The Delta independent., 1910-02-11
Instances Given of Big Pro-
fits in Comparison With
Other Products.
VERY PROFITABLE INDUSTRY
1t Is Cited That Many Nooks
Corners and Small Tracts
Left Idle, Gould Be Pro-
6tably Cultivated.

me GEdnu y unctlOu SenIlnel recently
handed to its readers the following fine
bunch of facts:
Sometimes we think that there is no
other crop that can be produced with
great profit in this valley, save fruit.
So much is said of the fruit industry
that it is natural that we shou d think
along these lines.
But suppose we did not have fruit;
there are other products of the soil that
give the husbandnan splendid returns
We want to cite one case. There
could be cited many more, but this
instance of a large profit from another
crop came under our notice few days
ago and has set US to thinking.
Down below Fruita, on 60 acres of
land, Y. Miya, a japanese, planted
beet seed. With the assistance of two
Japanese boys the crop was cared for
during the season, and this last fall the
Western Sugar & Land Company re-
| ceived the beets taken from that Co.
acre field. which amounted to LIPS
tons, for which the Jap was paid the
sum of s5.625.
The expense of caring for that crop
was not any heavier, if as heavy, as
crop of grain or corn. and the expenses
were correspondingly small. the main
expense being the hauling of the beets
to the railroad for shipment. The sum
that the Jap received was magnificent
return for his labor.
Do you suppose you could take 60
acres in Ohio or New York or Pennsy-
lvania and take crop that would re-
turn S5.625? We hardly think you
could In truth, farmers back there
have worked almost lifetime for that
sum of money in cash. The major
portion of profit in the old days from
one of the back-east farms came from
the poultry and eggs and other side
issues, the farm products being fed and
used up in roundabout way, return
ing no cash particularly.
And we repeat that we sometimes
think that the only crop we have is
fruit, when beets are a well paying
crop. and, if engaged in year after
year, will prove handsome profit
Garner for the farmer,
All of northern Colorado has been
revivi6ed and has grown rich since the
advent of the sugar factory.
Tne day of the advent of the sugar
factory in Grand Junction changed the
whole course of events IN this city and
county, and marked the beginning of
an era of prosperity that never since
has vanished but constantly grows
greater.
If, upon the unused land of every
farm in this valley, with little extra
labor. the farmers would grow .beets, it
would earn big percentage of invest
ment on the time and labor.
Northern Colorado is not any less
prosperous than we are, and its pros
perity Is due solely almost to the culti-
walton of the sugar beet.
Just imagine what an eastern farmer
would think if he could earn gross on
so Acres of land the sum of t5.6 He
would have to pinch himself to see
whether he was awake. We realize
such wonderful returns on fruit out
here and on almost everything else that
we produce that sometimes we forget
our less fortunate neighbors back east,
who till the soil more laboriously than
We ever have to do in caring for our
trees, and they make much smaller
returns.
Let us not overlook crop that is sure
every year, and one that will produce
abundant returns if given the right
care.