Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1907-03-20

What DOES aen tA@a&&na eAlraes
maaa* smnsoa@ that g p~w eena o.
~ actually settle within tbs rear up
On these lands. h wtil make 2.Sea
actual sesasess withan he dastTteL
Surely thai ID enOagh % test the
quality oE the land. and dea@raihe
whether dry farming may succeed.
There b. ao one sah5e9 - much
talked Il Is this. which Indicates
the deep interest the pusIle l. mani
Testing There Is. however. many a
doubling Thomas" ye& belaef in the
success of the settlers IL growing
rapidly, ! have talked wtth many
Of them Who two years 40 had no
faith. but who nov eoneeAe a prOba-
bilisy of saeeess. ! have met many
practical men Who are fully e0nyinc-
ed thai the country wtn become SET
tied and cultivated.
Al Raton. ! talked With a drum.
mer" who was last year In Utah.
where the rainfall Is only eleven In.
ches. lie told me he saw the farm.
ers harrowing the green wheat fields
Of the seani-arid lands near BrosOde.
Iaah, In accordance with the Camp
bell system. and In the fall he saw
eory bushels Of wheat per acre
taken from those fields.
A Mr.. Tafoya boarded my t-a:n al
Trinidad. | engaged him In CONVEX.
saaion. He vac In Utah two years
ago. and again last fail and saw
wheat growing on the dry lands just
like that around Las Vegas. that
produced forty bushels per acre. He
10 a sheep raiser, and not likely to
prevaricate.
met n man from Liberal, Kansas.
now residing here. Five years ago
he said. quarter sections In that
country could have been bought for
from $500 to $500. now they are
worth $4,000. What has occasloned
this advance? Is II not the demon.
stration that crops viii grow by
properly farming on the dry lands?
Beyond doubt much Of the buying
and selling Is a mere mater Of specu.
lation. Smith buys. hoping TO sell to
Jones AT an advance, but Is IL all so?
Out OF the whole body Of settlement,
filing and sales. Is II u fair TO as
sumo that at least Is per cent are
actual Transactions for settlement?
Mr.. Fioersheim Of Roy. Is here 10.
day. He tells me settlers are com,
ing In rapidly. and all have some
money. That they come. deposit
their cash. buy In an economical way
and begin building.
A gentleman remarked this morn.
Ing, that no saw several good looking
wheat fields nea Logan. That a
dealer at Delhart last year sold fif.
teen reapers and binders. and ok.
poets this summer to double his
sales. !
Why did farmers buy these nipple.
ments? Was It for fun, or because
the production Of the country called
for them? /
In northern New Mexico, hundreds
of men with their families are act
ually building, blowing and making
ready 10 plant, IL this evidence OF
probabilities worth anything?
Failures. beyond question will he
many. but IL one-fourth are fair sue
cesses and stay by their homes and
succeed. others will follow.
About lei years ago the Cherokee
strip iE Oklahoma was opened for
settlement At that time there were
hundreds OF doubters. but today that
Is a country Of splendid production.
Then the Rock Island. running south
through western Oklahoma. was re-
garded as the limit of successful
farming. | know that personally. To-
day. fine crops are raised a hundred
miles west Of that line of railroad,
There Is much in this problem to
think about. There are many prom.
Using winter wheat fields today in
northern New Mexico.
What will the harvest be. We
must work, investigate.
In the meantime, farmers should
be encouraged to try. to investigate
methods and to spread abroad the
result Of their observations and ef-
forts. We should encourage the cir
Iculation of agricultural literature.
the formation Of local Agricultural