Gilpin observer., 1900-08-30
FARMING MATTERS.
(From Field and Farm)


This tract contains 10000 to 10000
acres and he will stock it with cattle.
He has 200 pure bred Hereford cows as
bunch of breeders upon which to
base the success of his future herd.
One of the great beauties of the
creamery system is that the farmer
who sells his butter fat is not asked
to take prunes or rubber boots or red
herrings in pay. He gets cash-the
good cold cash, fresh from the bank,
and when he wants to buy anything
he can pay for it. 1t is thought that
the cow population of Elbert county
will soon be doubled by men who like
to do business in this way.
An expert vineyardist of the Me
silla valley says that for many years
he has pruned his vines in the fall. By
this method the vines do not bleed and
they yield grapes at least seven days
earlier than the vines pruned in the
spring. OF course there is little risk
from late frosts but some have long
thought that fall pruning is the right
thing in that climate. 1t will scarcely
do, however, SO far north as Colorado,
and we could not advise the system
here.
This is the time when the fruit
grower has all kinds of trouble and
his days are full of woes with plenty
of them. He must watch the packages,
the packing and handling of fruit,
must hire, teach, warn and discharge
pickers, must watch the varieties and
judge what is best to ship to distant
points or sell at home. 1t is for the
commercial grower n business requir-
ing much care and study and the
thoughtless, slipshod grower will sure
ly fail.
The Barn. Cattle Company, which
for years has held valuable fenced
grazing lands in the northern part of
the Laramie plains in Wyoming, has
now lost control of the property and
is practically without pasturage. The
lands We're public and have lately been
filed on by small owners who have
forced the big company to take down
the fence and relinquish its hold. Does
this circumstance carry any signiti-
canoe to those lease pirates who would
gobble up the earth?
There has been some prejudice re-
garding irrigated fruits based on the
hypothesis that such fruits would
shrink more than other kinds. This
led to Investigation and ii was found
rather unexpectedly that irrigated
fruit had less shrinkage and was there
fore worth more in its green state than
fruit grown without irrigation. The
conclusion is thai the greater amount
of water in the soil enabled the roots
to make a more vigorous growth of
leaves and through these the air CON
| tributed II greater proportion of sac
charine pulp than was possible with
the poorer foliage ON trees that had Il
deficient supply of water.
Many western slope farmers who
| feel that they are able to do so are
buying pumps and preparing for II con
slant water supply ON their own hook.
Half the time of an irrigator in times
of short water supply is spent, not in
irrigating, but in running after water
and in waiting for it to come down the
ditch. With reasonable power and
| good pumps and with Il system of
combining among farmers, the extra
cost of hoisting might easily he saved.
Another valuable feature worth look
ing after is the absolute independence
of the farmers thus supplied with wa
ter, which is Il great desideratun in
these days of uncertain supply in so
many places.
A Boulder county farmer who was
too poor to buy lumber ut the yard,
but was determined that his cows
should have shelter in the winter, cut
"A lot of aspen poles and made Il good
warm stable with them and straw. He
put up the framework before his
threshing was done, then the straw
was stacked all over and in front of
the framework, and he had about the
warmest stable that COW ever polled
her head into. Another man down in
the rain belt made n durable COW shed
nv Ht.St hnilinu tha St than
laying the bundles up with broken
joints, the same as brick is put into II
wall. The top was poled over and
matched with straw and binding poles
We're placed on top of all two or three
feet apart to keep the roof from blow
ing away.
well grassed forty acres Will sup
port 200 goats for two years, and foot
hill browsing Is their particular ac-
compllshment. The breeding season is
from August list to February. In Colo
RADIO breeder selects February as the
best breeding month This brings the
kid In May when grass comes out and
the kid needs little attention. Angora
does breed once year. one buck to
fifty or seventy-tive does Is sufficient,
unless very short kidding season is
desired. II is not easy to secure pure
bucks, and as there Is Il growing de-
mand for goats, there Is some danger
of having grade bucks palncd off on
the purchaser as pure breds. 1t Is de-
sirable. therefore. to buy only of the
most reputable breeders. In buying
any animal the character of the breed
sr Is of quite as much Importance as
he pedigree of the animal. If the
breeder has n good pedigree, his stock
should be all right. The goat will in.
breed, II Is claimed, more safely than
any other class of animals.
After the harvest has been reaped
sheep may be made to do good work ms