Arizona republican., 1910-04-14
SOME BOOK FARMING
 IN BUCKEYE COUNTY An Imaginary investment Based on Careful Interviewing of Real
 Farmers.

In one respect l believe the Buckeye country has beaten the world" said w. R. Blackmer of Liberty, one of the rural centers of that famous agricul- tural section. and that is the demon strated value of its lands. when loca- cation is considered. The Buckeye country is located from twent five to forty-fiv miles from railroad and it's lands are worth tl00 per acre. some acreage having been sold for that and the figures can be produced demon strating that every acre of it is worth that much or more, based on what it can be made to produce. even under present conditions, far from railroad transportation. l know of no other place in the United States so remotely situated where such an area of land devoted to general agriculture. com mands such prices. There might of course be small tracts. little mountain valleys or similar places where q few acres remotely situated are elual;y as valuable for specific purposes. but no similar great farming belt
 Mir Blackmer's observation furnished the motive for little calculation on
 
 of the principal crops in the Buckeye country. The result of course is book farming and not the actual expert ence of any one man, but the figures are secured by interviewing various men who have been successfully en- gagged in farming. both at Buckeye and in the salt river valley In all cases il has been sought to use very cOnser- vative figures. While the estimates herewith presented are made on Buck eye projects. similar results could be secured from estimates on Salt river valley projects. though owing to vary ing local conditions there would be diff ferent entries in the calculation. It is well known that any man who engages in a particular line of business, farm ing for instance, can make better success of il by becoming a farmer. living on the land looking after details and doing his own work. He will be enabled to add to his profits in many ways that he could not perhaps by liv ing elsewhere and hiring all his work done, such for instance as raising lit tie poultry and keeping few cattle. horses, hogs. etc, that would add prac- tically nothing to his expense. as he would have 10 be there anyhow. In that event to reap the best success he would require capital to conduct just as large a farm as one man could care for with perhaps little hired help oc- casionally. But the purpose of this article is to view the alfalfa business in Buckeye as a capitalist would view an investment in a mine. store or bank. To that end the farmer in this in- stance is a hypothetical resident of Phoenix He doesn't want to live on farm. but desires to put his money in good farming proposition as an in vestment. just as J. Pierpont Morgan would own and operate railroad he never saw.
 The estimate is therefore given on forty-acre tract, assumed to be about the right size for a one man farm
 investment.
 January 1-F'ortv acres at Sl00
 per acre. raw cleared land ... 5000 Fencing ... loo Flowing at g. per acre ..... so Ditching and farm headgates sl
 per acre .......... 40 Cost of water one year S2 per acre 80 Cost of seed and planting Ss.50
 per acre 100 First crop of alfalfa. which should
 yield about a half ton per acre,
 cost of cutting and stacking
 loose being sl.25 per acre 90 First crop of seed in July or Au-
 gust should yield l5O pounds per
 acre: cost of cutting S1 per acre i0 Threshing 5000 pounds seed at 212
 cents per pound ......-........ l50 October. second cutting hay, ton
 to the acre. at sl.50 per ton... 50 Salary of superintendent or man.
 ager. who would not be em-
 ployed in the necessary irrigat-
 ing and other work one-half the
 time. $50 per month. or for the
 year ...... 600
 Tntol investment first year x53OD