Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-01-20
COLORADO A FARMING STATE
Yield Of the Farm Three Times Value
Of the Mine Output.
ALFALFA is THE BIG CROP
Alfred Patek, immigration Agent,
Tells Of some Of the Wonders
which Have been wrought
ny Development.

something besides its mines said Alfred
Patek Of Denver who arrived Thursday
morning 20 take charge OF the Colorado
State Board Of Immigration booth OF ex-
hiblts at the Land Show Mr. Patek is
commissioner Of Immigration for Colorado
our state last year mined $4,000 900 worth
of gold. silver and the baser metals, and
produced three times as much. or NW,-
10000. OF farm. range and orchard crops.
The biggest single crop In Colorado Is
alfalfa Last year we cut q 400 al
faifa hay crop. Alfalfa grows in practic-
ally every part Of the state. We call II
king OF crops IN Colorado. The average
WELD OF this hay IL three tons per acre
This Is not the limit. however farmer
in the Arkansas valley Of Colorado raised
three cuttings OF two tons a cutting-siX
tons per acre-on an eighty acre patch. He
sold his crop at $ a ton in the stack. or
$3.50 gross. ! call that a pretty good sal
airy. ! know a lot Of city men who can't
boast a stipend OF that size.
next 10 alfalfa raising. dalrying is the
largest individual industry. Last year It
put %. $4,000 into the pockets Of Colorado
dairymen. And we need more dairymen-
need them badly. We import into the
state annually AOOO,OOO or 100000 Of milk,
butter cheese and so on. Colorado can
give 10000 more dsirymen the best home
market they can find anywhere.
DaIry Land cheap.
Good dairy land can. be bought for so
TO S25 an acre This land grows some Of
the most nutritious native grasses that
ever made butter fat. Then, too. alfalfa
hay makes a great feed for mich COWS.
Yielding at the rate Of three tons per acre
this hay makes the cheapest and best feed
e,-v aDH IA
ton grain, our Colorado daiTymen feed IS a
ton alfalfa that beats bran to FRAGILE az
a milk producer.
eve have creameries scattered through
out the state. What we want now is farm
ers TO supply more cream
You have probably never considered
Colorado much OF wheat growing state
But | want to tell you that wheat is the
bonanza crop out in Colorado. Why
shouldn't Il be? on our irrigated land
wheat Yields thirty-five, forty. fifty, sixty,
seventy. and last year a farmer living near
Iongmont, in Boulder county, raised eighty
bushels Of winter wheat to the acre That
pretty big yield isn't II? But wait
minute-brace yourself-and listen to this:
Frank Reinan a farmer living near Bay
field, la Plata county. Colorado, produced
eiKhty-seven bushels OF wheat TO the acre
Il could give you hundreds Of examples
OF farmers who raised crops Of three to
seven tons Of alfalfa per acre; thirty-five
TO seventy-fve bushels Of wheat; fifty to
100 bushels OF oats per acre; thirty to
eighty five bushels of barley an acre; lOu
TO 400 bushels of potatoes per acre
fruit yielding 500 to sl5OO net profit per
acre. and so on all down the list.
Surprise 40 All.
Last December the Board Of Immigra-
ton, which is the official state publicity
and information bureau for Colorado gath
cred instances of the crops Colorado farm
ers had harvested in 1910 and the inforpa
lion we got surprised even those who were
thoroughly acquainted with the immense
possibilities and resources OF the state. Not
only scores but hundreds Of Colorado
farmers had grown top notcher' crops such
as | have been telling about.
oats, too. we grow in Colorado, amount
ing last year to a value Of g sS9.OSO. Accord
ing to government figures, only one state
in the union produces as heavy oats as Colo
tado. Our record is thirty-seven pounds to
the bushel Oats on irrigated land yield
seventy, eighty, ninety and 100 bushels pei
acre So far as is known the record fol
oats in Colorado is 1874 measured bushels
TO the acre.
In what old settlers call the driest year
in the state, o. NJ, stromberg, near Long
mont in Boulder county, harvested 16I
bushels Of oats 10 the acre. You notice,
said 'driest year in Colorado and men
toned a crop. that nearly broke a record
IN the same breath Here's the point Out
In the irrigated sections Of Colorado oul
farmers don't care how little rain falls
There's no meeting In churches TO pray
for rain. When their crops need water they
simply take shovel and dig through thu
foot OF dirt that makes the bank OF an ir
rigation ditch This ditch runs through
the farm. Opening the ditch let's the wate
through onto the crop.
shows How IL Works.
Come over here and see how it works
Mr. Patek said leading the way to tn
lI0-foot miniature mountain range and irri
cation system that forms the bsckgroun,
to the Colorado exhibits on the stage a
the Auditorium.
Here's the whole thing Illustrated, Th
SHOWS on these mountain tops melt durinl
spring and summer and drain the noun
tain side into rivers and creeks. These II
turn are diverted into reservoirs whicl
store the accumulated water,
From the reservoirs" he went on trac
ing slong a pointer in explanation, "th
Mater is let out into wooden fumes thes
boN-Hke things running along the noun
tain side, This water then flows down int
canal II is carried into the valley a
the foot OF the mountain and tapped her
and there by smaller canals, called later
ais. The laterals run through the farms
one lateral sometimes furnishes water 10
ten or twelve farms. Thus. whenever
crop needs rain the farmer simply taps on
OF these laterals and conducts the waite
onto his crops by means of bitches, while
are made by blowing burrows down tn
slope OF a field
We have a great state out there by tn
mountains, There's no doubt OF H. IrriEa
ton has taken N away from the Grea
American desert and made IL the leadin
Rocky mountain hay, grain and fruit stat,
Il deserves the title given Il: Colorado
the state Of double crops"
Sheriff is Seeking