The silver star., 1898-07-07
MAY CULTIVATE ARID LANDS,
Ex-Governor Cooper Believes It Can BE
Done Without Irrigation.

Ex-Governor Cooper Believes It Can be
Done Without Irrigation.
Farming without irrigation has
been carried OH successfully in Colo
RADIO and l believe 1t may be made
profitable" said Ex-Governor Job A
Cooper. who is one of the important
capitalists and cattle raisers Of the
state. ''The secret of successful farm
ing on arid land is deep plowing and
internal culture. 1 believe that the
time is coming when all the eastern
part of the state, much of which Is
now n desert. will be under cultivation
and will support large population
Irrigation for most of eastern Colo
RADIO is generally believed TO be out of
the question. l think the problem of
reclaiming ii must be solved by deep
blowing.
'''rhe trouble with eastern Colorado is
not lack of precipitation. In the arid
region of Colorado, Kansas and Ne
braska, the mean annual rainfall is
twenty inches. nearly all of which
comes between March 1Si and October
LIST, the growing season. Evaporation
soon robs the soil of this moisture' the
problem is TO conserve 1t.
First turn over the surface to a
OF eight lfltDeS OF 50 anu Ahth
use another plow. reaching eight below
the first. The second plow does not
turn over the earth. but stirs it up.
This gives a depth of loosencd soil of
about sixteen inches as n reservoir for
moisture Then the surface is broken
up fine, 10 almost dust by n close har-
row. The dust prevents evaporation,
and the ground underneath remains
moist thrpI1phptIf tho Spu son
Il am interested in. the Wayside
ranch above Littleton. We have over
100 acres planted in grain, which we
grow without irrigation. Dennis Shee-
dy has also made success of dry
farming ON the divide. ON sixty acres
we grew thirty bushels of corn to the
acre Under irrigation thirty-five or
forty bushels is considered a good crop.
Thirty acres planted in bald barley
yielded twenty-eighi bushels 10 the
acre, while forty bushels is n good
crop on irrigated land. | know that
good crops of corn, rye, barley and
fruit can be produced on so-called arid
land without Irrigation.
The outlook for the cattle business
is remarkably good. The business is
gradually drifting into the hands of
small farmers who keep punches of
fifty to sixty cattle. and / think it prob
able that there are more cattle in Colo
RADIO now than in the time Of the open
ranges. and the number will increase
rapidly.
Now l believe that eastern Colorado
will be populated by small stock breed
ers. There is enough water in that
section to water stock and by subsoil-
ing the farmers can produce plenty of
food for fattenlng their cattle. Bald
barley is excellent feed. and as said
Colorado land without irrigation will
produce twenty-eieht bushels to the
acre
1T seems to me that there is n rea-
sonable hope of reclaiming the great
arid plains east of us. After the first
year the work of farming on this sys-
tenn would be easier. A farmer could
I'm few years have pleasant home
with orchards garden. fields of grain
and bunch of good Durham cattle.
Durhams are the hes; all-around cattle
for the small farmer They are fair
mixers good mothers and excellent on
the block. ! believe eastern Colorado
Will yet be divided up into small
ranches and that II will support n
large population of contented and pros
porous rmers."-Denver Republi-
can.