Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1920-10-08
eEcLAIMiNG DESERT LAND
Written by Herbert A. shearer.

!, forty acres in Idaho, we were an
;ous to grow crops of sufficient value
meet our future payments.
We soon learned how to grub sage
brush and to grade the ground for
% irrigation. but it was not easy to raise
enough of any one crop to make a
living and have a surplus. However,
he were fortunate in having a neigh
bor who understood the soil and cli-
hate of the Snake River Valley and
b. advised us to seed all of our land
with Red and Alsike clovers. Our
uccess is due largely to his good ad-
Nice"
This introduction to the work of
making good farm home was given
be within sight of the present city of
Irwin Falls. The land was bought for
Sixty dollars per acre. 1t is paid for
but of the rturns from the crops.
Red Glover is the first crop to grow
b. raw sage brush land under irriga-
ion for the following reasons: A
e eat deal of the land in irrigated
d stricts lacks nitrogen. but it is rich
szs b all the other elements of plant food
S uch soil always is deficient n humus
lover supplies both humus and nitro
gen, so that after growing clover for
4tNvo or three years, those volcanic ash
soils will produce immense crops of
cereals. In the meantime the Glover
supplies considerable psture and a
large crop of excellent seed. Seeu
grown under irrigation in a dry at
mosphere usually has strong germi-
mating qualities.
The Twin Falls section in Southern
Idaho. where a great deal of clover is
grown for seed lies at an altitude of
about 1000 feet. 1t is hardly possible
to cut a full crop of hay and then to
obtain good crop of seed from the
second cutting. It works best to pas
ture the clover until about the first
or middle of June then run over the
feld with the moving machine
ls Bumble~ bees are new in the Twin
section of Idaho. The came al
most simultaneously with the first
lover. They are there in great num-
hers now, working in the fields all
summer. making thetr nests along
road sides and in waste places near
@ Irrigation bitches and their chief work
| is to pollinate the blossoms of red
& clover.
"a When the clover is properly handl-
# ed the yield of seed in the Twin Falls
"a section often measured up to six or
eight bushels per acre. Il is notice
haze eight bushels of seed the sane
# wear that the neighbor thr ,shas two
6 bushels from a similar stand on the
same kind of Land.
On the western slope of The Rocky
Ncuniains there is little Or no rain
s during the summer so thlt clover
seed may lie grown and harye-..;, and
hulled without interference from the
~ Gather. Because the land is new
"a here are few damaging insec-s. An
pther advantage in the irrigst ted sect
ion is that water may be turned on as
needed so that clover never suffers !
from drought. 1t may be given good
start early and the water withheld !
later until the ground is rather cIy
which condition is favorable to the
maturing seed because a mature
plant will exhaust its last resources
to produce itself when threatened !
with famine.
In all clover seed sections the time !
of cutting the first crop for hay has
"a good deal to do withthe amount of
seed. The value of early cutting de-
bends on a number of different
& peculiarities of the clover plant and
the insects that infest clover fields.
< In one experiment cutting one side
pf field of clover for hay the fifteen
'8th of June resulted in a yield of five
bushels of seed per acre in August.
Another part of the same field, not
sSeut for hay until the twentieth of
sfJune yielded per acre less than two
bushels of seed which was not ready
20 harvest until September.
4 There are various reasons to ac-
.zeount for this difference. In the
s%ppinon of practical men the vitality
III the clover plant is one OF the main
zzfeasons why early clipping encourages
*eed production in the second growth.
~ )uring the period while the flower
Soeads are developing on clover
~ Iant, when the heads contain seed,
vitality is used up than at an,
pther time during the life of the plant.
IA naturall follows that if clover be
"a 'ipped before the heads are formed
&C vitality of the plant, viii so to-
2N Yards new strong growth and the pro-