The silver star., 1897-07-22
WESTERN FARM NOTES.
(From Field and Farm.)

| Fields and fruit farms In the vicinity Of
Denver look thrifty. Sweet corn Is breast
high and tasseiing Garden crops are well
advanced and the abundance Of early rain
mas Kept vegetation moving Grasshoppers
are not annoying farmers to any serious ex-
tent. and the principal work is the perpetual
| battle with weeds, which seem to thrive
with unusual vigor this year.
| man In Boulder county says alfalfa ID
| not tenacious OF life that It cannot be
killed In summer. He says to rid field
Of alfalfa. plow In midsummer. turning up
| the roots to the hot sun. Or II the field can
be irrigated. let the wnter stand on 1t two
or three days In midsummer. This will rot
the roots and after the water has been
drained OF the field be plowed The
most sure plan no doubt is to plow 1t under
deeply with plenty Of horse power and fall
plOwing will probably prove more effectual
than when the work is done earlier.
In Rio Arriba county, New Mexico, the
Increase In sheep this year has been over 30
per cent OH an average and In some few
| hOcks 1t has been 40 per cent. Shearing In
| over, the clip IL better than usual, and
| prices for wool are held higher than for n
| long time past, but no sales have yet been
made. The unusually moist spring put the
ranges In fine condition and the sheep have
done well In every particular. and the same
conditions prevail throughout the territory.
a great rate this season and will aggregate
1900, 600 pounds.
| One of the almost forgotten arts of agri-
culture In Colorado is the culture Of turnips
| for stock feed and table use. Here as in
| the East 1t is well to follow the old rule of
sowing the seed July 25th and the crop
| can be grown on land from which some ear
lier crop has been taken on. The cost to
| raise an acre Of turnips Is about 81. They
oil mn, fltd tvt,I
| Wood ashes Is recommended to destroy the
neas that may get away with the turnips
but SCOT from the chimney is also excellent
| for this purpose-better than ashes, In fact
and can be applied In the early morning
when there is II slight dew ON the growth.
Perennial weeds. such golden-rod, iron
| weed. and some OF the sunhowers can usu-
ally be kept In check by moving when In
| early bloom. The mower should he run high
SO as to miss as much of the grass as pos
sible. Occasionally 1t Is necessary to grub
| out such plants as the rosin-weeds. Annual
weeds. like fire-weed. sunfower and rag
| weed, may he destroyed In the same manner
The moving should always be done before
| the seeds ripen. A thorough narrowing ~
the spring while the weeds were very young
would have destroyed many Of them. but 1t
| Is now necessary to adopt more stringent
| measures. aud where the moving machine
can be run 1t ls probably as good method
| az any. Otherwise the scythe may have to
| be used.
There is much disappointment In the
ne'ghborhood Of Denver regarding the poor
success that has resulted from efforts to
| grow some OF the cane fruits Mistakes are
often made In trying to grow raspberrics
and blackberries by neglecting the plants
after the first year. and they are failures to
the extent of the neglect given them. This
IL rule that Will hold good In almost any
kind of management. The best way to do il
to keep them clean, keeping them In rows
and giving them good and frequent cultiva-
| tlon. with intelligent Irrigation. 1t may he
necessary to stir occasionally with the stir
| ring .plOw. The best plan liz to plant the
| rows 80 far apart that disc will pass be-
| tween the rows and the stirring and cult
| walton may be done with this implement
But this, alas, IL very seldom done, and we
| do not wonder 80 much at the failures some
people make.
1t IL surprising fact that, practically
speaking, without water. without grass or
anything else to keep cattle on, those fel-
lows down In Arizona are getting rich in
| the cattle Industry. What they feed on IL
| question. TwothIrtis Of the stock in west
ern Arizonn Ind nothing to eat all winter
but mountain scenery, sage brush and snow.
yet their owners are obtaining better prices
than five years ago by - to s. head. Year
ling steers are bringing $12 to $13. two-year-
olds <l6 ana three e-year-Olds $40. In the
western counties Of Arizona rain is almost
unknown We have known Of cases where
| 1t was necessary to drive cattle twenty five
| miles for water. There Is really no expense
attached TO the business, outside OF the
hire Of men to keep the cattle together In
punches. and help can be had for song.
Cattle breed In that warm climate about
| three times as fast they do here. The
ruta hara-s tI.nrs,
Tom Bacon. shipped Into Kansas City last
season 10000 head without asking for
dollar until the season was over. Bacon
has a tract Of land 300 miles Wide for his
| stock. He does not know himself how
many cattle he has. Bacon hns nine chill
dren and last Christmas he gave them each
bOOO head u cattle for u present.
A question OF the greatest Importance In
regions Of deficient rainfall or where irriga.
tion is practiccd. Is the storage capacity OF
the soil for water. When the soil is thor
onghly loorenei up the amount Of water
which II Will hold is greatly Increased. and
the rise Of water to the surface and evap-
Grafton are checked. On this point the Ne
braskn station makes the following sugges-
tions; SnbsoIl piowlng. although means
! OF conserving moisture, does not produce IT,
and In. therefore. not n substitute for irri.
CATION where the rainfall In too small to
produce crops. Where there iE a hard, dry
subsoil. subsoii plowing In to be recommend
ed. Where the nubsoll IL loose. grnvelly. or
sandy. subsoiling is probably unnecessary,
or mny even be Injurious. DO not subsoii
when the soil II very wet. either above or
beneath. M there II great danger Of pud.
ding the soil. thus ieaving II In worse con.
dition than before. This is one Of the ren.
sons why II In better TO subsoii In the fall
than In the spring. II the ground he SUBJ
solled In the fall, the winter and spring
rains have ample opportunity to soak in
that being the season Of greatest rainfall
and least evaporation. subsoiiing In the
| spring may be positive dctriment II the
subsoil be extremely dry. aS In that ease
the rain water IL partially removed from