Rocky Ford enterprise., 1895-02-14
WESTERN FARM NOTES.

WESTERN FARM NOTES.
Little Cause for Complai.t Amoag TAsss
| Who Farm by Irrigation.
Talking about big yields from small
patches, e. N. Berry Of Otero county
says that while living In Fremont coun-
| ty he had gathered $7OO worth Of Bart
lett pears and 5000 worth Of strawber-
ries from three quarters Of an acre In
one season.
B. U. Dye, one Of Otero county's
most progressive citizens, has caught
the infection and is going to set out
5000 apple trees this spring. Such an
orchard as this will require 100 acres
Of land. There is plenty Of 1t in Otero
county and as rule it is well watered.
Just what can be done by a well or
ganized body Of farmers is instanced in
the case of those living In the vicinity
of Lockett, Rio Grande county, who
built the largest irrigating canal in the
San Luis valley. 1t cost $125 900 and
the builders did not have a dollar to
invest In 1t when the work was COM
menced. They now propose to estab
lish cooperative store and hope to
make 1t pay by saving one or two
profits Of the middleman.
Doctor Lake, superintendent Of the
public schools at Central City, Gilpin
county, will this spring add eight acres
to his plantation in Garfield county,
planting plums and prunes mostly. He
Will plant the Lombard, Imperial gage,
Ponds Seeding and the German prune.
Mrs. Morrow, a Central City lady, is
going to plant ten acre orchard this
spring near Antlers.
Red Kaffir corn is said to be rapidly
superseding the regular fiat grain in
the droughty regions Of eastern Colo
RADIO, Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma.
Professor Georgeson claims that 1t will
give larger yields of both stalks and
grain than Indian corn. We are not
growing so much of this non-sacharine
sorghum as we might well afford to
grow. Egyptian corn is another valu-
able variety that should be more exten-
sively planted in the arid region.
The estimated cost of producing and
marketing an acre of wheat, as gather
ed from expert reporters from the
different states, show quite difference
In several states. For instance, the
cost of producing and marketing one
acre Of wheat in Massachusetts is
S2&S1, while it is only $7.4S in North
Dakota, 1852 in South Dakota and
$11.39 in West Virginia. In Colorado it
has been figured as low as SO including
the expense of irrigation. The average
for all the states is given at $11.4S.
With gold as our single standard of
value 1t will not pay to grow wheat
even Tor private uses. 1t would be
cheaper to buy the bread at the bakery.
Next month will bring It's labors,
and we can now only prepare to for
ward them. 1t is presumed all practi-
cal gardeners are provided with hot
bed, for forwarding tender vegetables
Toward the close of this month seeds
OF cabbage, caulifower, tomatoes, egg
plant and pepper may be planted in the
hotbed; watch them lest they suffer
by frost or as 1t is not infrequently the
case, from want of sufficient air as the
weather becomes milder, when they
Will need also increased water. If
tools and Implements are likely to be
needed, the thoughtful man provides
them In due season, oyerhauls his stock
Of seeds, and makes out list of those
which may be needed, to the end that
they may be in hand before the time
OF sowing.-Field and Farm.
B. B. Harris of Larimer county il
one of the largest orchardists in the
state and Is authority on growing crops
between young orchard trees. He says
his crop Of white beans between his
fruit trees never yielded less than
twenty-five bushels to the acre, sixty
pounds to the bushel, and the lowest
price he has ever sold for is three and
one-half cents a pound. This would bs
1,5OO pounds to the acre, amounting to
$3.50 an acre, or $525 on ten acres,
which is as much as can be gotten OF
sixty acres of wheat. Mr.. Harris says
one man and a boy will do all the
work required on twenty acres in three
months time, including cultivating tho
rees and threshing the beans.
We have always had faith in the cul-
ture Of nuts as profitable line of bust
ness In Colorado, says the Field and
Farm, and we are glad to note in
the Mesa county papers that a Cali
fornia gentleman named W. A. Miller
has purchased 40 acres near Palisade
and will plant on the tract this spring
trial lot of 1900 trees of the English
walnut, soft shell almond and other
nut bearing trees. Mr.. Miller grew
nuts In California and knows a good
deal about the business. Others who
are planting trees in the Grand Valley
ought to experiment with nut fruits,
If the early settlers had done this
when they first planted threes there
would to-day be many paying nut
groves over there.
In comparative test of three meth
DDS Of land preparation in the culture
Of spring wheat at the Arkansas Val
ley experiment station a six-acre tract
Of uniform character was selected and
subdivided into three plats of equal
size. This land was well irrigated be-
fore blowing. Plat number one was
not plowed but received a thorough
cultivation with two-horse corn cul.
tivator. Plat number two was plowed
to an average depth of about four
inches. Plat number three was plow.
ed to an average depth of at least
eight inches. The seed used was the
Amethyst variety, sown with a press
drill set to five pecks to the acre. To
Insure uniformity of seeding the drill
was run crosswise of all the plats
Subsequent narrowing and irrigation
were likewise done uniformly over the
three plats. Plat one produced SO
bushels and 45 pounds; plat two, ~