Rocky Ford enterprise., 1899-01-19
FARMING MATTERS.
, lFrom Field and Farm.)

A bunch of 1900 yearlings was re-
Gently sold ut $50 head. f27.
Contracts are being made at Lehi,
Utah. for sugar beets for 1899. The
factory will require an additional area
of GOO acres for next season. Prices
range from S4.25 a ton for fourteen per
cent. saccharine, down to 1915 n ton
for twelve per cent. saccharine and
eighty per cent purity. Several hun
dred farmers have contracted to grow.
from two acres to fifty acres each.
The factory output for 1858 was D.
500 600 pounds OF granulated sugar.
The quality of cattle raised in all
the far western states IL improving
steadily, until 1t IL now appreclapiy
better than the average OF native cat
tie on the farms In the corn states.
throughout the corn states there ure
scattering punches of highly improved
cattle, better than the average of farm
bred natives and probably the best cat
tie raised in this country, and yet there
are many cattle In Colorado, wyoming
and Montana that hre equal tothe best
cattle than can be raised In their re-
spective breeds.
Animnls naturally gain more quick
ly when first put on feed. We can
feed concentrated food to an animal
with profit up to certain point, anu
beyond that we cannot go. The animal
will take the food, but will not give
back the returns. This shows that
feeding is a fine art. 4 must not be
conducted on the theory that the more
grain given the greater gain will re-
suit. The ration properly balanced,
and fed in just the right quantity, are
the essential points. and to them too
much attention cannot be Etven.J,Ju'
ID. One trouble which all fruit growers
must have noticed OH our rich western
Soils, especially with young apple
trees, Is the tendency to make too
much top for the strength of the trunk.
A young tree taken from the 'protec-
tion Of the nursery has a bare. slim
stem, which does not grow In diane
ter as 1t ought. Even that growth
which is made is not properly distrib-
uted, but goes to saplIng's head, like
the education OF freshman ut college.
1t is not ut all uncommon to see apple
trees, two years after planting, with
trunks larger at the top than at the
bottom Science has not yet devised
ways and means for controlling this
popularity.
Effective and lasting windbreaks
can be grown in Colorado by :hickly-
planting ash, elm, box elder, wild
black cherry and other hardy species
mixed. The ash is probably the most
reliable. but does much better when
growing among other kinds. especially
such as leaf out early In the spring and
shade the ground quickly. When only
narrow strip is planted. a thick row
OF laurel leaf. Russian or gray willows
some distance outside is necessary to
catch the drifting snow. The osslge
orange and the artemisIa might also be
added to the group. II they can not be
irrigated 1t Is advisable to throw out
burrows leading diagonally to higher
land so as to secure the wash of the
rains. This plan has proved very sat
isfactory In many dry situations espe-
cinlly where the windbreal had been
planted on subsoiled ground.
1t often pays to look after the little
things on II farm. When n stand of
wheat belonging to Charles Williams of
Conejos county came up there was
considerable wild mustard in it. grow
ing faster than the grain. Mr.. VIII
liams hired men at n total cost of $1:s
to go in and pull the weeds by hand.
He estimates that removing these
weeds increased the yield thousand
bushels, paying many times over for
the slight labor expended. The land
had been .plowed six TO eight inches
deep In the summer of 1897 Wheat
land in the San Luis valley Is COM
monty blowed only four or five inches
deep. and his yield OF thirty bushels
to the acre weighing sixty-one pounds,
shows that better results can be OBJ
tanned with deeper plOwing. There is
also a lesson to be learned from this
method of getting rid of the weeds. /
High altitude farming well up In the
great mountain parks of Colorado. has
always been a good deal of nm enigma
with many people. 1t has such pecul-
iar aspects and so many seeming draw
backs that some men have naturally
turned the Whole proposition down as
impossible, but year by year we can
see where advancement is made to-
ward the solution of the problem. Up
in the North park at an altitude eN-
ceeding 1000 feet, w. NJ. Jones will this
year put in 100 acres to barley for feed
ing purposes. He had such fine success
the past season with barley that he
feels encouraged to go ahead on n more
extensive plan. 1t is in such discoy
cries as this that high altitude ranch
men will in time become farmers and
when they learn just what to grow the
great question of profitable farming
IN connection with stock growing will
be answered. O w 80
There is one advantage of orchard
Ing by irrigation which must not be
overlooked. Take an eastern orchard
in fine apple section which is laden
with what is called good crop. The
tree looks well and Is drooping with
apples fair to the eye. While on the
tree little difference is noted in the
fruit, but the eye of h.uit buyer
would see great difference before
picking. When picked not over TWEEN
ty per cent. will meet ready sale at n
good price. Then comes about forty
y per cent. Of second grade that may sell