The Richfield recorder. (Richfield, Idaho) 1909-1931, 1910-09-29
A A Truly Wonderful Country
Richfed Tract the Making of Vast Garden, When the
Home-Maker Supplants the Speculator and Pro-
per Farming Methods Prevail.

! tomns and farms and people prosp-
erous; pay nothing for roads, OF
charity, or for churches or schools
do not help bring about attractive
social conditions---in short,h you dc
absolutely nothing to helpmake val
ues, but retard the country by pre-
empting the opportunities that ough
to belong to men who would come tt
make homes You, consciously or
unconsciously, are a leech "a par
asite on the community" And he
ncouldn't deny it, because it is true.
1t wouldn't be fair, nor would it
be business policy if it were possi-
bic, to prohibit all nonresident own
ership of lands There are some of
these whose work here is a constant
spur, a revelation to the residents
who may not have the money or the
experience to start things right,
andwithout example could hardly sec
the possibilities of the country. But
it is a distinct disadvantage, if not
sn actual menace, for any commun-
i,s to have as much land owned by
non-residents as is the case on this
and most of the other similar irri-
gated tracts, and it is a public duty
come and buy.
There have been some fine fields
of grain raised on the tract this sea-
son, as one might guess from the
announcement last week that the ex-
Eibit sent from here had won all
kinds of prizes at the Seattle fair,
wes+ But there is one crop that is
bound to be the real basis of agri-
cultural prosperity here, and that is
alfalfa. 1t is the real Philosophers
Stone for the farmer turning to
gold whatever it TOUGHER 1t makes
the l and more productive for all
best money when grown for itself
alone The need and the price of
hay for local consumption make it
a wonderfully profitable crop to sell
direct from the field ,and this will
be true for a long time yet to come.
But its greatest value will be demon
1t viii make more eef, more NUT
ton, more pork more fat horses,
than any other feed grown And it
grows here more readily, more lux
more hardly, than weeds.
Although not native of Idaho, no
dozen native plants have the poten-
with half dozen hens, or three or
four pigs, or a COW or two, or a
team or only one horse, can grow al.
falfa, and make it feed his stock. |
1t doesn't nearly always pay to grow
little fields of small grain, because
Of the cost and annoyance of caring
the crop of alfalfa grown on a sin
gle back lot, by letting the stock eat
It off, or cut it with a -5-cent grass
hook. that will last for 10 years. |
And with good field culture, the av-
7rage farmer can raise enough al
falfa to feed enough live stock to
alfalfa out over the Richfield tract
S enough to sell every acre of land
IN this segregation, to the educated
'armers who know what money there,
S in this wonderful plant.
Such an article, telling of the ex-
,ellences of this tract would not be
without saying something
If the canal system. Wherever pos
ible, the water is turned into the
oulees that traverse the tract, max
ng water courses that cannot over
ow, break over the banks, or sub
rrigate. 1t isn't quite as mathemat-
cally laid out as a uniformly slop-
ng country with the canals laid out
n section lines---bnt it is a great
eal better The coulees with sup
ly and never-failing drainage all in
ne, are real prizes to the thought
IL farmer. The company work out
yer the tract has been well done,
nd probably no other irrigation pro
ect in the West should have so lit
lie erouble with it's canals.
There is absolutely nothing but {
ood to be said of the ,Richfield s
ract, either for its past, uresent or
Is future. Methods are easy to de-
elop; ownership will soon work it.
elf out; fertility, and water, and
Innate are already here; and only
few years will see this one of the
st developed, most progressive,
lost attractive sections of the whole I
Vest. Some of these good things are j