Arizona republican., 1918-01-31
Where the People
 May Have Hearing

The Dairy and the Cotton Industries The Arizona Republican,
 Gentlemen:
 l beg to take exception to several | vital points in an article appearing in l The Republican of Jan. IS: Dairy In- dustry Works Well with Cotton When Properly Cultivated" by MT. S. D. Ely. | The gentleman states that our COWS | do not receive sufficient protein and he | intimates that our soils lack sufficient | organic matter to produce feeds of high | protein content. He further says that | weak body, poor texture, lack of high | aroma and insipid taste of our butter and cheese is traceable to that low per- centage of protein in our dairy feeds"
 If our friend who has been for | eighteen years actively engaged in the | science and practice of the creamery and dairy industry" and who for the past ninety days has been making cot ton investigations, had spent ninety minutes in research he would not have made the above statements.
 The cows of this valley for the most part are fed alfalfa. solely, the forage plant richest in protein matter Were it not for the weeds they get, they would likely suffer from an excess of protein.
 We will grant our soils defective in organic matter and while such a condi- ton makes for small crops, the protein content of such crops is practically the same for all soils.
 Whether or not we who are not eX- pert in the science and practice of the creamery industry will grant the above nal attributes of our creamery pro- ducts, our friend must look for some other cause than the lack of protein in our feed
 Cotton seed meal however, has a | place In our dairy ration. High pro- | ducing cows cannot eat sufficient bulky ! feed to maintain a high milk flow for | any considerable length of time and for such cows d little cotton seed meal | is very desira ble
 | MT. Ely's remarks on soil chemistry require elucidation, to say the least. He states that lime neutralizes the action or alkaii on the germ of the cotton | seed. Authorities have expressed this idea- But lest wrong impression be | gwen, would say that alkalis consist of the chlorides, sulphates and carbonates of sodium. magnesium and calcium, tlime is calcium oxide.) Hence it would be wise to go slow in applying lime to alkall soils. Perhaps our friend had gypsum, (calcium sulphate) in mind when he spoke of lime. This has been used to rid soils of excesses of black alkall Sodium carbonate) by changing the latter to white alkali, Sodium sul- phateO No chemical has been found to | neutralize white alkali in soils satis- | 1actorlly. So, if we had some white all kall to begin with, changing the black to white. may bring the total amount of white alkali to the killing point. In excess one alkali does as much harm as | another.
 do not say that lime may not be de- slrable for some of our soils, its func- tion here being a physiological rather than chemical one merely to loosen up competed clay or adobe soils.
 IT lining were desirable. MT. Ely tells US that bale of cotton contains o9 pounds of lime, and yet he only ad vlses applying 50 pounds an acre. Fur thermore, much of this lime will he washed out by the irrigation he adyo- cates following the drilling of the lime
 MT. Ely refers to the supplying of our soils with organic matter by the irrigation water. I should like to see hgures giving the amount of decayed Vegetative matter carried to our lands each year by our relatively clear ditch water.
 Yours truly.
 c. WINFIELD HARTRANFT Estrella Ranch, Jan 29.
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 THE BIG LOT SALE THURS DAY. MESA, ARIZONA-Ady. II