Los Angeles herald., 1910-02-02
NEW MEXICO
Bv Frederic j. Haskin

balance Il pound of gold, watermelons
that weigh forty pounds each and cab
bage heads that tip the beam at forty
two pounds. At the Louisiana purchase
exposition the peaches of New Mexico
were awarded first premium in the face
Of the competition of California and all
the south
These blooming valleys stir the busy
honey bee TO unusual activity, single
colony of them making the beekeeper
more than a hundred pounds of honey
a year. IN one case an average sized
colony stored 1876 pounds of prime
honey in a single season. The noun
tains and woodlands which skirt the
valleys offer rich field for the old
fashioned bee hunter, since thousands
of colonies that have escaped from
their hives have taken up their abode
there.
New Mexico leads all the American
states i'm raising Angora goats. Two
of its prize winners exhibited at the
St. Louis exposition were remarkable
for their heeces. one yielded four
teen pounds, which sold for $43. The
other sheared sixteen pounds, ten
pounds of which sold for SIS pound.
The introduction of the Angora goat
into the United States was during the
administration of President Polk. The
sultan of Turkey sent for a man to
come and experiment with the raising
of cotton in that country. The choice
fell upon Dr. James 3. Davis of Column
bus, S. c., and his work was so salts
factory that on his departure from
Turkey the sultan presented him with
nine Angora goats. This small flock
was the foundation of the Angora goat
industry in this country, there now
being over a million of the little ami
mails in the United States and Alaska.
OF the several irrigation projects un-
der way in New Mexico the most i'm
portant is the Rio Grande. This project
is partly in New Mexico, partly in
Texas and partly in Old Mexico. The
irrigating works are all situated in the
United States, though about 25,00O
acres of Mexican land will be bene-
fitted. FL Paso, Texas, is in the very
heart of the irrigated country, and is
already one of the principal cities of
the southwest. No finer farming re-
eion will be found in all the world than
that which will be reclaimed by the
Rio Grande. At least 10000 acres of
land will be irrigated with three feet
of water to the acre year.
The FL Paso chamber of commerce
declares that the sediment of the Rio
Grande is richer in potash and nitrogen
llldIl lllt sui cal leu uhNii NlAS ANiANs
Cantaloupes grow at the rate of $4,000
to the acre, the receipts running from
$5S5 to $3.50 per acre. onions yield from
fifteen to twenty tons per acre, and
sell at from $50 to $40 per ton Aspara-
gus has been known to yield as high
as 1900 pounds to the acre, and to sell
| for 12I5 cents pound, or $1,000 per
acre. OF course these crops all require
much attention and these figures show
R11t N1rhpu tbnx- n
compared with the thirty bushels Of
wheat the farmers elsewhere get, with
a gross value of less than $50 to the
acre, it shows the possibilities of irri-
cation farming.
Alfalfa is a favorite crop with those
who do not care to keep a large force
of hands. once it gets a good start
under irrigation it requires but little
care or expense, and can be looked
after by a man who is tied up with
other affairs. For instance, the post
master of El Paso, in addition to his
official duties, manages large dairy
and cuts some 5000 tons of alfalfa from
his ranch below the city every year.
1t yields from five to ten tons to the
acre, is cut some t1ve times year.
and sells at from $40 to $15 a ton.
The mining industry in New Mexico
is in its infancy. While the Spanish
conuuistadores failed to find the tabled
treasures of Cibola, there are evidences
that gold was taken from the river BEDS
and gulches of the territory for a long
period by the aborigiGes, and that pla-
Ger mines were worked by white men
in the Santa Fe region two hundred
years before the California discovery.
More than 200 commercially valuable
minerals are found in New Mexico, and
of these coal is the most important
1t is estimated by the United States
geological survey that there are at least
/, 500 900 acres Of coal land that may be
worked profitably, and that there are
nearly nine billion tons of coal in
sight.
salt and lime are found in inexhaus-
tibe quantities. at zuni crater. some
dftv miles from Albuquerque, there
are vast beds of nearly pure salt.
There are several million tons in sight,
with the formation of more going on
all the time. The turquoise stones
found in New Mexico rival those or
Persia, and its opals, moonstones,
agates and other precious stones have
ACQUIRED Worldwide fame.
Tomorrow-The Smithsonian Institution.