The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1906-12-27
Agriculture in the
Great Pecos Valley.

By the mean of artesian wells,
probably 10000 acres.
Possibly by the latter means twice
as much land in time can be Guilt
waited. 1t is hardly unreasonable to
expect that within ten or fifteen years
there may b. 10000 acres of land
in intense cultivation in the Pecos
Valley. 1t is well known that after
dry land has been irrigated and prop
erly cultivated for a years., very much
less water is required to produce good
crops. 1t has been found in the Hag-
erman-Felix irrigation district that
mucn better crops are now being rails
ed with one-half the water per acre
than was used ten years ago.
Ten years ago in the Pecos Valley
there were probably 1000 people AID
5000, 900 on deposit in its two banks.
nothing to ship out but a few cattle
raised on the plains. There are now,
| people. There are nine banks with de-
posts of about $4,000, 900. The Oldest
of these banks has 100000 On depos-
it. There are very large shipments of
cattle, fat sheep, fat hogs, alfalfa,
wool, apples, peaches, pears, plums,
celery, and other vegetables. One or
chard shipped $50 carloads of apples
in the fall of 1905. There are $500
acres of apple trees planted, and some
| o. them il bearing, in the Hagerman
irrigated district alone. One station
which shipped nothing only five years
ago will ship 1000 carloads of alfal-
ia to Texas this year. Within five
years Chaves county can ship at least
1000 carloads of apples from or
caards now planted.
THE distinct tendency il the Pc
cos Valley is for the irrigated lands
to be divided into small farms, vary
ing from 20 to 80 acres, n worked
by the owner and his family. The
large tracts. originally taken up I'M
der the desert LAND act, are being
sold by their original owners, wno
seldom made good use of them. in
small tracts to good farmers from
the Middle and Mississippi Valley
States. The latter are usually educat-
ed, intelligent, and Industrious men
who expect to win and do win by
hard work n common sense. In
no part of the United States is more
and other civilizing influences. Tney
AXE an active and beneficial part in
local politics, n will soon make.
themselves felt in the Territorial
government.
There are many localities in New
Mexico where the history of the Pc
cos Valley can be repeated by an in
tellige1t use of their natural re-
sources. Much is to be hoped from
the Government Reclamation SerV
ice. Very much is to be hoped from
the English education of our Spanish
speaking people who, in many locali-
ties quite as much favored by nature
as the Pecos Valley, own both land
ald water, but for want of a knowl-.
edge of the modern way of doing
things nave made little or no prog
ress, While the Pecos Valley has
grown from almost nothing to what
it now is.
1T is very noticeable that both in
the irrigated and no1-irrigated parts
of tle Territory a much greater vari-
ETY. of crops is being successfully |
raised tnan heretofore. In the irrigat-
ed sections of the Pecos Valley and
the Rio Grande Valley the farmers
are very successful in the cultivation
OF crops which two or three years
ago they did not believe could be
raised at all. Alfalfa, kaffir corn, mi
10 maize. and a limited variety of veg
etables were formerly the principal