Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1889-10-22

IL she Greatest of All Farming Prfnei.
pies.
From the Denver Commonwealth
Systematic and profitable farming has but
Just commenced in Colorado. Until quite
lately crop growing was done In patches. Ten
years ago there were 500 miles Of irrigatirg
bitches in the State. To-day there are 5000
miles-if we count the laterals. There are ten
acres under cultivation to-day whore there
been largely due to the investment of capital
for the building and extension of the irriga-
ting bitches which have made agriculture
possible and.proftable, where was but stun
ted grass and sterile plain.
In the fifteen years just past, grand has
been the evolution in agriculture In this
Rocky Mountain country. The early hlleu
of the soil had dread Of irrigation because
they thougt it burdensome and tedious. They
have found 1t otherwise. They have found
that by irrigation is the safe and true method
of agriculture. Water coming down from the
mountains, flowing through the streams and
bitches, and peroolating through the soil
adds to its fertility and keeps 1t productive
for long numbers Of years. An acre that
out irrigation will just as easily produce thir-
ty bushels with irrigation.
Now, after thirty years of experiment and
observation, we have demonstrated that with
and by our system of carrying, storing, and
using water we have the safest agricultural
country east Of the Rocky Mountains. It is
made so by its non-rainfall. and our conse-
quent provision against drought. Except
from insect, Colorado need have no crop fall
ure. 1t never has had where mountain water
has been plentiful. Fields can be pointed to
in the northern counties of the State where
wheat has been repeated on the same soil for
twenty years, yielding from fifteen to forty
bushels each and every year, and that with
out fertilizing, except such as 1t had from the
running water. The five Thousand miles of
irrigating bitches, with their head gates, are
our safety valves They can be raised orishut
down at will. No man can command the
clouds; therefore the uncertainty in a non-
irrigated country. Here, so far as moist-
ure goes, the farmer is master of the situa-
ton.
And then, again, country afflicted with
too much rain is not the best country for the
farmer or for the best prosperity of the peo-
pie. Crops may grow and then be wasted In
the harvest. The hay moulds in the rack,
the wheat rusts while it ripens or sprouts in
the sheaf. From these serious and oft-times
sad Affections our country of Colorado Is ex-
empt. No man can fully appreciate the bles-
sings of dry and irrigated country until he
have but to cite the stubborn fact that
farmers who have once practiced crop grow
ing by irrigation seldom seek rain-depend.
ing country again in which to reside and cul-
tivate.
By the aid of our dry atmosphere, and as
sisted by our irrigation, alfalfa. that greatest
and most profitable farm crop known to the
world, is made success. It does not -four
ish in the rain-falling country, and if 1t did
flourish would not be harvested and cured.
With our irrigation three, and many times
four crops can be grown in the single season.
To gain time, where the farmer controls the
moisture, the irrigation must follow the rake,
that the new crop may follow the old. In
conclusion, I will say, blessed is the country
with clear sky and plenty of water to fill
its ditches