Durango semi-weekly herald., 1906-02-22

demonstrates pretty thoroughly how
small precipitation will suffice for
the growing OF crops II 1t falls at the
| right time.
Thrice Paid for Themselves.
now have. plenty of hay aud grain
and garden stun and my wife remark
ed one day that she would be perfect
ly happy IL we could only raise fruit
What could I do? My wife wanted
IT, so started in by setting out a
Thousand trees in the spring of 1895.
| Ihese trees have since paid for them
selves three times over. I found tnat
The same methods which | used In the
cultivation OF grains applied equally
wei In the growing of my trees. that
rs. deep plowing, deep planting. thor
ough cultivation and plenty OF room.
When | first plowed the land for the
orchard | found the earth as dry as
n powder horn a foot beneath the sur
iace. Today you can go down ten
ieet and find moisture everywhere.
During the first two or three winters
| formed ridges with the plow all
over my orchard Every ridge caught
snow drift and the moisture from
some OF these drifts went into the
ground to a depth of three feet before
spring.
Every time hear or read one of
Mr. Campbell's lectures | find some
thlng that my own experience en-
dorses. For instance. he advocates
plowing a piece of land letting It lie
iallow through one season In order
that II may gather moisture. Moth
ing could be better than this method
II you wish a heavy yield Even II
arranging for an orchard the ground
Will he all the better supplied with
moisture II prepared a year in ad-
vance and kept free from weeds.
Trees Of All Varieties.
While on this subject of trees. |
want to add few words about home
surroundings. Every dry ranchman
or farmer may have his home in
grove of splendid trees II only they
are cared for properly. Give me good
SOIL and location a few thousand
feet below timber line and viii un.
dertake TO raise trees anywhere in
this state without any irrigation what.
ever. II is unquestionably difficult to
grow trees by digging little hole In
hard tramped ground and then water.
ing them with soap snds, The proper
method Is to plow deeply strip OF
ground of generous dimensions. Dig
large hole, plant your tree and then
cultivate the plowed strip twice n
month to the extent OF ten Minutes
tlme to tree and you wiil have no
trouble in growing healthy trees.
find that the cherry tree will stand
more drought than any other variety
OF tree | have ever seen The locrsts.
elms and silver poplars can also he
raised without irrigation. Too many
men make the mistake of planting
cottonwoods and Lombardy poplars.
Both of these trees require Just as
much water as the willow.
do not pretend that the methods
have followed are In every respect
those which Mr.. Campbell would ad.
vocate. neither are they always as
good My system. so far as 1t goes,
own neighborhood. though that state
ment does not imply that 1t would be
equally successful everywhere. But
In Mr.. Campbell's method. Judging by
results. and results alone count In
dry farming. we nave a system which
Ia nnuullV nnnlin1 lilo aithap tn ho hot
plains OF eastern Colorado and west
ern Kansas or TO the more balmy re-
gions in my own neighborhood Dur
ing my twenty years residence near
Parker, the lowest precipitation for
any one year has been ten inches and
the highest twenty inches. sold
81 900 worth of fruit OF twelve acres
in bearing one season and now have
another thirteen acres OF fruit com
ing In. Ny thirty acres of alfalfa
Yields from forty to seventy tons, ac-
cording to the season.
Mr.. G.. C. Williams, who was invited
by the Durango board of trade and La
liver an address before the last meet.
ing of the institute last Saturday. gave
an interesting talk, which is embrac-
ed in part as follows. convincing many
present that Durangos lands which
are not covered with water can be
cultivated successfully and profitably.
All of Durango's high lands are thu.
made available for cultivation:
am glad TO note that one of the
previous speakers referred to agri-
culture as a business. 1t is a bust
ness, the greatest business in the
United States today. II Is also the
greatest industry of Colorado today,
and its future is more promising than
that of any other TO which Colorado Is
looking for its future prosperity. Sim
ply because agriculture is distinctly