Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1909-06-04
VALUE OF INTENSIVE FARMING
Cheap Crops on Irrigated Land
Not a Wise Plan

Irrigated land quickly becomes too
valuable for the raising of cheap crops.
A bulky crop cannot stand the expense
of long haul to market and to be pro-
fitable it must be transformed into
something more valuable.
Becauseirrigatedla land responds readily
to intensive cultivation, that is, tgives
big returns for the expenditure of
human labor and skill, it's desirability
for the raising of special crops requir
ing a vast amount of trained labor,
gives it value that other land can
never possess.
For this reason the price of irrigated
land will constantly rise till level is
reached beyond which profitable agricul-
ture cannot go.
The home market for alfalfa, wheat
oats and such products will soon be
glutted, and unless they can be trans
formed into some form of animal or
manufactured product their profitable
production Will be impossible when the
vast irrigation projects of southern
Idaho are fully developed.
For this reason irrigation farmers
will turn their attention to dairying,
hog and sheep raising and all forms of
animal industry. But more especially
will they turn to fruit raising and the
production of special crops like potatoes
and beets, where the application of
skilled labor will give the greatest re-
turns for the acreage cultivated.
As an illustration take the ranch land
in the Hagerman Valley. For alfalfa
hay this land would average but little
better than $500 per acre for years
income. But when one crop is cut for
hay and the second crop is allowed to
seed, the total value of hay and seeds
$780, an acre gross income, or nearly
three times the value of the hay alone.
This same Hagerman valley land in
fruit will yield hundreds of dollars per
acre as soon as it comes into full bear
ing, as is evidenced by orchards now in
bearing.
Recently a tract of about tweiity
acres of land adjoining the townsite of
Shoshone was plated and sold as town
lots, that was formerly worked as a
Chinese garden. The Chinaman who
farmed it realized a net income of
SLIGO. per year after paying s2.50 per
day for very incompetent help to culti-
vate it in garden truck.
Last year C. C. Keck who lives on's
homestead half way between Hepburn
and Rupert on the Minidoka tract, sold
$780, from the products of one acre of
ground On one fourth of an acre he
set out thirteen varieties of straw berries
last season besides many varieties of
This spring he sold p, 900
plants from one seasons increase
The several fruit orchards in the
of Shoshone have been very
profitable to their owners and they
have been in steady bearing for nearly
twenty years with no record of total
failure.
By smudging with cheap sage brush
to keep off the late frosts of spring,
there is every reason to believe that
good crop of fruit can be raised here
every year and that fruit culture wiz
prove as safe and profitable in the
vicinity of Shoshone as in any other
part of Idaho.
With the advent of intensive farming
population win thicken and land values
viii soar to heights now undreamed Of
Various lines of manufacture will be
started with cheap electric power to
make them profitable. Cities will grow
md prosper and respond to the new
rider of things. And the wise who
'oresee and take advantage of coming
conditions will reap a harvest of good
Kings the like of which cannot be
duplicated except IN new and rich COM
nunities where the bounties Of nature
AVE been expended with lavish, hand.