Rocky Ford enterprise., 1895-04-18
WESTERN FARM NOlES.
(From Field and Farm.)

From Field and Farm)
The steam shearing plant at Casper,
Wyoming, is going to turn out 100000
fieeces this spring.
A Boulder county man claims to have
received from twenty -one laying hens,
thirty dozen eggs during the month
of March. The hens were Brahmas and
Brown Leghorns mixed.
Ora Haley of Laramie, Wyoming,
lately paid Carl Bryant of Wolcott,
Colorado, $55 head for eighty-eig
head of 1,250-pound steers that have
been fed on alfalfa three months.
]. NJ. Jensen of Brighton City, Utah,
Is fattening 10000 sheep this winter
and this week sent 5000 Of them on to
Chicago with the others to follow in
close order.
Nebraska is very short on hogs and
Kansas Is not much better of. Colo
radios stock Of breeding animals Is In
creased and in another year or two we
will be growing all the pork required
here. This will keep thousands Of dol
lars at home and will furnish our local
market with a better class Of meats.
A consignment of beef cattle was re.
Gently shipped from Senator Carey's
so ranch in Converse county, Wyo-
ming, which netted $6S.21 a head at
the ranch. In the shipment there were
eighty-four heads of steers which av-
eraged 1.424 pounds and sold for $5.25.
while five cars averaged 1,347 and
brought IS. These steers were fattened
The winter apples that have done
the best in Colorado are the Ben Davis,
Jonathan, White Winter Pearmain,
Jeneton, Wine Sap, York Imperial, Mis-
souri, Pippin, Colorado Orange, Wal
bridge, Fameuse and Wolf River, the
Ben Davis taking the lead of all of
them. In summer and fall varieties
the Maiden Blush. Early Harvest. Red
Astrachan and Wealthy are all good.
A number of Weld county farmers
are going to plant broom corn this sea-
son, putting in all the way from ten
to 100 acres each 1t Is sure crop, re-
quite successfully grown In the Colo
RADIO rain belt country. An average
crop is about one ton to two acres, and
very often more. 1t can be planted as
late as the 10th Of June and will grow
almost anywhere.
Tree planting is the fad over the
West this spring and the acreage is go
ing to be larger than ever before.
Roughly estimated 1t costs 500 an acre
to buy Colorado sod land suitable for
fruit, fence and break 1t, set 1t to or
chard, pay for the water right, culti-
vate and attend until the place comes
into good bearing at five years of age.
Figured on this basis one can come near
estimating the actual cost Of an orchard
without crediting the land with any
thing that may be produced while the
orchard Is paying a dividend from the
trees.
A party Of eight sheep shearers have
left Brighton, Utah, on a sheep shear
ing excursion. They are under con-
tract to shear 25,OOO at Boise. Idaho,
prior to May LIST, when they go to Wy
oming where they have q second big
flock of 25,OOO. When these are feeced
the crowd will tie themselves up In
Montana to shear their third flock OF
5000, making 5000 sheep they will
shear this year. 1t Is quite probable
the total number will reach 100000.
They will take OF some $4,000 worth
OF wool. The value Of the sheep that
will pass through their hands will be
upwards of $3OO,OOO The boys will
earn about $1,000 in wages.
In speaking about the hog industry
in the San Luis valley, F. M. Knapp,
Of Bowen, Rio Grande county, says:
"Hog raising has been on the increase
and disease was not known among the
hogs until recently, and which was
caused by the shipping in Of hogs from
the drOuth-stricken districts Of Kansas
and Nebraska. We have been using as
feed for hogs a field pea which is SOW
ed broadcast and plowed In and the
yield Of which runs twenty-five to
fifty bushels to the acre. Since tho
price of wheat has fallen 30 low a great
deal of 1t has been fed to hogs, but
tests showed that 1t took a larger guam
tity of wheat than peas to fatten q
hog"
While Colorado Is not particularly
edapted to barley and comparatively
little Of 1t Is raised, yet the fine crops
that are sometimes grown show what
may be done with favorable conditions
and good seed. Barley grows In Colo
RADIO with a very short straw, but the
heads and the grain compare well with
the growths Of any country. All the
varieties grown the past season at the
state agricultural college were In small
test plats. They were sown April I'd
and May 18th; the first sowing was ir-
rigated May 23d and June 18th, and
the last was irrigated June 25th, and
harvested August LIST to 18th. The Ne
paul and Black barleys are hulless,
that Is, in threshing they separate from
the hull like wheat. The rest Of the
kinds retain the hulls in threshing.
The California barley deserves special
notice for its drouth resisting qualities
and Its productiveness. 1t Is the only
cereal that withstood the severe drouth
of last season at the Cheyenne Wells
sub-station. 1t was sown May 10Th,
irrigated June 25th and harvested
August 18th.
In a series of irrigation experiments
at the Utah station, covering a period
Of five years, ii was found that on clay
soil the maximum yield of both wheat
and straw was obtained by saturating
the ground approximately two feet
deep at each irrigation, or covering the
ground with 26.S2 inches Of water dur
ing the season. On this soil there was
q decrease of crop where either q more
or q less amount of water was used
This maximum yield was secured by
the use Of 1850 acre-inches, which Is
equivalent to a cubic foot a second for
twenty-seven hours. Though the wa
ter that drained from the soil through
rxcessive Irrigation, was richer In fer
tilixing material than when applied,
the total amount Of this material add
ed was more than that extracted. On