1946 Annual Narrative Report Graham County
Item Type text; Report
Authors University of Arizona. Agricultural Extension Service. CountyAgricultural Agents.; Owens, S. L.
Publisher University of Arizona
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Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/580484
ANNUAL
NARRATIVE REPORT
OF
S. L. OWENS
County Agricultural Agent
GRAHAM COUNTY
December 1, 1945-December 1,1946
nTDEXPage
SUMMARY OF GRAHAM COUNTY AGRIaJLTffilAL EXTENSION 1:70RK FOR 1946 ••• 1
ORGANIZATION • •
F�.RM CROPScottonCorn. ••
Small Grains.Alfalfa.
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Green Manure Crops· •
SOILS A1'ffi IRRIGATION •
INSECT PESTSCotton Insects •
Grain Aphis •
Cotton Leaf w� • •
Cotton Boll Worm • •
Alfalfa Catapillar •
Corn Borer ••Pecan Aphis • • •
Red Harvester Ants •
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LlVESTOCXDiseases •
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ROD:BNTS • • • • • • • • • •
POULTRY.
RURAL SOC!OLOGYAccidents • • •
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'fEED OONTROL • • • • • • • .31
RECREATION • • • • • • • • • • · .. .32
ASSISTANCE TO WORLD WAR II VETERANS. • • • • • .33
PUBLICITY • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • .34
FAIRS. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • .35
aJTLOOK. • • • • • • • • • 36
PICTURES • • • • • • • • • • • .38to 48
CIR<lJIJ..R LETI'ERS. • • • • • • • 49
sm�MARY OF GRAHAlIJI COUNTY AGRICULTURAL EXTENSI ON VJORK FOR 1946
spot checks were made during the growing season to determine the extentof damaging insect pests in c otto�_�_)
(De��nstra.tions were conducted to determine a more efficient chemicaldust to control cotton insect pests.
Hybrid corn variety tests were conducted in five different communities.
Soil samples were taken fran many different l' arms to determine the amountof harmful salts. Laboratory tests were made by the Agricultural Chemistsat the University of ,Arizona and suggestions were made for improvingthese alkali soils.
Water samples were taken and sent to the Agricultural chemists at the
University of Arizona for analysis for many new pump wells.�/
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(_. Suggestions were given to farmers on how salty irrigation water mightbest be used to prevent crop damage.
Twelve different farmers were assisted in running levels to determinehow irrigation rows should be run so as to reduce the slope, increase
penetration, and prevent run-off.
Pecan growers were advised on how to control the aphis by dusting withnicotine sulphate. Tbree dusting machines were purchased by pecan
growers.
Demonstrations were given on the control of the red harvester ants;grasshopper poison was kept in stock and information was gi ven to fannerson how to control grasshoppers.
A farm labor assistent was employed part time during the year and
information was collected from all l' armers on the seasonal labor requirements, type of housing available for farm laborers, and household
conveniences available such as water, wood, electricity, etc. Laborers
entering into t he valley were directed to farmers who had housingfacHities and who were most in need of this help.
Pecan ,budding demonstrations were gi ven in four communities. 'fTwo demonstrations were given in landscape �lanting. J<
Four community meetings vrer-e held at whi ch colored pictures were shown yof the most desirable ornamental plants to use in landscape planting.
Fifteen demonstrations were given on how to inject calcium gluconateintravenously into dairy cows suffering from attacks of milk fever.
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SUmmary Con't.
'Four demonstrations were given on the control of cattle grubs and lice
by spraying with a solution ot Rotonone and Sulphur under three hundredpound pressure. 670 head or cattle were sprayed in these demonstrations.43 cattlemen were in attendance.
4-H clubs were organized in 5 communities. �Cooperated with t he vocational departments in put ting on the 5th annual '/,juniQr livestock show.
Kept supplies ot gopher, rabbit and mouse POiSOll in the ottice and Y.supplied tarmers with printed directions on how to use this poison.
Cooperated with the Fish and Wild Lite Service in giving demonstrations 'I,in four cammunities on poisoning pocket gophers. I
Assisted poultrymen in diagnosing and combating poultry diseases •
.Through the use of ci rcular letters and newspaper articles, assisted' Xwith t he accident prevent ion campaign.
The fire preventi on campaign was assis ted by the use of pemphlets "'1distriblted to every farmer and by the use of newspaper articles.
Gave 15 demonstra.tions on the control of noxious weeds by the use of ';Ichemical sprays.
Was a manber of the county-wide recreational cClmnittee which provided 'y._SUIlIJler recreation for boys and girls of school age throughout the county./
collected information on new reclamation projects in all the western
Xstates on which veterans are to be given priority filings. Manyveterans of World War II have already used this information.
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ORGANIZATION
The only farm organization which has assisted with the extensi. onprogram has been the Graham County Farm Bureau. This farm bureauhas a membership of nearly 200 but they lack in one point in thatthey do not have community farm bureau locals. They have a countyboard of directors appointed from the various communities by written
. ballot which meets as occasion requires.
This organization has been very acti ve in legislative ma.tters pertaining to the farmers' interests and has been very active in county far.mlabor problems.
It is believed that if the county farm bureau could be organized ona local community basis with directors representing each c��unity,organized so as to voice the opinion of the community in setting up afarm bureau program that such an organization could be a materialhelp in furthering agricultural extension work.
The rural churches, which are practically all LDS, have cooperatedwith the Extension Service by makfng it possible for the County Agentto bold meetings in these churches whenever they are not in use forreligious purposes. Officers of these churches have been verycooperative in making announcements of meetings pertaining to Agriculture'and in assisting the County Agent in securing attendance.
The Graham County Chamber of Commerce, composed mostly of merchantsor businessmen, have been very friendly toward the Extension Servicebut a plan for the cooperation of the two agencies on a general farmprogram for the county has not been worked out. The Valley NationalBank has cooperated with the Extension Service in furthering 4-HClub work by paying part payment up to $150.00 per year on the purchaseof registered animals for 4-H club boys who have excelled in that
work. The bank would have paid more than this but it is thoughtthat the boys will have more interest in their registered animals if
they have part of their own money in the project. The bank has
paid 6c:f/o of the e osp of the animals purchased for the winning 4-Hclub boys.
FARM CROPS
ootton
ootton being the principal crop grown in Graham County, an efforthas been made to encourage farmers to produce quality cotton. Inorder that farmers might know that they are being paid for qualitycotton when it is produced two cotton improvement associations havebeen organized each year for the past four years. One of these
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associations is tor growers of short staple cotton and ,the other for
long staple cotton. The USDA cotton classing service has recognizedthese cotton improvement associations by classing the cotton ofmembers tree of charge and returning the classifications to them.This plan of keeping the farmers informed on their cotton grades has
dispelled the farmers' suspicl·ons which used to be very prevalent thatthey weren't being paid on the basis of the quality of their cotton.Knowing now they are being paid on quality, it has been much easierto convert the farmers to the advisabil1 ty of planting pure seed.The majority of Graham County farmers in 1946 planted the very bestseed obtainable; most of it being registered or certified.
Besides encouraging farmers to plant pure seed through the use of
newspaper publicity, circular letters and personal visits, they havealso been encouraged to pay particular attention at picking time to
eliminate trash, pick cotton while dry, pick before cotton is damagedby'.eather if possible, and to keep good cotton separated from poorcotton. This has been done through the use of placards posted in
conspicuous places. These placards were furnished by the United states
Department of Agriculture.
Suggestions have been given farmers on the control of root rot throughcrop rotation and through the use of heavy application of barnyardmanure. Much of Graham County's cotton opens prematurely on accountof this plant disease. Farmers have also been given suggestions on
the control of wilt by planting long staple on heavy wilt areas insteadof short staple, and by the planting of wilt resistant seed whenobtainable. One field of 40 acres belonging to Mr. :r. D. Lee was
planted to a strain of Acela which was supposed to be fairly resistant.It appears from this year's crop that a bigger yield was obtained than
in several previous years.
Arrangements were made for the planting of a wilt resistant varietytest plot on the farm of J. D. Lee at Thatcher. This test plot was
planted by the USDA field station located in Sacaton.
Whenever it has been possible to secure water in sufficient quantityfarmers have been encouraged to irrigate early and keep their cottongrowing vigorously fran the time of planting. This early irrigationafter planting (the latter part of May or the first part of June)
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:otton Con'to
Ihich our farmers have been urged to practice for several years hasj,aterially increased the average yield per acre. Not many years ago�otton farmers in Graham County had the belief that in order to�ncourage a deep rooting system cotton should not be irrigated after�lanting until the latter part of June or the f1 rst part of July.)ame farmers had the mistaken notion that cotton should not be irrigatedifter planting until it started to bloac.
�he major part of work wi th cotton during 1946 was in the prevention)f insect pest injury; however thi s work is reported under t beleading of "Insect Pest Control."
Jom-
}raham County farmers for many years have gram white corn of the4exican June variety. While this corn bas yielded very well, yet itnas been believed by the County Agent that a yellow corn variety might:Ie found which would be adaptable to our conditions and yield just as
rrell as Mexican June. There is a wide spread belief that yellow corn
has a higher feeding value than white corn due to its vitamin content.
Iror t he past two years different strain s of yellow hybrid com havebeen tried in an effort to determine whether some of them might be
adaptable. Many of the se tests were made by farmers and two fi eldtests were made under the direction of the Uni versity Experimentalstation. .AJ3 a result of t he field tests made a circular letter was
sent to all corn growers giving the relative yields of the most
promising hybrid yellow corns as compared with the white Mexican June.
These figures were taken from two field tests conducted by theexperimental station. Below is a copy of .the results of these two
tests:
Mexican JuneFunk G-7ll (yellow)Funk G-702 (Yellow)Texas-12 (yellow)
Average Yield Per Acre in BushelsFrank Skinner's Farm
121.4108.7106.5106.1
on
Burt McBride's Farm
75.569.062.177.5
22 farmers were found who were willing to try an acre of yellow hybridcorn. The varieties used were Kansas 1583, Funk G-702, Funk G-71� and
Texas-l2. These corn variety tests have not been harvested at this
time but from talking to these cooperators and fran visiting a nwnber
of the fields it has been found that Funk-G-711 and Texas-l2 appear to
be the favorite. Both of these varieties have produced a big majori ty
of 2 ears to the stalk and have matured practically 20 days ahead at
Mexican June. The stalks of these :hybrid 00 rns are not so large or
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so tall as Mexican June. They do not produce nea,rly as much ensilage.
Several of this year' s �co'operators have already asked vbere theymight secure planting seeds tor hybrid corns fat" next year which showsthat the popular! ty of the yellow hybrid corn 1s increasing.
Small Grains'
For many years Graham County farmers have been interested in plantingbetter seed. About ten years ago �8ctically all of our farmers were
planting California teed barley. As a result of experimental work bythe University on their Mesa farm it was found that Vaughn barley faroutylelded the conmon California seed. The County Agent securedcooperators to plant Vaughn barley and held field tours to acquaintfarmers with it. As a result of this) California feed barley was not
planted any more. In a few years Arivat barley was proven by the
Experimental Station to outyield Vaughn barley and Graham County farmerswere again asked to change to this variety. However, there is stillconsiderable Vaughn barley planted.
In order that our farmers might continue to have seeds of these two
superior varieties two cooperators, Phil Gould who planted 37 acres ofArivat and Lavon Fuller of Safford Who planted 40 acres of Vaughn. were
,secured. As a result of some misunderstanding in the registration ofthe seeds which Mr. Gould planted the State Seed Crop ImprovementAssociation did not approve of registering Mr. Gould's seed crop;however this field produced an excellent quality of barley and yieldedfive thousand pounds per acre. This seed is stored in the ArizonaFlour Mill and no doubt much of it will be used for seed for next year'scrop.
The 40 acre field planted by Lavon Fuller was planted on clean' groundwhich had previously been planted in cotton; yet when representativesof the Arizona cotton Improvement Association inspected this field itwas rejected so far as registration or certification waS concerned due
to the high percentage of wild oats and other grain varieties. The
seed came from a seed house in Phoenix and had registration tagsatta.ched. It appears from this that the ArizoDB. Crop ImprovementAssociation Should give more strict attention to keeping the seed
pure •
.Al.falfa
Many farmers in Graham County can remember the time when Alfalfa stands
would be in good condition after ten to fifteen years. One stand of
alfalfa plowed up two years ago had been continuously in crop far 30years. At the present time, howeverJ alfalfa fields run out in 3 to
4 years. SolI samples have been taken in some of our poor soils of
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Alfalfa Contt.
alfalfa which have been in production only a short time and from thesoil analysis made by the University, phosphate was found to be lackingin each case. In most cases gypsum was also recommended to improve theso11 structure. Knowing that field tests were being made in tre SaltRiver Valley by the use of phosphate on alfalfa to see if it wruld increase the yields, a trip was made to that valley. Many of these fieldtests were visited with the county agent and the extension soil specialist.In some cases it was noted that, phosphate was increasing the yield of
alfalfa; in other cases there was no apparent results. It seemed to bethe impression, however, of the Extension Soil Specialist, ,that phosphateswould increase alfalfa yields on sandy soils.
Plans are being made to encourage a few cooperators to use phosphates on
alfalfa where the so 11 is mostly of a sandy na ture. Whether or not we
will use gypsum has not yet been detelll1ined as the prices are very highand tle results secured in the Salt River Valley have not been
encouraging.
Root rot, a fungus disease, has affected many of our alfalfa fields,and wherever this has been found farmers have been informed to make
heavy applications of manure. Crop rotations bave also been suggested4Some alfalfa fields have been foUnd to be affected with the a1 faIfastem nematode. No successful way bas been found to combat this parasiteexcept by crop rotation. Cammon or Chilian alfalfa has been the onlyvariety grmvn. Several farmers have wanted to plant rather largeacreages of-Buffalo, Ranger or Indian alfalfa; however they have beendiscouraged in dOing this because _it was not known what these varietieswould do at our elevation and tErrlperature. The University is startingan Agricultural Experimental Station two miles from Safford at thepresent time, and our alfalfa growers have been urged to cont inue wi ththeir present variety until the experimental station has time to try ,
out these various other varieties.
Green Manure Crops
Graham County far.mers have not practiced plowing under green manure
crops. At different times farmers have had good intentions for plowingunder such crops but almost invariably their good intentions succumbedto the temptation ot pasturing under the top growth before pl0.1ng;�herebythey had little vegetative matter to plow under. Sour clover has beentried several times in different parts of the county with varied success.
If planted early in the fall and not plowed until late in the spring
Green Manure Crops Con't.
(the latter part of April) good results have been obtained, however,.most of our farmers have been late in planting the sour clover andearly in plowing it so as to prepare for an early planted cotton crop.To use green manures and get the most value from them it has beenfound necessary to give them the month of April for growing and plantcotton the first part of May.
This year Mr. A. C. Rabb was very successful in using a green manure
crop to increase the yield ot cotton. Betore planting the green manure
crop considerable leveling was done and the top 6 to,S inches of soilwas practically all removed, fran a 25 acre field. Barley was plantedearly in the tall of 1945 on this 25 acres and wasn't pastured eitherin the fall or spring. This barley was plcmed under tm loth ot Aprilwhen it was about 12 to 15 inches high, and cotton was planted the firstot May. Thi scotton which one would ordinarily expect to yield from a
quarter to a halt-bale to the acre on such land surprised every one
and yielded one bale per acre. It may be interesting to know that as
a result of this demonstration two other cooperators have been toundto try this method out during 1946 on 100 acres of ground. They are
Mr. N. A. and V. D. Clonts of San Jose.
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SOILS AND IRRIGATION
For many years Graham County farmers used the water as it came
down the ri ver and there was TeJ:1 little regule.tion. Eleven yearsago the Gila RiTer liater Decree was entered into and Graham countywas given a proportion of the water wIli ch entered t he CoolidgeReservoir· abcut 60 miles below Safford.
Graham County's allotment of irrigation water each year based on
the proportion of water stored in the Coolidge Reservoir must betaken from the natural flow of the river provided a sufficient1'low is reached to supply this allotment. On account of theseconditions many Graham County farmers have driven wells and pumpwater trom t he underground flow. � a result of well drilling,many samples of water have been t&ken fran t base wells and sentto the University of Arizona's Agricultural Chemists tor testingto determine whether or not such pump water was suitable foragricultural purposes. The results of these analyses have been
given to the tarmers and an effort bas been made to explain thewater analyses t,o them so they w11l understand it. In most cases
.where the water analyses has showed a bigh percentage of salts,the addi tion 01' gypsum to the water has been advised. It is believed J however, t hat more experimental work is necessary to provethe beneficial effects of gypsum. The cost of gypsum has been so
high that the farmers have been slow to use it.
In order to conserve the water which we have, 12 different farmerswere assisted in running levels to detemine the way the irrigationrows should be run so as to reduce the slope, increase penetration,end prevent run":'oft. This type of service has been gi "len for a
number 01' years and as a result many farmers run their own levels,and changed their own irrigation systems so as to save water.
Most ot tbis work has to be done in the winter when tl:lere are not
so maDY crops on the ground.
The Extension Acting Specialist in Irrigation spent some time in
Graham County giving demonstration on the use of portable rubber
siphon irrigation tubes. It was thought tbat arch tubes migbtpossibly be practical in the distribution of irrigation water to
the individual rows, as it would not be necessary to Olt outlets in
the ditches, and once the water was regulated through the tubes a
uniform flow would be maintained down different furrows; however,these tubes did not prove satisfactorY. The main reason being that
a big head of water could be distributed more quickly otherwise and
also the tubes were too snall to f\l rni sh a big enough head in each
furrow to carry it through our long cotton rows as quickly as was
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Solls and Irrigation Cont'd.
necessary with our short supply of irrigation water.
Many samples of soil were collected fran alkali spots and fran
spobs where poor growth was evident and sent to the AgriculturalChemists at the University for 'analysis. The reports were discussed with the indi vidual farmers and attempts were made tocorrect soil deficiencies., In most cases the soil chemistsrecommended t he use of sulphur or gypsum. Gypsum had been deliveredto sane farmers at the rate of $15.00 per'ton and as one ton peracre is ordinarily the min�um amount recommended the cost of
applying gypsum has been considered prohibitive by most farmers.Also there is a doubt as to whether gypsum used in the ti eld showsthe same results as when used in the laboratory. It is believedthat many field tests should be made to determine the actual practical value of gypsum. and sulphur, which has also been recommended bythe agricultural chemists in the reclamation of alkali soils.
mSBCT PEm'S
Insect pest controls have been a big problem in Graham county l'or thepast five years. The problem has been intensified during this perioddue to the tact that insect injury to cotton, Lygus, stink bug, superbplant bug and the western plant bug, has been on the increase. Insectinjury to small grains also appears to have been on the increase.
In 1945 2 bales out 01' every 3 bales of cotton ginned in Graham Countywas stai ned cotton and at least 1/3 of all t be small grains planted hadto be used for pasture in the spring or plowed lmder as a green manure
crop due tot he eftects of the grain aphi s.
other insects which have been detrimental to crops are grasshoppers,Buffalo treehoppers, thrips, alfalfa catapillars, cotton leat worm, ants,aphis on pecans and vegetable garden crops, wooly aphis, grain weevil...These insects have caused many thousands of dollars loss to Graham 'CoUntytamers and the insect problem is considered as one 'of our greatest threatsto agriculture.
COTTON - Insects
During the tore part of July Dr. J. N. Roney, Extension Entomologist,spent three days in Graham County at which time eight demonstrationswere given on the control of cotton insects by dusting and by catchingwi th a mechanical bug catcher. .A.n eftort was made to try to determinewhether it was more economical and teasible to control insects in cotton
by dusting or whether it might be more practicable to use the mechanicalbug catcher. Four mechanical bug catchers costing all the way fran threeto six hundred dollars were purchased by cotton farmers in different partsOf the valley. AS a result of these demonstrations and as a result of
many farm visits made during the seas on it is believed that the mechanicalbug catcher might give considerable success if used on short cotton earlyin the season; however, as the cotton plants grew older and taller the
mechanical bug catcher, as now made, knocked off a considerable number
of small squares and bolls and did not cover the Ell tire cotton plant.Bugs were only caught from the lower portions of the plant. On several
fields where tb;) bug catcher bad been used as many as three times cotton
insects were yet to be found in sufficient numbers to be harmful.
cotton dusting wi th 5 per cent DDT and 10 per cent DDT mixed wi th sulphurwaS not successful in killing stink bugs. Summary of the field test
work d one with these cotton dusts is here given:
"On July 31, a twenty acre field of long staple cotton belonging to Mr.
Ned Daley, of Thatcher, was divided into three plots. Each plot was
gone through separately with a mechanical bug catcher. In plot No.1,81 stink bugs were caught in one-halt mile row. In plot No.2, 139stink bugs were caught and plot No.3, 92 stink bugs.
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COTTON - Inseots Con't.
On August I, plot No.1 was dusted with 40 lbs. of 5% DDT. Plot No.2,40 lbs. of 10% DDT and plot No.3, 60 lbs. of 5% DDT. This dusting wasdone at 6:00 AoM. On August 3rd, these three plots were again gonethrough with a mechanical. bug catcher, and in one-halt mile of row inplot No.1. 55 stink tugs were caught. Plot No.2, 125 and plot No.3,94 stink blgs.
The dust used on the Ned Daley field was secured through Mr. LukeAcord, 'Iilo is an agent for the Phoenix Chemical Co. After the dustinglumps of sulphur was found quite readily between the cotton rows.
On August 5, a 14 acre field of long staple cotton belonging to LeeHunt of Thatcher. was divided into two plot s and a mechanical bugcatcher was used in this field. On one-half mile of row, l5S stink bugswere caught. This figure is an average of the field.
On August 6, one-half of this field was dusted with 40 lbs. of 10% DDT;this dust was secured from Mr. zeit Prina, who is the agent for theArizona Fertilizer Co., of Phoenix.
On August a. a mechanical bug catcher was again used on one-half' mile of'row on the dusted portion of the field and 110 stink bugs were caught.In the portion undusted, 213 stink bugs were caught.
The same mechanical bug catcher was used in all of' these field tests,and the time of �ay was the same in all checks before and after dusting."
Dusting a cotton field with 10 per cent Sabidilla and Sulphur was foundto be 75 per cent effective in controlling stink bugs; however the cost
of applying Sabidilla was six dollars per acre against $3.50 per acre in
applying DDT.
GRAIN - Aphis
Grain aphis attack wheat and barley crops very early in the spring. The
young plants when 4 to 8 inches high turn to a yellowish color and refuse
to grow. Dr. J. N. Roney, the Extension Entomologist, suggested that the
aphis be plowed under as it attacks in localized spots; however upon
visiting grain fields the County Agent could not determine when the aphisfirst attacks in localized spots far it seemed that the aphis attacks the
whole field at once.
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GRAIN - Aphis Con't.
It seemed quite apparent fran observations from field visits that grainplanted early in the fall so that it secured a deep root system before
spring made a fast quick growth in the spring and was not nearly so heavilyattacked by aphis as the grain which was planted after cotton in the earlyspring. On account of these observations the County Agent has suggestedto many farmers that they combat the grain aphis by early fall planting;however this is not possible U: the farmer wants to plant grain aftercotton because cotton picking is ordinarily not over until the latter partof January or the'first part of February.
CarTON - Leaf Worm
Two years ago t he cotton leaf worm was very thick in the Solomonsvillearea and in same fields near Ashurst. They were easily controlled bydusting wi th Calcium Arsenate. To be sure that dusting might be done
sufficiently early in 1946 to keep this worm under control should it
appear, many farm visits were made to inspect cotton fields far thisinsect. The insect was found in a few fields quite early in the eeaeoa,however on account of same unknown ,possibly natural enemies the cottonleaf wor.m menace did not materialize and no dusting was necessary tocontrol this insect.
COTTON - Boll Wor.m
The cotton boll worm which is the same ulsect as' the corn ear worm has
occasionally attacked cotton in Graham County; however in 1946 this insectwas found to be quite canmon in many cotton fields.
Dr. Roney, the EXtension Entomologist, insisted that we dust with 5 percent DDT. One of our cotton farmers did this with good results; however
a number of our farmers were ei ther indifferent to the damage caused bythis insect or already had had enough of cotton dusting.
ALFALFA - Catapillar
This insect usually shows up in Graham County during July and August;however during 1946 our greatest infestation was during August and
September. If not checked, it strips the leaves from the standing leaves
of a Ifalra and 1 eaves nothing but stalks to be cut or pastured.
Newspaper articles, personal visits and 1 etters were used to acquaint
.•.
ALFALFA - Catapillar Con't.
farmers with the control methods moo t practioable to use in combatingthe catapillar. It was suggested to the farmers that the alfalfa mightbe cut as soon as the catapillar attacks and the field irrigated. Thiswould expose the worm to the rays of the hot sun as well as molds andbacteria which are natural enemies of this worm. It was also suggestedto the far.mers that the insect might be controlled by dusting with 5 percent DDT and sulphur. One fanner who tried this as a field dEmonstrationreported excellent results; however most Graham County farmers cut the
alfalfa. raked it otf and irrigated it.
CORN - Borer
While working in corn variety field tests in 1945 it was found thatmuch of the corn had fallen over due to the corn borer working insidethe stalk and weakening it. In order that Graham County far.mersmight be acquainted with control measures newspaper articles were
published on the control of the corn borer and a letter was sent toall of our corn growers. The suggestions given were, inasmuch as thecorn borer spends the winter inside the corn stubble, that the stUbbleshould all be cleaned from the field and burned. It was also suggestedthat corn be planted on fields each year which had liot
.. ·pretiously grolmcorn the year before.
In visiting farms in 1946 it was noted that practically all farmerswho planted corn had the crop on new corn ground.
PECAN - Aphis
There are many inquiries in the County Agent's office with referenceto the resson why their pecan tree leaves were eovered with honey dew.From past years' experience this condition was found to be due to the
effect of aphis working on the under side of the pecan leaves and the
juice from the punctured leaves dripping on the upper side of the
leaves below.
Newspaper articles were published on the control of the pecan aphisby dusting with Nicotine Sulphate. Circular letters were also sent to
pecan growers advising them of the necessity for dusting when the
aphis first appearo Same growers dusted as many as 4 and 5 times;others only dusted once and individuals owning but a tew trees did not
dust at all. In same instances where the aphis was very plentiful thepecan nuts dropped from the trees unfilled. The leaves on these trees
were also extremely mottled. It is believed that badly effected trees
will not have big crops due to the fact that the trees were not able
to function properly and store up food in the trees tor next year'sgrowth. It was difficult to find Nicotine Sulphate on the marketwhich might have been responsible for the lack of dusting.
Red Harvester Ants
This insect is responsible for many bare spots in practically all otour fields and especially so in the Ashurst, Ft. Thomas and Geronimodistricts. Newspaper articles have been published and demonstrationsgiven in the field on how to control this insect. The most suocessfu1way has been with the use of Carbon-Bisu1phide. A basin 3 inches deepand 8 feet across the bed is first made. If possible water is then
applied to the bed and the bed left open tor 24 hours. During thistime the ants come to the surface in several places where their run-t9ayshave been broken. A t tea cup full of Carbon-Bisulphide is then poureddown each of these openings and the. bed covered over.
Grasshoppers
Some grasshoppers are present in Graham County during all the warmer
months of the year. At times a small infestation will increaserapidly and cause a problem of control. In order to keep infcrmedon the extent ot grasshopper infestations, trips have been made toall communities at different times to note the approxtmate number of
grasshoppers shOwing up.
In pa_st years grasshoppers appear to have spread to the cultivatedarea from the ranch d1 striats. For this reason particular attentionhas been given to watching the borders of cultivated areas for anygrasshopper inroads. Grasshoppers were found to be quite abundantin t he Sunset area in the year 1946. Four years' ago this area had
grasshoppers so thick that they had to be pOisoned by spreadingpoisoned brand mash from airplanes.
Liquid Sodium Arsenite was given to ranchers in this area togetl:erwith instructions on how to mix it with brand and saw-dus t for the
killing of grasshoppers.
As the County Agent's headquarters in Cochise County are closer tothis area than the Extension headquarters in Graham County arrangementswere made through the Extension Entomologist that all ranchers. inthe Sunset area who desired might get their grasshopper pOison alreadymixed at Wilcox in Cochise County. One heavy outbreak of grasshoppersoccurred in the Angle orchard. Poisoned brand was furnished to combat
this outbreak. A number of small gardeners were supplied wi th Sodium
Arsenite and directions tor mixing to control grasshoppers. Brand
was kept on hand tor any emergency outbreak and also the liquidSodium Arsenite.
16
Grasshoppers Con't.
Two one-halt hour radio prograns were given during the year on thecontrol at insect pests effecting field crops. These radio programsoriginated in the field and were given by transcription. Dr. J. N.,
Roney, Extension Entomologist, assisted with these radio broadcasts.
1-7
FARM LABOR
During the war Graham County's farm labor was augmented by the use ofprisoners of war. The main farm labor problem is getting the cottonpicked. While the prisoners of war did not pick much cotton perindividual yet by having large numbers of.prisoners the cotton gotpicked.
.
I� order to distribute these prisoners and make other necessaryarrangements for handling, a farm labor assistant was hired. Mr. BurtAsay. The County Agent works very closely with this farm labarassistant and tor this reason this report will of necessity cover con
siderably the work done by the assistant.
During 1946 no prisoners have been available but the cotton picking isfarther ahead this ,.ear than during the years when we had Ri labor.The picking is being done bY transient labor both white and negroes whohave cane mostly fran Texas, Oklahom.a, New Mexico. Arkansas, and Oregon.In order to facilitate the distribution of these migratory far.m laborersdata was collected tram cotton growers regarding the number of workers
needed, type of housing they had available, conveniences available torhousekeeping, location of the far.m, transportation available and otherrelated problems. This information was kept in the farm labor officeand giTen to laborers as they applied at the office for vork.
In order to make farm laborers more satisfied the Graham. County Farm
Bureau cooperated with the United states Department of Agriculture in
setting a wage ceiling on cotton pi�king prices. The wage ceilingbeing $2.'Sper hundred for short staple and $4.50 for long staple.
Signs have been posted telling farm l�borers of t he location of thefarm labar office. Letters have been sent to farmers during slack
periods telling them of the number of farm laborers on file in the
County Agent's office who desire work and also telling the farmers of
the qualifications of these tarm workers. During the past year 627farm laborers have applied in the farm labor office for placement.619 of these applicants have been placed on farms, plus 648 prisonersof war employed in January 1946.
At every opportunity far.mers have been encourage to provide better
housing facilities for farm laborers. From past experience it has been
proven that the Graham county far.mers who have had the best far.m labor
housing conditions have had no difficulty in keeping their farm labor
nor in securing farm labor. The farm laborers have given better
satisfaction where they have been properly housed, and many farmers who
have had good housing facilities but have not been able to supply labor
the year around have had the same farm laborers come back each year to
assist them during the rush season.
FARM LABOR Contt.
The state farm labor office has materially assist'ed Graham Countyfarmers this year by setting up an over-night camp near Safford and also
employing a man to meet farm laborers as they come into the county and
supply them with information as to where work is available both in the
county and in the state. The loca.tion of available work in the county,
has been supplied this man from the state office by t he County Agent t softice.
There have been very few or no complaints in 1946 regarding the farmlabor program as operated by the Extension Service of both the county andstate.
t :
f'11. .... , .,' 18
19
HORTICDL'lURE
Pecos
An effort has been made to assist pecan growers in a better understanding of the culture of pecans which includes the planting,lrrigatioD, and other problems. Besides assisting wi. th these thingsan attempt bas been made to acquaint the pecan growers with the bestmethod of budding and the time of budding. In any large pecan grovetbere are always a tew trees which di e back and come up fran belowthe bud or graft. These pecan trees must be worked over. Tendifferent demonstrations were given to show growers how to bud theirtrees. The best time to bud in Graham County is the latter part ofJuly or tbe first part of August. SCIIle demonstrations have been
g1WIl on how to graft a pecan tree but grafting has been so unsuccess
ful generally that the practice bas been di seo ntinued.
It is estimated that there are at least 200 acres of pecan trees intbe Safford district, not counting the many individual trees foundin back lots or along fence lin es, di tches, etc. Many of these are
anall groups of pecan trees, possibly 2 to 3 in an orchard J havebeen found to be seedlings and improperly cared for. An etfort hasbeen made to acquaint the owners of these trees as to the bestmetbods of taking care of them and how they might be converted into
profitable paper-shelled pecan trees by budding.
Also there are quite a number of individual instances of pecan trees
showing the effects of rosette by placing zinc sulfate in smallcircular trenches arrund tbe trees and then irrigating.
During the past season thrip� have been quite a serious pest on
pecan trees causing the leaves to drip a large amount of honeydew.Farmers have been encouraged to dust their trees wi t.h nicotene dust.Three c<rmlercial dusting outfits haTe been purchased. In some eases,however, it took as many as five dustings to keep the aphis downsufficient to stop the dripping from the leaves. It is believed thatif aphis are present in sufficient numbers to damage the leaves thatthe nuts will no� fill properly.
Sane preliminary work has been done toward organizing a pecan growersassociation to assist in finding markets for our nut crops. Onaccount of the crop being light this year the organization was not
canpleted.
Harvey F. Tate, Extension HOrticulturist, spent two days visitingpecan groves at harvestitlg times. It was found that there are still
many pecan problems still unsolved; particularly the problem of
why there is a heavy pecan crop one year on some varieties whileother varleti es have none,
20
Peceus Coat'd.
Horman Carpenter's 40 acres of pecans showed great variation iny1elds according to variety. The Delmas had a heavy crop while theSUccess variety produced only Yery small nuts on practically all thetrees. A big pecan exhibit was collected and sent to tbe Arizonastate Fair but only two awards were received. The County Fair
. SUperintendent stated that our pecan exhibits did not have sufticiently large nuts. Plans are being made to try canmereial fertilizer in1947 in a number 01' our pecan groves.
Vegetables
There wasn't nearly as much. home vegetable gardening in 1946 as
during the :war years. This was due mostly to the tact tbat GrahamCounty had a shortage of water; however, two farmers tried 10 acres
of irish potatoes each and secured yields of nearly 140 saeks peracre.
In order to encourage more hane vegetable gardening newspaper articleswere published giving lists of varieties of vegetables to plant andplanting dates. Newspaper arti,cles were also published on methodsof control of vegetable garden insects.
Ornamentala
As a result of t1::le work of previous years the homes in Safford andThatcher are in most cases quite well landscaped. DuriDg 1946 an
ettort was made to reach not only Thatcher and Safford again but to
go' into rural canmunities. Mr. Harvey F. Tate, J!XtensL on Horticulturist,assisted in discusSi� ornamental plants for landscaping in the
tol�owing communities: Eden, Ashurst, Tll6cher aild Saftord. At eachot these community meetings colored motion pictures were shown'ofdesirable ornamental plants.
The Extension Horticulturist also assisted in 'three rose pruningdemonstrations, and two pruning demonstrations of other ornamentals.
Two demonstrations were g�ve� on the pruning of deciduous fruit
trees.
DAIRYING
Dairying in Graham County is conducted mainly as a side-line toother farm operations. There are only 10 farmers who might beconsidered as c amnercial dairymen. The balance of our farmerslimit their dairying to from 4 to 5 cows. Some of our fannersraise dairy cows for nurse cows only to calves which are purchasedfran outside the county at auction s ales. The county agent and theextension dairy specialist have in past years promoted the use ofregistered herd sires of proven quality, especially in the largerdairy herds. At the present time these dairymen are producine heifersof excellent quality as replacements for their herd.
There are in the neighborhood of 2,000 dairy cows scattered over the
county. Dairy cows and calves are very susceptible to a number of
diseases, and there is no veterinarian in t he county. As a resultof this, the County Agent has been asked to give many demonstrationson the control of diseases. The most cammon ones are milk fever,indigestion, mastitis and scours in calves. Several demonstrationshave also been gi ven on t he control of cattle grubs which appear on
the backs of dairy cows.
Plans have been fumished to two dairymen on the building of modernmilk houses.
It is believed that continued emphasis should be given to the
introduction of better dairy sires. During the coming year an
effort will be made to list all scrub dairy bulls and organize a
campaign for their removal and substitution with registered bulls
whose ancestry have records binding them of high production. .An
,effort will also be made to encourage the Bureau of Animal Industryto continue the testing of all of our dairy animals for tuberculosis
and bangs disease. Our larger dairy herds were tested in the fall of
1946 but there are yet many individual cows not tested.
2n�,
LIVESTOCK
Diseases
On account of there being no veterinarian in Graham County theCounty Agent has been called upon for considerable infoDnation on theprevention and c entrol of 1ivestock diseases.
Information bas been furnished several stockmen on the control of.digestive disturbances. One rancher recently.lost four head of calves, 4to 6 months of age due to the fact that he brought them fran the rangewhere the feed was scarce and put them on first crop leafy alfalfa hey.This bunch of calves about 60 in number irnmedi ately got scours. 'Vihen the
green bay was taken away from them and the calves placed on dry hay thetrouble stopped.
Cattlemen are very much afraid of shipping fever (hemorrhagic septicemia),end in several cases where the ""mer vaccinated for this disease thetrouble was really improper feeding, such as sudden changes in feed or
keeping the cattle too long on succulent green feed. It has been foundthat cattle on green pasture have less sickness end put on weight fasterif fed dry bay along with the pasture.
Information was given several cattlemen on the control of Lump jaw bythe use of sodium iodide given intravenously.
Parasites
Dr. J. N. Roney, EXtension Entomologist, spent two days in GrahamCounty at which time 4 demonstrations "Jere given on the oontrol ofcattle grubs and lice by spraying. A total of 670 head of cattlewere sprayed in these demonstrations. 43 cattlemen·.attended thedemonstrations.
One cooperator was secu�ed to tryout sodium.flouride in feeding hogsas prescribed by the Bureau of Anireal �ndustrYJ one pound to 99 poundsgrain for the purpose of controlling round WODmS. The hogs were very
thrifty after the treatment while before the treatrrent they were makinga slow growth., 90 head of hogs were treated in this one demonstration.
This same demonstrator, Mr. L. A. Nelson, used salt in a self feederas suggested by several State Experimental Stations in an effort to
secure greater gains from the grain feed. It was l' ound that the hogsate the salt very readily without any injurious effect; however, no
check could be made as to the increase in gains made for the Lack of
livestock scales on this hog ranch.
4-H CLUBS
Graham County 4-H' club work has sUffered due to the tact that therenever has been a 4-H club leader. The County Agent has tried to keepthe spirit 01' 4-H Club work going but he has not been satisfied withthe final r'esults.
Another condition which has detered 4-H club work is the fact thatthere are 4 high schools in Graham County all within 20 miles whichincludes the heart of the farming area. Each of these high schoolshave conducted vocational agriculture work and one of them has con
ducted junior vocational agriculture work. This has made it necessaryfor the County Agent to do his club work with boys 01' a minimum agefrom 10 to l� years being the average age of the 4-H club member inGraham County. Boys past that age have joined the vocational agricultureclasses as they entered high sohool and sane haTe even joined duringtheir work in the eighth grade. When the boys have joined thevocational department they have considered that they are getting allthe agricultural training needed. For these reasons Graham County4-H club boys have only stayed with the work one or two years and theclub work has simply been a feeder for vocational agriculture work.
Club work has also suffered on account of a lack of canmunity leader
ship. Older farmers have been too busy on account of lack of help toassist with club work as leaders and the younger men with agriculturalexperience have been in the armed services. The County Agent has foundit almost impossible to fully organize club work and then keep the club
functioning without community leadership.
During 1946 4-H clubs were organized in the conmunities of Solomonville,Safford, central, Thatcher, Pima and Ft. Themas. The dif1'erent projectstaken up by these 4-H club members were principally dairy cattle, hogs,beef cattle, poultry and rabbits. It was necessary to plan the 4-Hclub meetings during school hours tor the reason that so many of the
boys lived in scattered areas which made it difficult to get them to
gether other than on school time. The schools cooperated enthusiasticallybut it made a problem for leaders engaged in agriculture to leave their
work during the day to lead 4-H clubs. Very little success was had in
securing school teachers to lead 4-H Clubs.
In order to keep interest st�ulated the "jth Annual Graham countyJunior Live StoCk Show was sponsored in cooperation with the
vocational agriculture departments of the high schools. The Grabsn
county supervisors appropriated $150.00 to assist in financing the
"show. The Gila Junior College offered the use of their athletic field
for the holding of this live stock show. The college also assisted by
furnishing the superintendents for the various departments as well as
assisting with the publicity. The Valley National Bank also cooperatedby offering $150.00 as part payment up to 60 per cent for the purchaseof registered animals for the winning boys in the beef, dairy and hog
departments.
24
4-H CLUBS Con't.
The judges at the 11ve stock show who had also judged preTious showsexpress the opinion that the 6th annual show was the best up to d�te. '
There was very excellent showing of beef animals and dairy animals.�herewas also much interest in the horse department which was open,however boys were the chief contenders in this department.
As a result of the interest shown in the past junior live stock showsthe Graham County board of supervisors have now appropriated $1500.00for the purpose of staging a county wide live stock show open forentries fran everyone. The past junior live stock shows have been
mostly restricted to entries fram boys taking vocational agriculturework or boys enrolled in 4-H club work. With adults being eligiblenow to the show as well as the boys it is believed that interest inbetter live stock will be given an added impetus.
Senior demonstration teams were trained in the judging of live stocksuch as beet and hogs, and in the judging of dairy cattle. Juniordemonstration te,ams were "trained in the judgi,ns of beef cattle, dairycattle, hogs and poultry. Junior demonstration teams were alsotrained in the judging of making a rope halter to be used in shows,and in the culling of poultry and the killing and dressing of rabbits.These teams would have been taken to the state 4-H club round-up andentered in competition but the round-up was unexpectedly called off on
account of the spread of Polio within the state.
It is believed that club work oould be materially increased in Graham
County if it was possible to have a County Agent Assistant who could
give the major portion of his time to the promotion of club work.
25
ROD:ENTS
The principal rodents which affect the farm crops are gophers andrabbits. The gophers have been working on ditch banks. canals and inaltalfa fields tor years. They do not seem to increase or decreaseexcept when the acreage of alfalfa increases or decreases. There area few rodents in cultivated crops, but they have never been a seriouspest except in alfa�fa fields. The principle damage which they do isto make it possible for canals and irrigation ditches to leak, thin outalfalfa stands and interfere with harvesting machinery.
The gophers are not thick enough to warrant attempting a County wideorganized campaign ot eradication. It is also doubtful whether theycould be eradicated.
A supply of poison tor the control of gophers has been kept on hand atthe County Agent t s office, and farmers wi shing the poison have been
given printed instructions how to mix this pOison with sweet potatoesand place this poison bait in the runway. Rolled poisoned oats havealso been kept on hand at the ottice and instructions have been giventhe tarmers in the -use of this mater!al.
Rabbits destroy farm crops principally in the spring when the grain andcotton is just caning up. The areas affected are those bordering the
foothills,· or those bordering the rivers in some areas. No County widecampai.gn has been attempted to control these rabbi t8 except that theOftice has kept rabbit pOison in stock and has given printed instructionseach time the farmer has been given the pOison, telling him how to mix itwith the alfalfa tips and place it on the rabbit runways. The farmer hasalso been given instructions on pre-baiting. This information has alsobeen published in the newspaper.
Unless tarmers are reminded of things that should be done, they oftenoverlook such matters. For this reason, the County Agent has made
inspection surveys early in the spring of each distr! ct. where rabbits
might be numerous on account of range 1 and being nearby. Where the
signs have pointed tOlvard an influx of rabbits the farmers have beencontacted and encouraged to do their pOisoning early in the spring betorenew litters are born. Many rabbits were found working in the neighborhood of a melon patch at Lebanon and demonstrations were given on howto put out pre-baits and mix and distribute the poison after the prebaiting period. Good results were obtained by using powdered strychnineon e.l:f'alfa tips and placing small amounts on the trails.
The United states Fish and Wild Life Service has given much cooperationin combating both rabbits and gophers. During the early spring of 1946Mr. Isiac Rogers of that service spent a week in Graham County at which
time he assisted the county Agent with a pocket gopher poisoningdemonstration in five different communities.· Instructions were also
Rodents Con't.
gi ven to field men hired by some of our big ranchers, on how to supervisetheir hired help in gopher po�soning on these big far.ms.
It was found from the gopher poisoning demonstration that the use of
large pieces of carrots as bait is preferable to the small piecespreviously used. The large pieces of carrot, usually a half or a
quarter, could not be carr�ed away by the gopher in his pouch and stored;and it became necessary for the gopher to eat these big pieces in twoin order to move them, thereby getting poisoned at once.
26
POUI:lRY
It 1s believed that small farm poultry flocks might be made to
,pay. even in spite of the high cost ot feed, if proper attentionis given to culling, feeding aDd housing and last but not least,sanitation and disease and para,si te control.
To assist farmers with these problems has been the object in 1946.
This work has been mainly carried on through farm visits and officecalls. H�Rever, several'newspaper articles bave been written on
disease control methods.
Poultry meetings have not been attempted because our commercialpoultry raisers can easily 'be counted on one hand and small tlockowners do not attend meetings. Dur ing t be past year more poultrywas culled and sold than was purchased.
Many of our tarmers still look at price rather then quality wben
buying baby chicks. For this reason the mortality trom B.W.D. andCoecid1ousis in young e hicks is rather high.
News art icles acquainting tarmers wi th the desirab11ity otpurchasing healthy chicks from tested tlocks which are members ota Poultry Improvement Association bave been published. Farmershave also been urged to buy chicks fran. nearby approved hatcheriesso as not to expose the e hicks to the sudden changes in temperatureand prolonged crowding whi ch otten occurs wi th long di stancesshipnents.
Some termers bave received their money back or addi tional chickensas the result ot the Agent sending live specimEnS of sick chicksto the Animal Pathologist of tbe Un1versi ty of Ari zo na so that it
might be proveD by laboratory examination that the heavy mortalit1during the first 10 days was due to B.W.D.
It would seem that everyone $hould know how to combat blue bugsatter so much Bewspaper and poultry magazine publicity, butthere have- been many oftice calls on this subject. Spraying theroosts and all cracks and crevices with a mixture ot 1/2 keroseneand 1/2 carbolinium has been recanmended with good results.
There have also been calls fran small tl ock owners regarding thecontrol of lice. Dusting the ebickens with Selium. Flouridehas controlled lice.
poultry Cont'd.
SUggestions have been gi ven on the prevention of heat prostrationby the means of more shade, more watering troughs suitabl,. placed,more convenient teed troughs and the feeding of more green feedwith less heat producing grains. It is surprising how manr hensdie each summ.er from beat, and how little thought the average
.
poultryman gives to the prevention of tllis "loss.
29
RURAL SOCIOLOGY
Accidents - Prevention
.An effort has been made to draw the attention of farmers to t he factthat far.m accidents might be avoided. The methods used have beenthrough the use of circular letters presenting the different steps listedby numerical number which might be taken to prevent accidents on the farm.Besides circular letters, mimeographed folders have been sent to allfarmers showing how accidents might be prevented.
The Graham County Guardian weekly newspaper has been very cooperative in
publishing articles sent fran t he state office drawing tbe attention offarmers to the necessity of the prevention of accidents.
While a thorough check has not been made as to the number of accidentslast year as compared wi th the number of fam accidents this year, yetit is believed that the total number of farm accidents have decreased.There are 2 men in Graham County now who bave had one arm each taken oftin gin accidents, a few years ago. Another transient laborer lost an
arm in a gin accident 2 years ago; and 4 years ago a young man was killedin One of our gins. There have been no such accidents this year. No one
has been killed by farm accidents this year. Two years ago 2 Graham
County farmers were badly hurt by dairy bulls. There have been no suchdairy farm accidents this year.
Since the war the controls have been lifted on t he speed of drivingautomobiles and automqbile accidents have increased. Not long ago a
newspaper article advised that it took as much as or more mechanicalskill to operate modern farm equipment on the farm as it did for the
engineer to operate a locomotive engine. If this is true then it does
appear that our farmers are using precaution which has been effective in
holding down faxm accidents.
Fires - Prevention
A year ago the University of Arizona published a pamphlet on fire
prevention containing pictures of 5 different homes which had burned
in rural communities. 4 of these pictures were taken in Graham County.Copies of this pamphlet were sent to all of our farmers. Letters were
sent to all Graham County l' armers on steps which might be taken as a
precautionary measure in the prevent ion of fires. Newspaper publici tywas given in the Graham County Guardian on fire prevention activities.
especially as they might be promoted in rural conununities. Just how
much effect these activities in fire prevention propaganda had upon
the final results far this year can not definitely be measured, however,the agent does not recollect any farm homes as having been burned
during 1946.
FIRES - Prevent ion Con tt •
Continued emphasis might be given to fire prevent! on very effectivelyit the County Agent t s oftice had a l6-MM film project,or whereby he mightshow in rural c'ammunities the effects ot fire as a result of negligence.Ideas might also be put on the screen, measures which up to date farmershave taken to insure them.against fire losses.
.J'
.."
3U
WEED CON'IROL
Weeds have always been a soorce of trouble to Graham County farmers;the principal ones being johnson grass, the annual perennial morningglory or bind weed, bermuda grass, horse nettle, pepper grass, a mustard;and blue weed. During past years efforts have been made to controlthese weeds by burning, by clean cultural methods, and by the use ofvarious chemicals. Clean Qlltural methods have been successful ingetting rid of johnson grass and bennuda grass. Crop rotation has beeneffective in getting rid of weeds, however a few weeds such as bind
weed, horse nettle and bl ue weed have not been affected by these
practices.
During 1946 farm dEmonstrations on. the centrol of horse nettle, bind weedand blue weed were given on 15 different farms using a cb.EIIlical calledWeedone or 240. In most instances very good results were obtained in
killing horse nettle with this chemical provided the spray was appliedwhen the nettle was making a rapid growth. Best results were securedwhen the spray was applied early in the spring. It is believed franthe results shown and from the decrease in price asked far thischemical that an increased number of cur farmers will get rid of horsenettle next year by $praying. In most instances it is anti cipated thatone spraying will be sufficient if it is dene early in the season;hmvever if two sprayings are necessary it is believed that it willstill be practical and a big saving in land use.
The same things which have been said about the control of horse nettle
might also be said about the control of bind weed, however bind weedis not so easily killed wi th one spraying as horse nettle•. At leasttwo sprayings far bind weed are necessary and it may be. that a third
spraying. will be required.
It appears that blue weed may also be killed by using a 24D spray,but it is more difficult to control them than either of the other
two weeds. In the demonstration given, two sprayings killed about
80 per cent of the stand.
Practically no results were had in spraying johnson grass with Weedcne.
Some effect was had in the spraying ot bermuda grass but not enoughto consider spraying practical.
32
RECREATION
For the past three years the County Agent bas acted as chairmanor the Park Committee of the .American Legion. In this park locatedin Safford, the county seat, swimming and baseball are sponsored.
Early 'in 1946 it was deci ded to make these facilities available toas large a group of young boys and girls as possible. To accomplishthis purpose a county-wide recreational association was organizedwith the County Agent as a member of the executive committee.Recreational directors were appointed and paid for their services.
Softball teams were organized on a county-wide basis. Arrangemen tswere also made whereby young people might be transported to swimmingpools, both in Safford and ,Thatcher, and tte swimming was understrict superv�sion.
Civic organizations, church organizations, and individual merchantsin Graham County contributed toward the fi nances necessary. Therewas much favorable comment regarding this county-wide organizedrecreation f'or the younger generation. No attempt was made to
furnish recreation for the older people as it was believed that theycould supply their own recreation.
33
ASSISTANCE TO WORLD WAR II VET.ERANS
Attended several meetings of a committee for the purpose of planningfor "on the job" training for World War II veterans. The idea of thiscommittee was to make arrangements for such training insofar as possiblefor our own veterans in cur own torm.
This committee also discussed housing for veterans and made arrangementstot two different meetings to explain the housing plan for veterans.Secured information on the Gila River Project regarding veterans takingup land on that project; also secured similar informa.tion tran �heBOise, Project in Idaho, the Hungry Hor,se Project in Montana, theKlamath Project in Oregon; then Deschutes Project in Oregon and theColumbia Basin Project in Washington. All of this information was
placed under a veterans file in the otfice and letters were sent toall veterans; and newspaper articles published stating that this information was available in the County Agent's oftice. Also informationavailable at the office was the GI loan, the GI bill of ri ghts and
apprenticeship information.
As a result of the collecting of t his information many veterans calledat the office and reviewed it and several of them have made applicationto make homestead entry on the Klamath Project in Oregon which was the1'irst one to open. However, most Arizona veterans preferred to waitand make entry for hanesteads when the Gila Froj ect, opens on thelower Colorado River.
34
r IUBLICITY
Interest of the farmers was drawn to timely agricultural subjectsby the use of short newspaper articles, by c1rwlar letters, and bythe radio.
A new innovati on was inst1tuted dlr ing 1946; that of making one halfhour radio transcript10ns on the tarm and later having these trans
criptions given over the air at a more convenient time. Local farmerswere used in each c£ these transcriptions and several of the UniversityExtension Specialists were also used. The only trouble with these
transcript ions was that they were too long (one-half hour) t and attimes when they were reproduced there was too much static. Also fora while they 'VII8re given an undesirable period otl. the radio. MaD3'favorable C amJlEll ts were received with reference to these radio prograinseven though they were too long. An effort was made to have the
length of time shortened, but the manager of KGIIJ a.t the radio station
preferred the longer time.
Radio transcriptions were given on poultry management, 4 times;Horticultur�J 3 times; irrigation, twice; ornamental plants, twice;far.m crop insect pests, twice; dairying, once; 4-H club, once; apiculture,once; rabbit management, once; hogs, once; horses, once; extension work,once; animal parasites, once; what the experimental station can do,
.
once; and participated on a county-,dde P.T.A. program, twice.
These balf hour radio programs have been stopped temporarily and an
effort will be made to start the radio broadcasts again after the 1'1 rst
ot the year with a shorter period crt time being used.
35
FAIRS
Graham county has not had a fair exhibit since before the war.This year it was thought that it might be a good idea to put anexhibit in the Arizona state Fair. The County Agent met with tIeGraham County Faxm Bureau of Directors regarding this matter earlyin the season. A committee was appofnt.ed by the Fann Bureau ofDirectors to meet with the Graham County Board of SUPf)rvisors todetermine whether or not the county would finance such an exhibit.The County Board of Supervisors were of t he opinion that GrahamCounty could get mare publicity far t he money expended by inauguratinga Graham County livestock show. For that reason they put $1,500in t he budget to finance such a show, and appropriated nothing forthe exhibit at the state Fair. However, when the state Fair timearrived it appeared that Graham County was being criticized for not
making an agricultural exhibit and after discussing this propositionagain with the supervis ors they dec ided that they would appropriate$150 toward the expenses of a Graham County fair supervisor incollecting the exhibit and taking it to the state Fair. It was
also decided tm t the fair supervisor should retain any money whichthe exhibit as 'a whole was awarded, but that individual prize moneyand ribbons be given to those farmers whose entries made up the
county exhibit.
Mr. Elton MorriS, a local farmer, was secured to act as fair
supervi sor; and on' account of the shortness of t he period whichexhibits might be collected the County Agent gave considerableassistance to the collection of the exhibits and to the collectionand mounting of enlarged pictures to be used with the countyexhibit as an educational display showing what is grown in GrahamCounty.
The Graham County exhibit was very small, but apparently by comparison,the individual entries were very good"as a large portion of the entrie s
won ribbons.
Many Graham County farmers and business men visited the state Fair
and all who did so were pleased with the Graham County display.The ribbons which were won are now on display in a prominent show
window in t be eenter of Saffo.rd ..
There is no doubt from this small beginning that Graham County will
have a very creditable display at next year's state Fair.
36
OUTLOOK
Cooperators have been secured to plant four tons of foundation or
registered seed cotton as a source of supply for Graham County farmers.This would be a big help in increasing yields and quality of cotton
produced , More demonstrations are being planned to tryout differentdusts in· the control of cotton insects.
Additional field tests are being arranged to demonstrate the value of
yellow hybrid corn.
Demonstrations to determine the value of new dusts to control the grainaphis are being planned. This would save practically two thousand acres
of grain each year.
Cooperators are already being secured to make field tests on the valueof gypswn sulphur to reclaim alkali soils. If these materials could bedemonstrated to be of proven value in the field it wruld bring manymore acres into production.
Additional demonstrations are planned to acquaint farmers on how to use
the farm level in preparing their fields for efficient irrigation.
More thorough demonstrations will be given in 1947 in an effort tocut down on the number o� dustings needed to control the pecan aphis.
Pecan budding and grafting demonstrati ons are planned to bring manymore seedling pecan trees into the production of adaptable commercialpaper shell· varieties.
Additiona! demonstrations will be given in landscaping f arm homes.
Colored pictures will be used in community meetings to acquaint farmerswith the most adaptable ornamental plants.
To improve dairying a campaign should be negotiated to get rid of
the scrub dairy bulls. An effort will also be made to start a small
dairy testing association.
Graham County is very definitely in need of a veterinarian. .An effort
will be made to for.m an association to r�re a veterinarian.
Older manbers are needed in 4-H club work. These might be enrolled
fran communities where vocational agriculture is not being taught;and boys who have quit school after graduating from the gramar gradesmight be enrolled in cl ub work.
An effort should be made to introduc� livestock judging contests among
4-H club members and boys toking vocational a griculture in t he countylivestock show.
To cut down on the cost of poultry production more demonstrations should
be given on poultry culling and poultry raisers should be encouraged to
buy Quality baby chicks J thus stopping the high mortality rate due to B. �I/oD.
Ou.tlook Con' t.
A considerable effort should be made toward t he control of noxiousweeds by spring. J?lans are already underway for the use of a sprayerwith t bree hundred pounds pressure to give demonstrations in eachcommuni ty on weed control.
Field tests with the use of commercial fertilizers will be very helpfulto determine whether or not alfalfa, cotton. and pecan crops might be
increased. Several cooperators have already been secured to conductthese testso
Livestock Show J April 1946.
water and to fill in low places by sedimentation. Land levelsfar this work run by t he County Agent as a demonstration.
A rose pruning demonstration in February 1946; Harvey F. Tate,Extension Horticulturist, giving the demonstration.
4-H Calf Club Member, Larry Crockett of Pima, and his groupVal Smith, showing off his calf.
Deciduous fruit tree pruning demonstration at the home of LesterMecham in Thatcher in February 1946.
A demonstration on the farm of lUge Ervin of Central. Don Hitch.Extension Irrigation Specialist, looking over the demonstration.
A winter garden on t he Henry Clifford farm near Safford showingcarrots, lettuce and cabbage. A radio pr-ogram on vegetable grO'singwas c ondu cted on this fi e ld.
A����������m-������������ft----��Mige Ervin in Central.
Afi������Fffi�����������������ground to kill gophers.
'Baby beef calves being shown at the Junior Livestock Show held atThatcher in April 1946.
A group of interested bee men who assembled at a field meeting topresent a radio program, on bee culture.
A demonstration at a home in eafford on desirable ornamental plants.These plants were also placed in most desirable locations.
Uichael Or' doing tricksfor entertainment at the Fifth:. Annual Livestock Show.
Bind weed patch showing square marked ·01'1' and sprayed with 2-40 as
a demonstration in weed control.
Gordon Carpenter and his 4-H Dairy heifer.
Field demonstration on pruning shrubs. Harvey F. Tate, ExtensionHorticulturist, giving the deMonstration in Safford.
County Agent Checking damaging insect numbers in a cotton field.
Regular checks were made during the growing season of representativefields.
A radioinsects damaging cotton.
Demonstration with farmers on how to�reat cow for milk fever.
Result of demonstration on treating cow for milk fever with
Calcium Gluconate.
Demonstration on spraying beef cattle for grubs and lice control.
Demonstration on spraying dairy cm,s for grub and lice contro •
Showing resul.t s of a field demonstration in pecan buddi ng, The pecantree growth upward from Mr. Robert Reed's hand is from a bud placed inthe seedling stump one year ago.
Tvvo sati stied cotton pickers who secured employment through tre
Extension Farm Labor Office.
COOPERATIVE BXTENS ION WORK.IN
AGRICULTURE AND HOME 100ONOMIesSTATR OF ARIZONA
****
Sa.ftord
UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONACOLLEGE OF AGRICULTUREtTf�.'. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUREAND GRAHAM COUN'l'Y COOPERATING
AGRICULTURAL EXTENa ION SERVICEHOME DEMONSTRATION WORK
COUNTY AGENT WORK• I
.. I'
Dear Farmer,
Ma.roh 2,. �946
Dr. J. )1. Roney. Extension Entomologist, will soon be. in thisCounty at whioh time two meetings will be heldt
The 1st. On the evening ot lfaroh 6th at 7.30 in the Courtroomand
The 2nd: On the evening of March 7th at 7,31 in the sohoolhouse �t Pima.
At these meetings Dr. Roney will show slides and motion piCtures or insect p�st$ which attaok our crops and the latestintormation tQr combating these ins�cts will be discussed.
There ha�e been some oha.nges in $uggested inseotioides to oom-
bat ootton inseot pests..
D.D.T. which is being used more and more to control insectswill be discussed.
��'�.�..
Dr. Roney will also presen.t information on
the.use of Saba-
-.: dilla - a new dust. �.,
;
Although you may not be able to use at once the informationDr. Roney has, yet, it is not too soon to start preparing forin"sect control.
You are invited to attend both of these meetings - we do hopethat you will be able to,.e present to at least one of them.
Very truly·yours,
s. L.. tweneCounty Agent
COOPERATIVE EXTENSION WORKIN
AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICSSTATE OF ARIZON4
Satlord
tnUVERSITY OF ARIZONACOLLEGE OF AGRICULTUREu. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUREAND GRAHAM COUUTY COOPERATING
4GRICULTURAL EXTENSION SERVICEHOME DEMONSTRATION WORK
COUNTY AGENT WORK
March 20, 1946
Dear Sir:
Last year the University Experimental station planted some corn
and sorghum variety tests on the farms of Frank Skinner of K�ball and Burt McBride of Pima.. The average y.elds in bushels peracre on these two farms were as tol1ows:
Mexioan JuneFunk G-7l1 (yellow)
. Funk G-702 (yellow)Texas-12 (yellow)
Frank Skinner121.4108.7106.5106,1
Burt McBride75.569.062.1 .
77.5
From these figures you can see that the yellow hybrid. corns givegood yields. You no doubt also know that the yellow corns havebeen found to have a higher teeding value than the white oorns�
These yellow hybrid corns' also mature much earlier than the whitecorn in Somo cases 20 days ear1ior than tho white corns.
If we are short on water this season� which appears very evident,you might find it quite advantageous to plant one of these yellowhybrid' corns. If you would like to try same as a trial demonstra
tion, would you please advise me' soon so that I might assist you.in securing the seed.
In ytUd tests made last season in Graham County, common Sudan
grass had a green weight yield of 12.6. tons per acre •• dry weight,3.39 tons per acre. Sweet Sudan grass made a green. yield of 21.6tons per aore -- dry weight, 4.�O tons per acre. If you aTe goingto'p1ant Sudan grass� why not try the sweet Sudan?
Very truly yours,
.. S. L. Owens
County Agent
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