The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1890-09-18

ARTESIAN WELLS AND IRRIGATION.
To the Agricultural Editor of Statesman:
SIR-I have read with much delight
your columns in THE STATESMAN.
You are doing much good, and want
to see you keepit up. Why can you not
urge in your columns the irri-
CATION of the beautiful Colorado val
ley below Austin? There is fine body
of land which could be made the
grandest garden in Texas.
l wish also that you would urge the
upland farmers of the black waxy
county to bore for artesian water.
They can all get it. Sincerely yours,
ROBERT 7. HILL.
Ell Paso.
Mr.. Hill having before him the al
vantages of irrigation in the valley
of the Rio Grande, thinks the same
plan might be adopted with good
results in the valley OF the Colorado.
OF this there can be no coubt, but
would the benefits be commensurate
with the cost? The Typographical
features of this section of the Colorado
basin form serious obstacles to any
extensive scheme of irrigation as
practiced on the Rio Grande, Pecos,
and other rivers. This is good time
to investigate the matter and take
action. The city of Austin is about
to take the first step in any irrigation
scheme, by impounding the water of
the Colorado. After supplying the
city with water for all purposes and
furnishing light and power for
factory and other machinery there
will be an immense volume of water
in position and form ready for irri-
CATION purposes. Could this water
not be made another source Of income
to the city? Inquiry should be made
as to the cost of q canal and the
probable demand for its water.
With the aid OF irrigation the valley
of the river below Austin would in
every truth be "the grandest garden
in Texas"
Agricultural Editor of Statesman:
DEAR SIR-In one of your articles
to the The STATESMAN, under head OF
"Farm Notes." you mention the Jen-
kins gold dust as being an
early crop of cotton. Will you please
inform me privately through THE
STATESMAN where the seed of those
varities can be had? l would like
very much to try one bushel each Of
the two varieties.
1t is difficult to estimate the value
of your contributions to that paper,
read them-I appreciate them.
:. Your truly,
/. B. RYLANDO.
Il San Marcos.
SHEEP VS.. COWS.
The question as to which is most
profitable depends largely on loca,
conditions. The COW has many true
and staunch friends who shudder al
the very name of sheep, while the lat
ter quadruped is championed by those
who don't keep them merely for fun
Mr.. Galen Wilson, one of the latter
class, thinks no thoughtful person car
hesitate long in choosing between
dairying and wool growing. He says
it has to be an extraordinary COW thai
will yield $50 annually Call the COW
worth $50. This sum would buy ter
excellent grade Merino ewes and they
will eat no more in value than the
COW. From the sheep would be an in
, come'of $60-$40 for lambs and $40 iol
wool, beating the COW $40. This is no
too high, for hocks all about me are
doing better than that.
1t is in attending labor where thu
sheep beat the COW clean out of sight
Feeding each in winter requires abou
the same work. 1t is during the milk
ing season that the great disparsity IL
labor involved is manifest. A COW vii
give milk $50 days and will have to b.
MIXED 500 times, Sundays and all.
Churuing has to be done seventy
five times, 1000 to 1900 milk pans t.
be washed, 500 milk pals and seventy
+ five churns to be cleansed.
These are nice little items of labo
for somebody to perform, and it gen
orally devolves upon poor tired
woman.
Meantime what is being done abou
the sheep? Why, the owner merel,,
3 looks at them once in while. Com
5 pairing the two ways of earning $50 tn
, disparity between them is so grea
that it is enough to make cyni
smile.
But this is not all. Sheep eat sew
eral kinds of vegetables that othe
stock will not, many of them noxiou
= weeds that are injurious to pastur
, grasses, besides they will trim ant
destroy many briars and other bushes
They are particularly fond of the bar
of the sumacs, and have been know
to clear fields of them by girdlin
E them "a HIGH IN as thew cOuld reach