Imperial Valley press., 1917-12-08
WHEAT AREA IN
VALLEY SH0OLD
Be { X TENDED
UNIVERSITY CIRCULAR EX-
HORTS FARMERS TO EXTEND
THEIR WHEAT PLANTING AS
PART OF THEIR WAR-WINNING
BIT.
More Than 10000 Acres in the No.
3 Water District Could Be Planted
to Wheat, Says University Writer
in a Pamphlet Just Received at
This Office.

Imperial Valley Is not doing it's best
in wheat raising according to I'm
versty circular received at the County
Farm Bureau yesterday.
The circular, entitled "ENtending
the Area of Irrigated Wheat in Cali
fcrnia in 1918," sdvs in part:
"Increase in the irrigated wheat
acreage in Imperial Valley in 1918
will be almost ntirely a matter of
propaganda. Of 401 .O00 crop acres
irrigated in this valley in 1917, $4,000
acres were in barley and only 1920
acres in wheat. The area under the
ten mutual companies Of the valley
stated to be normally available for
grain growing under irrigation in 1913
approximates $4,000 acres. which, of
course, does not include in excess Of
100000 acres of land now in other an
nual crops than grain; nor does it in
clude at least 10000 acres of unde-
veloped land under Mutual Water
Company No. 3. Yet without an &C.
tive wheat campaign in the Valley,
and, in addition, unless supply Of
satisfactory seed is made available,
it is not likely that the irrigated wheat
acreage there in 1918 will be large.
Some in the valley are emphatically
opposed to wheat growing there, pre-
vious failures due to rust and poor
seed being fresh in mind. On TIE
other hand, number Of farmers there
believe in wheat and the growers of
the 1920 acres of irrigated wheat in
1917 report satisfactory yield. Fur
thermore, experiments at the Imper.
ial Valley experiment station Of the
University show response to irri-
CATION by wheat exceeding that by
barley. Yields as high as 35 to 81
bushels per acre have been obtained
with irrigated White Australian wheat
at the Imperial experiment station
and in consequence and after careful
observations of the behavior of wheat
under irrigation in this valley, those
in charge have advised that on the
better soil of the valley wheat is like
ly to be more profitable than barley.
Conditions in Imperial Valley there
fore seem ripe for substantial in
crease in wheat production is deemed
necessary to make up the states al
lotted quota.
"There is no good reason why un-
der a normal water year the entire
increased wheat production called for
from California by the national pro-
gram could not be produced, if deemed
desirable, under irrigation. Decision
No. 4278 of the State Railroad Com
mission, applying to water utilities,
and Chapter 191, Session Laws of
California, 1917, applying to mutual
water companies, open the way for
furnishing water for emergency use
on wheat and other annual crops
where previously this might have been
impracticable. Availability of fall or
winter water for wheat irrigation un-
der a number of our valley projects
makes it possible to irrigate large
acreage, and thus furnish consider
able measure of insurance against
spring drouth, if the landowners are so
disposed. At least 100000 acres of
California land now lying idle, or
nearly so, or first to be ready for
cultivation in 1918, will be open to ir-
rigated wheat in 1918 except to the
extent that local conditions not dis
closed by our survey make wheat pro-
duction impracticable or unwise. Some
of this will probably not be farmed
in 1918 unless purchasers or tenants
are found. Certainly out of all the
areas indicated, irrigated can very ef-
fectively aid the war wheat program
for the coming wear.