Elmore County Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1910-1915, 1912-02-03

(3) Diyerslficatlon OF Farm
crops-where farm is all devot-
ed to one crop, as grain, hay or
potatoes, the greatest need for wa
ter usually falls within a compare
lively short time, and there is but
little use for it during the rest of
the season, while by diversifying
his crops, the farmers need for
water will be more constant and
he is better able to make good
use of continuous flow of the
ditch throughout the season.
"a Use of Rotation-It is well
known to most irrigators that
little can be accomplished by
irrigating with small heads of
water and a much larger and
better use is secured from the
water where larger heads can be
used. Rotation systems, by means
oi which a farmer can exchange
water with his neighbor and use
larger heads for shorter periods,
are now being used with success in
many localities and the saving
of water is very material.
90 Preparation of the land
Maximum crop production can
not be secured without a uniform
wetting of the soil and this is i'm
possible if the land is not proper
ly prepared and leyeled for irri-
cation. Rough, uneven land, it
is plain to see, requires more wa
ter than smooth land, for it has
to be held on the land long enough
to soak up the high spots. Care
ful preparation OF the land is an
absolute necessity If the best use
is to be secured from the water.
(6)Kind Of crop grown whether
cultivated or non-cultivated and
length of season that it needs
water have a very direct bearing
upon the amount Of water that
will be required by the crop.
Spring grains, on account of their
short season of growth require
considerably less water than al
falfa which grows from early
spring until late fall. Winter
grains, all other things being
equal, require less irrigation
water than spring grains, because
of their ability to utilize more of
the moisture deposited in the soil
from winter preciitation. A crop
that can be cultivated will need
considerably less water than a
non-eultiyated one because of the
great saving that can be made
by the reduction of the evapora-
ton through cultivation.
1t is as easy to apply too much
water as it is to apply too little
and every bit as harmful. The
experiments carried on this year
at Goodlng show up the results
OF over-irrigation very clearly.
We had Il different plots Of
wheat consisting OF 3 varieties of
7 plots each. These were planted
and handled in exactly the same
manner except that different
amounts Of water were applied
to each plot, all three varieties be-
ing handled alike as a check on
one another. The water applied
to each of the three series Of
plots was varied all the way from
nothing upon the first plot Of
each series, to an average depth
OF approximately 212 feet where
the greatest amount was applied.
With the dry farming whore no
water was applied, thu. yield
was approximately 1000 pounds
per acre. AS the amount of water
was increased the yield also in
creased rapidly until the plot re-
ceived an application of approx
lmately IL feet made yield of
lo0Opounds per acre, after which
the yield decreased rapidly until
the plot received an application
OF from l.6 to II feet yielded less
on the average that that which
received no water at all. This
shows strikingly the effects Of
over irrigation on wheat and shows
in addition as do all of the other
experiments that we have carried
on, that spring grains do not re-
qulre much water. Alfalfa and
clover throughout all of the ex-
periments have responded to the
use OF larger amounts of water
and have been found to require
fully 30 per cent more than grains.
Space or time will not permit me
to go more in detail In regard to
the experiments which have been
carried on hut anVonn who 10 in