The Elbert County tribune., 1907-10-24
Summer Farmers Institutes.

College has held seventy-three Of these
Farmers Institutes during the sum-
mer and they have been attended by
1910 different people-an average
attendance of 232 per institute.
The interest has been good at all
places. The reports at these meetings
show that Colorado farmers are max
ing very much more money. per
farmer, than in most other sections
of the United States, yet they are
eager for Information in any line that
will help them increase their profits.
Institutes have been held in most
of the counties of the state, and the
travelling necessary to attend them has
impressed the college force with the
enormous area OF tiilable land in Colo
RADIO.
Nine institutes were held in the ter
ritory covered b. Grand, Routt ana
Rio Blarco counties. To attend these
nine meetings. each speaker had to
travel e36 miles by- railroad and 326
miles by stage. The extreme length
of the area covered by these three
counties is 175 miles, and the extreme
width ninety miles. In two or three
years this section of the state will be
we'll provided witr railroad facilities
and when 1t is fully developed, agri-
culturally, viii market a greater value
of farm products lhan is now being
marketed by the whole state.
The object in holding the institutes
in this section was to stimulate the
farmers to demonstrate now what
wonderful results may be obtained.
using the best methods of farming
and then when the railroads furnish
an outlet to market, the settlement of
this great territory can be rapid.
At one institute in the northwestern
part of the state, every family within
a radius Of twenty-five miles was rep
resented, and yet the attendance was
only 100. This shows how much room
Colorado has yet for good farmers.
On the trip through the south
western part of the state, to arrange
for holding Institutes, the director of
institutes Travelled 1883 miles by rail,
los miles by stage and used the long
distance telephone to save 270 miles
of stage travel. Colorado is a large
state.
There have been several special
features In our institute work this
summer.
At the institutes held along the line
OF the Rock Island railroad, the rail
road had special car filled with ex-
hfbits of all the crops grown along
the line. The institutes were held, as
usual. in halls, and between sessions
the car was opened and all those at
tending the meeting were invited to
see the exhibits. This feature added
both to the interest and to the value
of the institute work, and we should
like to see all the railroads in the
state adopt the same plan.
At the Antonito institute the audi
ence was chiefly made up of Mexican
farmers, many of them owners of
large tracts of land and thousands of
cattle and sheep. All the lectures
were given through a Spanish inter-
prefer, as few in the audience under
stood English.
At Ignacio three-fourths of the audi
ence were Indians. Two famous chiefs
gave farm talks in Ute and all the lee
lures were translated into Ute by an
interpreter.
At Fruita. the Beet Sugar Company
offered good prizes for the best sugar
beets, and the competition was keen.
At Holyoke. prizes were offered for
the best bread. cake and pie made by
boys and girls under sixteen. There
was strong competition between the
boys and the girls, and good exhibit
At Carbondale the institute was
held in the fields, one-half day being
spent in potato fields and one-half day
in sugar beet fields.
special train was run from Den
yer to Bennett to accommodate the
Denver business men who wanted to
attend the institute.
Mr.. Morgan, of the government
drainage investigation force, helped
us with the institutes in the San Luis
Valley, and Mr.. Brown, of the same
force. helped at the institutes in the
Western Slope fruit country. Mr..
Payne. of the government dry land
force, helped us at Akron
At more than half of the institutes,
exhibits of farm products were made,
and at many places, especially in the
dry land section of the state, the ex-
hibits were so varied and of so good
a quality that they surprised even the
people who lived where the institutes
were held.
One of the marked features which
the institute lecturers found in their
travels was the enormous development
that is under way and being planned
for agricultural lands in Colorado.
AS one example, thirty-two insti-
tutes were held along the line of the
Denver & Rio Grande railway. At a
low estimate, plans are being made to
put over three million and half acres
of land under irrigation and cultivation
in the territory covered by these
thirty-two meetings When it is con-
sidered that the land now in cultiva-
tion In this same territory is yielding
crops every year worth from twenty
five to one thousand dollars an acre.
lit will be seen how great will be the
value of the agricultural products
along this road alone in Colorado. and
now many new settlers we will need
to farm this area to its full limit.
The increase in settlement and in
area cultivated in the eastern third
of the state where dry fnrrni... l..