The Greeley tribune., 1908-10-21

reservoir (stored) water-and the
advantage of having three streams to
draw from, the Platte, Boulder and
st. Vrain, 1t was at once seen that
the Gilcrest country had 1t on" the
balance of the country, In several
important particulars. For one. the
soil IL lighter and warmer, and early
potatoes are raised and ready to
market from ten days to two weeks
earlier than in any other portion of
the potato district. For another, the
quality 10 better. Then the main, or
late crop, 10 ready to dig and market
from two weeks to q month earlier
than in any other portion of the po-
tato district. That means better
prices. Beets also make remark
able yields, and it has been proved
that Gilcrest farms furnish beets
with greater percentage of sugar
than those raised at other points,
while the yield 10 above the average.
Last. but not least, the soil is bet
ter alfalfa soil than the heavier and
colder lands east. north and west.
Alfalfa dourishes best in a light,
warm soil; on such soil, with plenty
of water and warm, sun-shiny
weather. it makes crops that are SIM
ply amazing and almost past belief
As the most eminent authority In
this great state has we'll said of this
great plant:
1T IL to Colorado what blue grass
is to Kentucky, or what corn is t.
Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska, the mos
important agricultural product o
the state. More and more are ",
coming to see that alfalfa is th'
foundation of every other agricul
tural success; each year sees a great
Our. soils are but the decompose(
like the alluvial deposits of the
prairie states to the east of us, are
deficient in decayed vegetable mat
ter. The mineral elements of fertil
ity are all here, but humus is only
present in the bench lands under oul
| bitches in the thipnest of layers up.
on their surface. Before its intro.
duction into Colorado. We needed
a fertilizing plant like red clover, but
which, differing from that plant
would reach down into the depths OF
the raw, undecomposed desert sub
soil, and. drawing forth the crude
elements of vegetable growth lying
dormant there. convert them in ma
ture's laboratory into the rich sur
face seed beds found in other states
where copious rains. absent in Colo
RADIO, had aided the sun and ante
dated us in preparation by thousands
of years. Alfalfa was the plant. ami
we were not slow in welcoming the
wonderful agent in our progress
Under its penetrating, pervading, all
sufficient influence we find that even
the shifting banks of blowing sand
may soon be changed to dark brown
soil of unsurpassed fertility. The
sandy. gravelly plain. the adobe fiat
and stiff cold. miry clay are alike
subdued to its uses in growth and all
rendered mellow for the plow and the
hoe in an incredibly short space OF
time. We cut it for forage two or
three years, and then, turning up
the sub-soil, filled with the millions
of its root fibers, they decay in the
sun, and with the artificial moisture
we are able to supply at viii, the
metamorphosis is immediate ana
complete. Apparently no amount
of barnyard manure that we may APP
ply will so quickly and completely
renoyate the soil and supply the de.
t,ciencies in its crude, unfinished
state. Sowed now to wheat. or oats.
or barley the results are simply as
tonishing. Planted to potatoes, sugar
beets, or any other hoed crop adapt-