the leveling. Where the lane
Is extremely uneven, it. is a goot
plan to take of the high bumpy spots
either with graders or fresnos, filling
up the low spots before any plowint
is done, and covering the spots where
the top soil has been taken off will
well rotted manure-provided that /.
available.
Where, however. land in general i,
comparatively even, the leveling fol
lows the blowing and narrowing, ant
! is simply process Of floating with
home-built leveler, of different size
according to the amount of work t,
J be done, and the amount of stock t.
be used. This floating is not don
with any idea Of doing more thai
giving the land general evenness O
surface on the existing slope in som
|. one or two definite directions so tina
the water will have a general slop
without humps or hollows to check it
flow.
Too much time cannot be given t
the proper leveling of land as it bt
' comes a permanent asset to the farr
( just as do buildings, and it reduces tn
: irrigation cost propOrtionally.