El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-12-13


Temporary setback, but a slack
\ ing Of the too rapid pace Of re-
cent Years ma. prove beneficial in the
end. The rate Of progress as So
,ttsr,nt TO show has not been Uniform
An all directions. and it may be wen 10
halt the vanguard until the stragslers
!, she rear eaten I'D win the process
sio, It is fact that the building
Of irrigation work is far in the ron
ana the settlement of 1rrlSaDle lalile
is far in the rear. IneIe az 49,
Z coo GOO or {. OOO. 900 acres supplied Win
water. but unirrigatec TOT lach % .iSe+
fIers In addition to these a 1890 -
await settlement, there are 49, ~,
OG0 OO0 acres included IN par tialtS -,
Melted projects, the managers o. v ny - =
e-e anxi0uslv looking forward 20 "
time when water viii pc IN ~ -
and the settlers on the land NJ e L nc
ally compare TINS IOtaL ..a1 e-. in the
is to be opened TO settlement IA 70
11exf seven or eight years, 10 the Iato
os settlement OF the past eSca1s 7,7s5
10 wears Of good times we nav 49, -
TO the irrigated area On tliS 80 in
S 200. 600 acres. IN otheI 40 900
o7fer to bring settlers to the 1o,VgV'Vo "
acres of lands which are LSoS-S
7-IIl be ready to be served 10y -
tion canals in the next seo % settlers
Years we viii have to procure = 49,, 80
sborf three times as fast as we ia
secured them in the past decade
Give Farmers Instruction. ~.
rrpa that more consideration -
- - these features Of lrrga tlns
which directly concern lhe a -,
T. is now our duty TO Jeacn ny -
already on the land how 70 seS IN 80,
returns from the areas a. C1-.y new
10 settlement Throwing oPen We
sraas will not solve the proDlenl- ~
must demonstrate 1ncreaseQ II-t+a-
f-or, more Intensive cultivation, peLsei
methods of applying Wa ,t-s-I-,,-5 80
dom sn planting and in harVestlrIs-
Tba v-est must not place on the IN
,157sfrio1ls settler a burden greater IIlaI
be can bear Already the price OF Lallo
Drfses is more than he can pay L1Ii
Baise If a little higher and ne VIII
stay at home
The value placed upon IIS ~ N ----e,--
Of the United States by UnelI oM ~
has Increased III percent IN ~ Sea --
5'11f the value Of lands in II OF the Iaf
western states has increased IN lle
more initiation is needed in some IT
T-fgation districts TO burst the ouD1Ie
created by land boomers 14eH -, ~
raIIvinr cry viii be Back TO the shop
aii Tb ~ rsnid increase in the value Of
IRRIGATED land applies with equal IoIce
IN the value Of water enterprises
which charged $50 an acre Tor d Wdl5I
right dozen years ago nave oeen 10 ~
lowed by others which charge dOuDle
an6 treble this amount There IS, now
ever this difference between lne l"O-
The value Of water is not ucuuous-
It's upward trend in price mas Deen 1 9Ie
70 the fact that the supply aNallaD-e
for future use is becoming every year
less and less. We shall probably never
see the day when water VIII sell LOT
less than II has in 1911.
Water Is High.
In the states where irrigation IS
practiced, there are in improved farms
173 600 600 acres, but Of these less Ilan
100000 acres are irrigated. me TINE
will perhaps never come Wnen more
than 50 600 600 acres are irrigated and
the large balance which is doomed TO
he farmed dry viii be certain to keep
the price Of water al a premium Now,
as regards the high price and scarcity
OF water for irrigation purposes, two
courses are open One of these is 10
continue to reach out for fresh supplies
al we have done in the past and at
tempt to utilize these at great cost to
the irrigatOr. The other course is to
use with greater economy the water al
ready appropriated It is not incum-
bent upon western people to utilize all
the water resources Of the arid region
before 1920 or even 1880 The irriga-
ton structures we are now building
and the methods we are pursuing may
BE thought inferior by our boys when
they reach maturity Then why not
leave a little water In western streams
for our boys to uLsliZe2 It should he
our chief concern to make better use
OF the water We have taken from its
natural channel
Farmers Get Small Returns.
Present conditions in many Of the
irrigation states call for, I believe. a
readjustment Of land values. While
this readjustment is being made. every
effort should be put forth to incrase
the yield and value of irrigated prod
nets Occasionally enormous Yields and
corresponding profits are obtained
from irrigated land. These are freely
used as warrant for holding irrf-
gated lands at high figure Never
theless, il is q fact that the avera ge
returns per acre even in the irrigat ted
districts are only medium Not many
parts Of the west are more favOra Bile
to the growth Of alfalfa than southern
Idaho. At our demonstration farms a
seasonable yield of S to 10 tons per
acre OF either red clover or alfalfa is
readily obtained Tt is, therefore.
somewhat discOncerting to learn that
the average seasonal yield Of irrigated
alfalfa Tor southern Idaho in 1910 as
obtained by the census. was only 3 26
tons per acre. What is true of Idaho
IS also true, with few exceptions of
the entire west The farmers are nor
getting anything like the greatest pos
siole returns from their irrigated
farms.
Control Of the Land.
The census figures show that IN To