The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1905-09-01

0ut WASA VIZ C0Aal1S1 LIZ SAadll SO5t
of irrigatfng an acre of orchard, even
If the water is pumped from a well
and the greater certainty Of crop, and
the greater superiority of crop, in the
semi-arid orchard, 1 think the profit
will far outweigh the cost of artificial
watering.
The crops Of horticulture-the ap.
pies, pears, peaches, plums, cherries,
grapes, and berries-are worth much
more, acre for acre than the crops of
agriculture-the cereal foods, the Cor
age, and the animal food products.
Let us consider the items. A crop
of corn is a good one that yields so
bushels-3OO0 pounds of grain-to *he
acre of land. That is worth, say $50
half of which goes for planting, cul-
ture and harvest The net yield of
the acre is fifteen dollars. Let corn
represent the cereal crop If the
>oil is fed to rake beef or pork
V i'll the yield be nor to the acre
Ut s-ound, coz ling the p~asturage,
the forage anil he grain! Will the
nat yield of the beef and pork ba
more to the acres employed in laea
producing? 7 think not. l believe it
nrn represent it.
An acre OF apple orchard in full
Learing, will produce, one thousand
bushels of apples, or $4,000 pounds of
product if it is a good crop. Let
us call the apples worth one cent a
pound.-the same value as the corr
They will always be worth as much
as this, if projected from insects, and
well handled. But we need not reckon
off more than ten TO twenty per II
of gross value for the cost of cultiva
ton, spraying and harvesting. Call
it twenty per cent. THIS leaves four
hundred dollars as the net value of
a first class crop OF apples, against tif-
teen dollars for the corn, each on its
acre of ground.
But the apple crop may not be quite
sure every year. Is the corn crop
quite sure? When the corn crop tails
Inv NooS III 10 Ao4tAA oho NuAtlN 1IAoAA
is all lost. When the apple crop fails
there is little lost in labor. Suppose
that in our estimate of values that we
reckon the corn T o. as good for It's
fifteen dollars profit every year; and
that the apple crop will fail half of
the years. We are still left with an
average annual profit on our apples
of two hundred dollars against the
fifteen dollars for the corn. And that
is a conservative estimate.
If we plant other fruits than apples,
the security of crop may not be quite
as great in all sections OF our great,
high-altitude orchard country, but the
value of each crop secured will be
greater-sometimes four times great
er-so that we are reckoning very
carefully when we allow h acre of
apples to stand for the profit of a hor-
ticultural industry, while the valiant
corn field represents the common
farm crop.
If my facts sustain me, | make out
a far more golden promise for horti-
1t re than for agriculture, for the
great table lands where we live. 1t
seems that the horticultural crops are
Worth from ten to twenty times as
much as the agricultural crops for
this region. In the agricultural states
proper this dikpgoportion does not
hold, for the farmers crops in the hui
mid countries are worth as much as
our in the high countries, while his
fruit crops are less sure, and less valu
able han ours.
l have suggested that this country
of the arid attitudes is about as large
as the great low country where agri-
culture reaps its most bountiful har
vests. have said that it has beer
but little developed. In the Eternal
Wisdom which guides the expansion
of nations it has remained covered
up from the common appreciation by
this apparent barrenness. But within
come to learn something of the posi-
Bile wealth hat lies waiting mere.
enough water has been found in ma
ny sections to make the desert bloom
with roses and with the best fruits
of the earth. Every succeeding ear
adds to the area which can be sup
piled with water. And every new
years harvest of the crops of our
small and scattered orchards shows
men more clearly the vast superiority
Of the whole environment of these
plains and valleys over hat of any
of the old fruit growing districts, for
producing superior quality in fruits,
as we'll as an unusual certainty of