Life Sciences Commons^™

Bulletin No. 176 - Potato Improvement By Hill Selection, George Stewart

UAES Bulletins

Potatoes are such an important food and are grown on so many farms in Utah that any method of permanently improving the crop is highly desirable. Commercial producers can of course capitalize any practical method of potato improvement.

This field of experimentation is not new, for many workers have attempted to improve the potato crop by selection. Success, however, has been neither uniform nor always appreciable; many of the experiments were of short duration, and many were not conducted on a sufficiently large scale to be good tests. It is apparent from this meager statement that the possibilities" of potato …

Circular No. 43 - Feeding Work Horses, W. E. Carroll

UAES Circulars

The intelligent feeding of the work horses of the State of Utah would save each year thousands of dollars in feed and prevent sickness and death of hundreds of horses.

In Circular 32 of this station a brief discussion is given of some of the more theoretical aspects of the feeding of farm animals as they might apply in general to all classes of livestock. Consideration is given to such questions as the composition and digestibility of feeds, the uses to which the digested portions are put in the animal body, the calculation and balancing of rations, how to judge …

Bulletin No. 175 - Sixteen Years Of Dry Farm Experiments In Utah, F. S. Harris, A. F. Bracken, I. J. Jensen

UAES Bulletins

The demand for reliable information on dry-farming is increasing every year. As the area that is being cropped by dry-farm methods extends to less favorable regions, it becomes necessary to utilize the most effective methods of culture. In choice dry-farm sections crops may be produced without special care; but when an attempt is made to farm where the rainfall is low or where other conditions are not favorable, it becomes necessary to use every possible means of moisture conservation in order to get satisfactory yields.

Since the demand for information is so insistent, it seems desirable at this time to …

Bulletin No. 174 - A Variety Survey And Descriptive Key Of Small Grains In Utah, George Stewart

UAES Bulletins

Standardization of the varieties of small-grains in Utah is highly important. A mixed condition of grain causes both direct loss and inconvenience. The loss comes about in two principal ways: (1) by the decreased yields resulting from mixed grain, and (2) by the lower price paid for each bushel of mixed grain. This latter loss is especially noticeable in wheat on account of the grading system which penalizes mixed wheat by reducing the grade or by barring it from one of the six market classes and designating it as "mixed" wheat. The inconvenience arises from the fact that some varieties …

Bulletin No. 172 - The Value Of Barnyard Manure On Utah Soils, F. S. Harris

UAES Bulletins

New countries rarely appreciate the value of barnyard manure. It is not until the soil begins to be depleted of its fertility and the yield of crops begins to decline that manure is given the attention that its value justifies. In new countries it is not uncommon to see manure hauled into a rut in the road or left in scattered heaps along the roadside or the ditch bank. Often a year's accumulation of manure is drawn out of the barn or corral in scrapers and added to a pile containing the accumulation of previous years.

Bulletin No. 173 - The Duty Of Water In Cache Valley, Utah, F. S. Harris

UAES Bulletins

The greater part of this bulletin is devoted to a report of experiments on the relation of the amount of irrigation water applied to the yield of crops. As the agriculture of Utah develops, it becomes more obvious each year that the chief factors limiting the production of crops is irrigation water. It is desirable, therefore, to have available all possible information on the subject. Water is so scarce that none should be wasted either directly or by attempting to spread it over so much land that it is not economically applied. Wasteful extravagance on the one hand and undue …

Bulletin No. 171 - Alfalfa Seed Growing And The Weather: With Particular Reference To Conditions In Utah, J. Cecil Alter

UAES Bulletins

The demand for alfalfa seed has far outrun domestic production. Since the labor and expense of producing the crop are light, and the profits attractive in favorable years, a desire is manifest wherever alfalfa is grown, to save a crop for seed whenever the meteorological elements favor its setting and maturing. Climate is generally acknowledged to be the limiting factor in alfalfa seed production, and the current weather the major factor affecting the yearly yields.

Circular No. 41 - Soil Alkali, F. S. Harris

UAES Circulars

The farmer of the West is likely to be very much upset at the mention of alkali, mineral, or salt, in connection with his land. These various names are applied to a condition which he usually knows little about except that it is bad. The exact nature of the substances called by these names and the character of the injuy caused by them are very vague in his mind; but he knows that he wants nothing to do with alkali if he can help it.

The prevalence of alkali throughout the arid parts of the world makes it impossible for …

Bulletin No 81 - The Improvement Of Pastures With Notes On The Pasture Trefoils In Western Australia, E. A. Mann, D. A. Herbert

Bulletins 1 - 2999

Agriculture can be roughly divided for practical purposes into two large divisions, those of animal husbandry and vegetable husbandry. It is with the former that this pamphlet is chiefly concerned and its object is to contribute, it possible, in some small measure towards the problem of how to increase time stock carrying capacity of our natural pasture lands. it is unnecessary to dwell upon the importance of this question, especially in relation to the remarkable developments which are taking place in time wool-growing industry in the Southern and more coastal areas of Western Australia.

Heritable Characters Of Maize Ii.-Pistillate Flowered Maize Plants, R. A. Emerson

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

In the "freak"

class at the Annual

Corn Show held at Lincoln, Nebraska,

in the winter of 1913-14,

there was exhibited a corn tassel

with a heavy setting of seeds. A few

seeds are not infrequently found in the

staminate inflorescence of maize, particularly

in pod com, and tillers of various

corn varieties often end in ears instead

of in tassels or have tassels, the central

spikes of which are ear like. The freak

exhibited at the com show, however,

was a large. much branched affair.

wholly tassel-like in form except for the

fact that it bore a heavy crop …

Bulletin No. 170 - A Study Of Methods Of Determining Soil Alkali, D. W. Pittman

UAES Bulletins

There is a great lack of uniformity in the methods of testing soils for alkali salts and in the forms of expressing the results in a way that will show the relative toxicity of the salts. This has been pointed out by numerous investigators and has been shown to complicate the determinations so much that the results of different investigators are hardly comparable. It is of further disadvantage in that the toxic limits of an alkali as worked out by one system of analysis are often difficultly applicable to a soil that has been tested by another system. However, it …

Bulletin No. 169 - The Use Of Alkali Water For Irrigation, F. S. Harris, N. I. Butt

UAES Bulletins

Because of the scanty rainfall of arid regions, the soluble materials in the rocks and soil are not leached out as they are where the rainfall is high. As a result, the accumulation of excessive quantities of soluble salts is likely to be a menace to arid soils. Farm practices must be directed toward preventing this condition.

Bulletin No. 168 - Relative Resistance Of Various Crops Ot Alkali, F. S. Harris, D. W. Pittman

UAES Bulletins

Plants show considerable variation in their resistance to soil alkali. Some varieties of native vegetation grow only where the salt content of the soil is high. Most of the cultivated plants, on the other hand, are injured very decidedly by the presence of large quantities of soluble salts. To this rule there are a few exceptions such as the date palm.

In most of the arid parts of the world there are sections where the presence of alkali is the chief limiting factor in crop growth. Millions of acres of land are in the border zone between complete freedom from …

Bulletin No. 166 - The Climate Of Utah, Frank L. West, N. E. Edlefsen

UAES Bulletins

Climate is of interest and importance to the scientist in general. It is particularly important to the investigator in the field of agriculture because growing crops are affected quite as much by sunlight, heat, rain, and frost as by the fertility of the soil. In field investigations these factors must be determined and reckoned with.

Bulletin No. 167 - The Irrigation Of Oats, F. S. Harris, D. W. Pittman

UAES Bulletins

It is well known to farmers that the oat plant is more sensitive to the moisture condition of the soil than are many of the other farm crops. For this reason oats find favor as an irrigated crop, since under irrigation the supply of water can be so easily controlled.

In order to secure the best results, it becomes necessary to know as much as possible about the moisture requirements of the various crops that are to be irrigated. This is particularly true of oats on account of their sensitiveness. The farmer should know at which period in the life …

Circular No. 40 - Potato Production, George Stewart

UAES Circulars

Potatoes were the first crop planted in Utah. In July, 1847, the Mormon pioneers turned the water from City Creek over the parched land near what is now the center of Salt Lake City. The ground was then broken and sown at once to potatoes. Only a small yield was obtained but this helped materially to eke out the meagre food supply until the harvest of 1848. During the several hard years that followed, potatoes were among the most important foods for the pioneer settlers. Since then, they have held a prominent place in the agriculture of the State. Just. …

Circular No. 36 - Practical Information On The Measurement Of Irrigation Water, O. W. Israelsen

UAES Circulars

The economical use of water in irrigation depends primarily on water measurement. That significant advantages, public and private, attend the measurement of water delivered to individual irrigators has long been recognized in older irrigated countries. The rapidly increasing utilization of Utah's available water supply, the consequent increase in its value, and the tendency on the newer canal systems to base the annual irrigation charges on the amount of water used make an understanding of the methods of water measurement an absolute necessity. Furthermore, many irrigators now realize that the vast store of information concerning the relations of water, soils, and …

Circular No. 37 - Field Beans, George Stewart

UAES Circulars

Tho a new crop in Utah, field beans promise to become of considerable importance. By this, it is not meant that Utah will soon be a leading bean-producing commonwealth. Nevertheless, the next few years will witness a rapid development of the bean-growing industry.

Their leguminous characteristics make beans a valuable crop in rotation systems. This is particularly true now that the virgin condition of our soils will soon disappear where it has not already done so. Beans are adapted both to dry-farming and to irrigation; their growing season is relatively short, permitting the fall planting of wheat after their harvest; …

The Roundheaded Apple-Tree Borer, Fred E. Brooks

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

The Apple Tree has no more destructive insect enemy than the roundheaded apple-tree borer. It is the grub of a rather large white and brown striped beetle, which usually requires from two to three years to complete its life cycle.

It is found throughout the eastern half of the United States and southeastern Canada, attacks trees of all ages, but is most destructive to young trees up to 10 years old.

Besides the apple, it attacks the quince and pear among cultivated fruits, and the wild crab, service, mountain ash, chokeberry, seedling apple, and some other wild or native trees. …

Circular No. 34 - Sugar-Beet Production In Utah, F. S. Harris, N. I. Butt

UAES Circulars

Utah is one of the pioneers in the beet-sugar industry. The first sugar factory was brought into the State in 1852, but, like all the early attempts to produce sugar from beets in the United States, the enterprise was unsuccessful. In 1891 a factory was erected at Lehi when there were less than a half a dozen factories in the United States. From this time on Utah has been one of the few states of the Union important in the manufacture of beet sugar. Since soil, climate, irrigation, and labor conditions are favorable to the crop, it is probable that …

Circular No. 35 - Licensed Stallions In Utah During The Season Of 1918, W. E. Carroll

UAES Circulars

The operations of the State Board of Horse Commissioners have been somewhat restricted during the season just closed, due to many of the Deputy Veterinarians having entered the service of the War Department. Being thus handicapped, the Board has been unable to cover the State as completely as was desired or to respond to calls immediately in all cases.

During this season it has not been necessary to refuse a single license because of the unsoundness of the animal involved. This is a marked improvement over the condition' reported last season when it was necessary to refuse licenses to eleven …

Circular No. 38 - Legislation Concerning Water-Rights, O. W. Israelsen

UAES Circulars

The proper utilization of the agricultural resources of the West is today of greater importance than ever before. It is estimated that not more than 10 per cent of the total area of the West can be irrigated when every drop of available water is economically utilized. In Utah alone there are approximately twelve million acres of arable land, only one million acres of which are now irrigated. Moreover, it is likely that the fullest development that can be made through the most economical use of the total water supply in Utah, will make possible the irrigation of only three …

Circular No. 39 - A Day At The Utah Agricultural Experiment Station, M. C. Merrill, O. W. Israelsen, Byron Alder

UAES Circulars

From the days when Indian chieftains with their hostile bands roamed the sagebrush areas of Utah down to the present, nature's forces have been subdued by many a daring and successful conquest thru the intelligence and unyielding perseverance of Utah's pioneers. Since its establishment, the energies of the Agricultural Experiment Station have been directed toward a continuance of this conquest.

Bulletin No. 165 - Labor Costs And Seasonal Distribution Of Labor On Irrigated Crops In Utah Valley, L. G. Connor

UAES Bulletins

This bulletin presents in tabular form the results of a detailed study of the labor cost of crop production, made in 1915. Principally in Utah Lake Valley, Utah, in connection with a study of farm management and farm profits in the Provo area, Utah Lake Valley. It is designed to bring out the weak as well as the strong points in the systems of farming followed. The seasonal distribution of labor is shown for each important crop and the times at which the different crops compete for labor are indicated. The bulletin is intended primarily for the use of farm …

Circular No. 32 - Feeding Farm Animals, W. E. Carroll

UAES Circulars

Our oldest history tells us that in the beginning man was given dominion "over the cattle, and over all the earth." This was of course only potentially possible at first, and could not be realized until man developed and exercised his intelligence to this end. What, then, does it mean to have dominion over the cattle? Is this not merely to control them and direct their energies and productivity to the happiness of mankind? Surely this is so, and that man has greatest dominion who can control them most completely for the good of the race.

Circular No. 33 - A Method Of Feeding Orphan Lambs, W. E. Carroll

UAES Circulars

One of the big preventable losses of the Western sheep business at the present time is the orphan lamb. There are a number of conditions, anyone of which may result in a motherless lamb; the ewe may die (this probably does not occur in a large number of cases) ; a mother may refuse to claim one of a pair of twins or even a single lamb; mother and lamb may become separated by the ordinary moving about of the band of ewes and the ewe thereby loses the scent of the lamb.

The careful shepherd soon detects the orphans, …

Bulletin No. 164 - Factors Affecting The Depth Of Sowing Various Crops, F. S. Harris, H. J. Maughan

UAES Bulletins

Probably no agricultural practice varies more than the depth to which seeds are sown. Some farmers pay very little attention to depth, but simply allow the seed to be placed where the drill happens to penetrate. The percentage germination of the seed as well as the vigor of the young plants is without doubt influenced by the depth of sowing, and certainly these factors are very important in determining the yield of crops.

Bulletin No. 163 - Composition Of The Irrigation Waters Of Utah, J. E. Greaves, C. T. Hirst

UAES Bulletins

Analytical work which has so far been published on the composition of the irrigation waters of the Intermountain Region indicates a wide variation in their composition. Some are exceptionally pure, being nearly free from alkali, and may be used without fear of injury to soils; others contain larger quantities of alkali and must be used with care; still others are so heavily charged with soluble salts that they must be used with extreme caution, otherwise the growing crop will be injured and in time the soil rendered unfit for agricultural purposes. The land then must be either reclaimed or abandoned, …

Bulletin No. 162 - A Quick Method Of Obtaining Accurate Individual Egg Records Without The Trap Nest, Byron Alder, A. D. Egbert

UAES Bulletins

The power or ability of a hen to lay a large number of eggs or the lack of that power or ability resulting in few or no eggs is not confined to the individuals of anyone breed or flock. Feeding, housing, and general care of the fowls are not the only causes of low production in certain individuals. It is often in the makeup of the hen herself; she could not be a heavy layer under any condition. High and low producers are found in every flock.

An accurate method of obtaining the daily individual records of each bird is …

Circular No. 31 - The Alfalfa Weevil (Phytonomus Posticus Fab.), Harold R. Hagan

UAES Circulars

The alfalfa weevil is rapidly spreading over the entire alfalfa-growing areas of the western states. Its injury to the alfalfa crop still aggregates an enormous sum annually. This is due to the fact that each year it is extending its attack into new territory. Control measures adopted by the farmers are reducing its injury in the treated fields. Many farmers are now cutting more alfalfa in the weevil-infested districts than before the appearance of this pest because of adopting better cultural methods as outlined in Bulletin No. 110 and Circular 10 of this station. Both of these publications are now …