Siskiyou County California

STATE FISH HATCHERY NEAR SISSON, FROM1 WHICH MANY WESTERN STREAMS ARE STOCKEDproduced throughout the agricultural sections. In Butte and Scott valleysfrom thirty to eighty bushels of oats are grown without irrigation. Withirrigation, the fields of Shasta Valley produce from forty to seventy-fivebushels of wheat to the acre. Rye is also a remarkably good crop whereverit is grown. There is also a wide field for every variety of corn in thiscounty, and up to the present time the local demand from raisers of livestock is far greater than the supply.Alfalfa and Other Forage CropsA million dollars a year is the income of those farmers of §iskiyou Countywho grow alfalfa and other forage. The fertile soils of the county impart tothese crops a nutritive value from thirty to fifty per cent. higher than theaverage of other localities, according to the results obtained by feeding.Nearly forty thousand acres of Siskiyou County are devoted to alfalfaalone. Land that was worth but $10 an acre a few years ago now pays highinterest on valuations of from $100 to $150 per acre. On the moist lowlandsirrigation is not necessary, but on the sandy upland soils irrigation bringsopulent returns.On many large tracts, now being subdivided, the ground is cleared andleveled by machinery. The seed is sown generally in February. From tento fifteen pounds per acre are required. At the usual price of alfalfa seed,fifteen cents per pound, the cost of planting averages two dollars an acre.In mid-May the first cutting is made, the second in August, after which theground is pastured until midwinter. Two tons of alfalfa are produced thefirst season. During the second year crops are cut every four weeks, yieldinga total of'from four to seven tons per acre, which brings to the grower anaverage of from $30 to $45 per acre each year. This return is further augmentedby the proceeds from pasturing after the growing season.za