The Arizona Sentinel

TIMELY HINTS
FOR FARMERS.

A Lesson in Intensive Farming by R.H. Forbes, Director and Chemist of Agricultural Experiment Station University of Arizona, January 15, 1907.

Just west of Yuma, Arizona, in the alluvial flood-plain of the Colorado, lies a little farm of 7.2 acres which on May 1, 1905, was virgin bottomland, covered with saltweed, arrow-brush and creosote bushes. The original purpose of the tract was for planting selected varieties of date palms imported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture from the Old World. The Experiment Station began preparing the ground, and on May 20 the work of levelling, bordering and irrigating the tract and the planting of 152 palms, was completed.

THE PLAN OF WORK

Recognizing, however, that a farmer with his living to make meantime, cannot afford to wait for an orchard to come into bearing, it was planned to plant crops for quick returns between the tree-rows, thus putting the work on a feasible basis from the small farmer's point of view. In order to economize ground the irrigating borders were so placed as to coincide with the rows of palms, thus utilizing space otherwise usually wasted. The tract was divided by the borders into lands, for the most part one-half an acre in size. Irrigating water from the Colorado Valley P. & I. Canal was obtained in the customary manner and E.L. Crane, himself a Yuma Valley farmer, undertook the care of what was nicknamed our "play farm."

In size, as well as in the intensive character of the work planned, this "farm" is the opposite of the average holdings of this locality. The prevailing crops of the region are alfalfa, corn, barley, and forages in general, comparatively little attention being given to vegetables and fruits. Withal, the cost of levelling land in this region is high, rarely falling below twenty dollars an acre at current prices for labor and teams. Moreover, the cost, exclusive of maintenance, of the Government irrigating system now under construction will be about $3.50 an acre annually for ten years. To meet these and other heavy items of expense in connection with the establishment of a farm in this region, intensive crops of a more remunerative character than those now in vogue, are essential. It was partly, therefore, as an object lesson bearing upon these financial aspects of the general situation that this cultural work was planned.

RECLAMATION OF THE GROUND.

The soil of our tract, a warm, sandy loam well adapted to gardening operations, was levelled, ditched and bordered at a contract price of $17.25 an acre, considerably less than the average for the locality, reckoning the labor of men and teams at current rates. In addition, barbed wire and posts for fencing cost $60.10; lumber for headgates cost $39.57; a drive well point and pipe, a pitcher-spout pump and a barrel, $13.45; a small lumber two-room house, including five and one-half days carpenter hire, $152.75; and a brush-roof shelter for horses, about $5.00. Only skilled labor employed in levelling, bordering and ditching the ground, and for part construction of the house, is included in the above estimates, as the common labor required ordinarily would be, and in this case was, furnished by the farmer himself.

To bring this ground under cultivation and make it habitable for a small farmer and his family, as stated above, therefore required a cash outlay of about $400.00. In addition, in the average instance must be included a team, wagon, plow, harrow, haying equipment, shovels, hoes and other small tools.

CROPS AND MARKETS.

The crops selected for the season of 1906 were Early Rose potatoes, White Bermuda onions, Rockyford cantaloupes, Dwarf Champion and Burpee's Quarter Century tomatoes, and alfalfa, besides a few hills of watermelons and sundry vegetables.

The produce was marketed in Yuma with the exception of tomatoes, which, for the largest part, were expressed to Tucson and Bisbee. The following statements for the various crops are on the basis of net cash returns to the small farmer, who with an average family of five and a team of horses is assumed to do the work required, as explained below. Items necessitating cash outlay, as seed, irrigating water, and crates are deducted from gross returns. Water costs an average of 50 cents for irrigation per acre for the crops grown. The yields in certain instances are low, due to the unimproved condition of the soil, which, like desert soils in general, was low in nitrogen and organic matter. Some small salty areas also affected yields locally.

White Bermuda onions; .47 acres; Seed planted Sept. 27-Oct. 3, 1905. Young onions transplanted, Feb. 5-9, 1906. Crop matured about June 1. Yield, 3916 pounds of dry onions. Highest price received, 2½c a pound; lowest price received, 1.8c a pound. Entire crop marketed in Yuma.

Cash outlay. Cash returns.
Seed. $ 2.88
9 Irrigations in seed bed and 3.50
8 irrigations in field, about
Sacks and sundry, about.... 2.56
3916 pounds of onions at 2.5- $73.24
1.8c
Net cash returns, not de- $64.30
ducting labor

The amount of labor expended upon this crop was large for the area, especially at the transplanting time. One day's team work in preparing the land and about 32 days' men's time, were required to bring it through, although the work was not heavy and could have been largely performed by boys. The yield was low owing to the desert and unfertilized character of the soil, onions requiring large amounts of organic matter in the soil to give good results.

Early Rose potatoes; .51 acres: Seed potatoes planted Feb. 16-19, 1906. Beginning to bloom April 13. Crop all harvested June 13. Yield, 2615 pounds. Highest price, May 24, 3½c. Bulk of crop, 2¼c. All marketed in Yuma.

Cash outlay. Cash returns
250 pounds seed-potatoes and $ 8.03
freight on same....
Irrigating water for sesbania 2.98
used as fertilizer....
2 irrigations for crop.... .84
Formaline for scab, including 1.00
express.
2615 pounds of potatoes at $70.00
3½-2¼c.
Net cash returns, not deduct- $57.15
ing labor

The amount of labor required for the crop itself was about 15 working days, with team 1½ days. The sesbania used as green manuring on the west half of the potato ground was given 17 irrigations. Bermuda grass, moreover, flourished beneath the sesbania to such an extent as subsequently to require 23 days labor for cleaning up the .45 acres so fertilized. Although the larger part of the crop came from the sesbania fertilized portion of the potatoes, this method of enriching the soil proved very costly, 27 days man's time and 3 days team-work being required to put the sesbania under and afterwards get rid of the Bermuda grass. Nevertheless, the labor entailed could easily have been managed by a careful farmer, as the Bermuda digging was done in January when other work was not urgent.

Tomatoes. Dwarf Champion and Burpee's Quarter Century: .52 acres: Seed planted in cold-frame, Feb. 1, 1906. Transplanted to field, March 12-15. First ripe tomatoes, June 10. Last of marketable crop, Sept. 8. Yield, first class, 11282 pounds: second class, salable, 2219 pounds: waste most of which could have been canned, 1810 pounds. Total crop of 3300 vines, 15311 pounds or 4.6 pounds, gross, to the vine. Highest price received, 10c for a single pound on June 10. Bulk of first-class crop sold during July in Tucson and Bisbee markets, at 6½ to 4½c f.o.b. Yuma. Second class crop sold locally down to 2c.

Cash outlay. Cash returns.
Seed 1.72
18 irrigations, ½ acre 4.50
438 crates for shipments to 66.50
Tucson and Bisbee..
13531 pounds of tomatoes at $624.60*
10c to 2c
Net cash returns, not deduct- $551.88
ing labor.......

*Not including $14.60, failed to collect.

Until the last of June this crop required but little labor. During the shipping season, however, four persons were employed on about half time in picking, packing and shipping the crop. The entire labor requirements for the crop were, men's time, 85 days; women and boys, 38 days; and team 10 days, the heaviest demand upon labor being during July. Dwarf Champion and Burpee's Quarter Century yielded about equally well, both being of the dwarf bushy sorts best adapted to this climate. Barn yard manure was used under the double rows, otherwise the ground was unfertilized save by the muddy irrigating water used.

Rockyford cantaloupes; 1 acre: Seed planted March 7-9, 1906. Cold, backward season resulting in thin stand equal to about three-fourths of an acre. Crop picked July 5 to Sept. 7. Yield 780 dozen, sold locally at from 35c to 15c a dozen.

Cash outlay. Cash returns.
1 pound seed.. 1.00
16 irrigations. 8.00
780 dozen cantaloupes at 35c $144.60
to 15c
Net cash returns, not deduct- $135.60
ing labor.....

The labor on this crop was light, but in this case time consuming, because of inconvenient arrangements for marketing. There were employed on the crop 31 days men's time; 8 days women and boys; and 2 days team, not otherwise included. The crop was fertilized with barn yard manure in about three-fourths of the hills, and, as stated above, the stand was poor. The results of this acre are therefore conservative.

Watermelons and sundry small items of produce were sold locally to the amount $15.65

Seed and irrigating water, about $ 2.00
Leaving a cash return of about.. 13.65

Alfalfa: 1.70 acres: This was sown May 18, 1905, yielding three cuttings of about five tons of cured hay the first season. During the second season, covered by this Timely Hint, there were seven cuttings with a total of about 20 tons of hay. The only cash outlay was $22.41 for irrigating water. The labor required was, man's time, 14 days and team nine days, which is rather high labor requirement for this alfalfa on account of the small size of the field under consideration, and limited use of machinery. This crop at $5.00 to $10.00 a ton, loose, which has been the price this season, represents a cash return of not less than $100.00 for the crop; but this hay was used to feed the team employed on the place, proving to be more than sufficient for that purpose, since a stack of about three tons remains at the end of the season. The manure from this source, being free from Bermuda grass seed, was especially valuable for fertilizing a part of the crops grown.