Imperial Valley press., 1927-09-22
AUGUST REPORT
GIVEN BY DE TAR

: Report of the work of the Agri
cultural Extension Service work in
TINS county was submitted to the
Board of Supervisors at its meeting
this week by Farm Advisor V. W.
DeTar Of particular importance dur
ing the month were the visits of
Prof. ". w. Maekic and Prof. w. W.
Weir. of the University Of Califor-
MIA, who respectively inspected the
rice fields of Imperial Valley and
tle experiments being made in re.
claiming alkali fields by teaching
The report, DeTar stated. is unusua.
lly brief due to Angus. being the
vacation month.
y summary of the various activi.
ties s given in the following sum,
nr4ry: number of miles travelled by
auto, 1920 nun.rcr o. FARMERS visit
od, So; number of persons calling at
the office for agricultural advice,
So number of persons given agri-
cultural advice by telephone. II;
number of letters written. 4S; num-
ter of meetings held, 4 F.; number at
tending these meetings. 50.
Professor w. n. Mackie of the
University of California and the AS.
sistant Farm Advisor visited most
Of til" rice fields III the valley about
the middl, OF August. Nearly all
late piantings (Julv) were almost a
total failure. Earlier paintings on
a'kali gru~sl whicl received inter
nittent irrigations al the start, also
failed. The earlier plantings on good
20 medium land which received in
termittent irrigations have fairly
good stands, but also contain a great
0eal of water grass. Paintings made
from June 9TH, to June 25th. and re-
ceiNIng continuous irrigation ap-
Feared the best. Professor Mackie
thought such fields were comparable
t. the average rice fields in the
Sacramento Valley. Unfortunately
several very dangerous rice weeds
have been introduced into the Imp
eTial Valley this year with seed from
the Sacramento Valley. These and
ether facts were presented by Prof
essor Mackie at two Rice Growers
Meetings attended by 81 people.
2isconragins Results
Several alkali fields where reclaim
alton has been attempted by leach
iLg were visited late in August in
company with Professor w. W. Weir
Of the Division of Soils of the Uni
yorsity of California. The results on
several fields with heavy soil appear
rather discouraging. One large field
las not Yet subsequently, been put
into crop. Until the results can be
cscertained on this field it does not
appear advisable to attempt leach
ing without the growing of some crop
such as rice, excepting possibly on
very soft sandy soil having excellent
under drainage.
A day was spent with DR.. Wehber
of tie Citrus Experiment Station
and a committee of the Imperial
County Farm Bureau in studying the
different kinds and varieties of
fruit growing in the valley. DR.. Web.
her expressed a desire to carry on Il
more comprehensive survey to de
termine which of the fruits now
growing here should be propagated.
He stated that he hoped to estab-
lish grapefruit root stock expert
ment here in the spring Of 1923.
Milton Warne who has been test
rg in Unit = of the Cow Testing
Association resigned on August 9th,
to return to college. Stanley F. Aich-
folz has been employed to handle
the testing. Mr.. Aichholz is well re-
{ commended and it is believed that
he will he able to successfully handle
the work.
During August ~ dairy herds con-
tanning Ii cows were tested in the
ln'Nrrial County Cow Testing AS
sociation. Their average production
Was 606 pounds Of milk and 245
pounds Of butterfat per cow for the
month.