, 1877-02-19
FARMING THE DESERT.
Favorable Experiments Made in
Colorado, Etc.
Largo Crops OF Wheat and Oats
to tho Acre.
Corn Failure Thus Far-.-Fruit an
Unsuccess{nl Venture.
Grasshoppers and 1lafl.Storms tho Lead.
Ing Drawbacks.
aarketGardening q Great suooess-sel1-
ing-Prioes Of Produce,

Market GARDENING 8 Great Euooeas-gall-
| ;nn.pr;oaa - p.oa.,,
| ~
1 Rpeetol cprye,poaa<nct ar Tas Tribune,
| DENVER, Col, Feb. i3.-fn former articles ge
havc given facts and statistics regarding the
cattle and wool interests TN the plaIus ard along
the basc Of tho Rocky Mountains, The }noulry
| Ia now made wl,cthcr farming Is carried on to
aug extent in this section, and Il 10. whether It
pays. The popular belief srcms 10 be that crops
out thts way require liberal trrtgntinR, and =
good deal Of coaxne besides, to make them turn
out we'll; and TINT the kinds Of produces and
fruits that can be raised arc very limited.
We can begin answering these questions and
doubts best by saylug tfat while experimental
farming md gardening has been tried at many
points on the plains, chiefly along the Pacific
Railways, ant1 also t,Igl, w Into tue mountains.
yet the most Of tue farming, or branching as
It IL called out hero, is now done In the valleys
Of tho smaller streams, anl belt Of country
from Cheyenne to Santa Fc, thirty miles wide,
close along tho foothills, will take In nine
tcnths Of tho farms iu Colorado, New Mexico.
md Wyoming. Within thts tract are the Lodge
Pole aud Crow Creek Valleys Ut Wyoming; tho
Cache La Poulrc, Dig Thompson, St. Fra1n,
Bear, Turkey, Clear Creek, Wet Mountain,
Upper Arkausas, mud Huerlano Valleys Of Colo
RADIO; aud the Rio 0rande md its tributaries In
Now Mexico.
Inc colonies, country towns, aud plazas and
ranc,,c. arc ali within tbts hejt, The prfncnal
e@ecpt'ons arc ,ou9a On Tue 'f'onsal'ss VI ens
South Platte Ill along between Greeley. and
Julesburg, aud along the Arkansas aud trtbutn-
rtcs as far cast a. fort Lyon. The efforts at
fa'ps"nH aao .ecs pia".'E ,''aas " wv ts". WILL
sas tacile, through 'ts INDUSTRIAL aseh1, from
1870 to 1874 at various stations we'll out on tho
plains, did rot result satisfactorily, for want Of
,'.., wa.es ana were apa.'uo'ea .ntss s1,,; r,,,'
Mt!e farming IN sma'l patches ooae a. ELLIS,
Wallace. pad Hugo; but with these lev aud
the plalns country from Victoria. Kan. to Den.
s .."s r III. ~ ,an .,..,a. '>'' ~
VI, H.. s.1s'sn n1s. 1a, =. So ,n.'cs.
inc Hsst farming tlofc IN ehe itocRy-Mounta'n
Arka,,sas MAS In 1850. when II ras accidentally
,t.coy"ro'1 ,,v ,o,o rioys1,,t ND ,,tso-,,,rsra,
Es""... sUs r.s,,. ~. wv
wheat vero growing uieely under the caves Of
their cabin. The following ycur ten,e expert.
mcnt. wtr,, made viii, ,,rf,.s.: and I'M IN i'm,
those w,,o rayo their attention tn f.rr,up In @ t1i,
about as well as the mineral md quite large
humber nj frugal husbantmen got decidedly
rich. from tho niall prices ob.u;acd for yepe,a.
h,ea md urain. TIN veor 1a70 ,vIt.
messed the eonltng o. tf'e colonies, anu for
two 9r three ycars, following, agriculture was
the eh!cf topic, and pronstacd to be the caicf
pursuit. ~ IL Colorado. Mining interests were de-
fanry, a1tt not lookcd upon ms remarkably profit
atlr; Irrigation sas a1l The talk; md 70 the
ualnds of tue hundreds md tlIousatids OF tlco.
fetscal farmers Hooking y! With tho {irccey, C-
WESTERN, and other colonies, It Wus a very simple
solution u tho "Aolc matter; antl 10 tlieir
nih!s' eyes tho Arcndta hal been fonnu,-
cana1s, a'telss' growing crops and big profits
Fire " sax years Of rather uphill work has
served to weed out the theorists, and brought
the practical tasucr to tue front. But, mean
while, the nctua! results IN the wny oi crDpg
have not tcen satisfactory. Large numbers
llavo pulled up" and moved away, cursng the
country. 1t may bc frotn flila fact. anl from the
H. 81. 81 ns yn1 t an
Colorado ,oss not pay t b trac siat very lev "
" tllosc VIII, have. settled IN Colorado during
tl'o pass 'iseo or four yeafs have undertaken tn
farm 'n1e T. mr., .h1, ,s WY tsir pursuit. bsioFs hsy
eise. stock. n!singl or mfsinG, pcrhaps 1t fs
nlsu true that the colonies which, wtro started at
tireelcy: EFans. Longtnont, and coffax In 1870
at,u lsl, formed fur the very. pur.
ueninR,, hare not "m1!tipltetl and ln-
creased" as vas expected. None ot then. liaye
Ga!nT'' aeSess!os s!1'es ls's anu some show
settlers at carla Of these places lave talcn.to
something clae ttan have gone to larInlng.
pulled UP stakes and either gone back Euet Or
lttel themselves to TINT new "prornlscd laDdn
Oregon or Washington Territory.
However, while nsl 'hls4s true. and while tho
greater now tt!au il wis tlys yrars aEu, iotwith.
stumbling t1,c population has ncar!y il.alruptc.i,
ttevrrthclesa IL II far troin true tt3t farming Il,
Colorln tloes mt pay. On tllo contrary, t!,o.e Of
the older settlers wl.p have stuck to IT hnyo
tlonr we'll; eu.t the nl,,St nf tho newer settIrra
have nude goo! .'n'wing. All tlts III spite Of
the tliscuuiag.ux fart that tor three Yrnrt Lnrk
thr Erhssalol3ers haze IN thu average gu:hereI
Init, t:.u rfoL's.. and IN many eases catet thu