The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-10-02

spondence of the Chicago Record
 Herald.
 Rockey Ford. Colo, Sep. 24.-Like the ancient Israelities, as the script ures, tell us. the people of Colorado coming of their harvests by public feasts placing thank offerings before true oriental hospitality.
 At Glenwood springs they have u ''strawberry day" eacn spring, when all the world Is askea tv cohIe, wlIn out money ana without price. ana reed upon the most luscious. oI lruiI Il. Was Sydney smith wno said as. you rememDer: "Douptless God mignI have made a better berry than .nc strawberry but doubtless tod never did" and it Is asserted that the best in all the world grow in that little pocket among the mountains of Coio- rado.
 At Longmont, in the northern part of the state. where the bees fatten up- on the prairie flowers, honey day" is celebrated and tons of honey are eaten every year. At Monument they have "pumkin-pie; day at Lamar formerly they had a rabbit day at which everybody came with his gun to as- oist HI AiuuinB that part OL the COun- try of the rabbits that were a pest to the farmers. Aa Fort Collins. where is the biggest beet sugar mill in the world. barbecues of spring lamb are held every fall. At Greeley the peo- pie have a potato day." when hun dreds of bushels of the finest pota- toes that ever grew are eaten in the open air, free of charge, with othe: concomitants. The people of Grand Junction have peach day; at Cam yon City, apple day" Is celebrated annually; at Rocky Ford melon day." and at I>oveland. at the northern end of the state, there is an annual corn roast attended by 10000 or 12.000 per- sons from all parts of the state.
 It was held as annual on the 9th of September. Four tons of green corn were roasted in pits dug in the ground and filled with hot coals. and the ears were served on tables erected in grove, free to all corners, with 15,0o0 sandwiches. 32O gallons of coffee fifty barrels of cider and several car loads of apples for dessert. Almost every city in northern Colorado was represented in the crowd, men, women and children coming from a radius of 150 miles by all kinds of conveyances
 People generally do not realize that Colorado is an agricultural state; that iNAAoDAtohbS gam tnOES WealIn ana profit by the cultivation of the soil of the fertile valleys and plains than they can dig out of the rock ribbed mountains Official statisticians estimate that the 25,000 farms of the state will produce this year $46.545, ,000 worth of grain, fruit and vegetables, more than all of the mining or the ranches. Rev. BIT. Howe, pastor of a Methodist church in Denver, has proposed this noble toast to that city, which gra- phically describes the situation:
 Queen City throaned "twixt peak
 and plain. -r'.-@,-e
 She gathers tribute of the best:
 From out the East the golden grain.
 And grains of gold from out the
 West"
 We stopped here at Rocky Ford, on our way to St. Louis, to witness the celebration of melon day." the oldest and one 5f the greatest of the annual Colorado feasts. Rocky Ford Is the center of the canteloupe and watermel on district of Colorado, and ships about 1,500 car loads of those luscious fruits to market every summer. The pioneer of the melon bushes; the man who dis covered that the peculiar properties of this alkali soil will produce the finest melons that were ever tasted, and was the founder of melon day" Is still liv- ing and is the foremost citizen of this section of the State. He is George w Swink, an eccentric character, but of great ability and popularity. He has been a member of the Colorado State Senate for many years and has a pow erful "pulI'' in politics. He Is now in St. Louis in charge of the agricultural exhibit from this State. but came home to celebrate melon day. with his neignbors, a pleasure that he would not miss for any reason.
 Senator Swink Is no dude. One of his peculiarities Is that he never wears a coat. He always goes around in his shirt sleeves. He never owned an over coat in his life. It Is the popular i'm pression that he has no coat at all, although he is a man of considerable wealth and owns several of the finest farms in Colorado.
 When the St. Louis fair opened an order was issued requiring all officials and attendants to dress with neatness and care. and to look as we'll as possi- ble. but Senator Swink paid no atten tion to 1t, and when the chief of his de- partment ordered him to wear his coat he explained that he didn't have one that he had not brought a coat with Dim from Colorado and didn't propose to buy one in St. Louis He sits through the sessions of the State Senate in hIs shirt sleeves, and declares that nobody thinks the less of him for 1t. He has been there so long. and is so we'll