El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-05-10
TELLS OF WORK or
EXPERIMENT STATION
Superintendent Stewart Is
sues Report on Pecos
Project.

| Pecos, Texas. May 9.-H- T. Stewart
| superintendent of the Pecos State Ir-
| rlgated Experimental station, has is
| sued a statement covering the first six
months active operations Of the expert
| mental station here. He says:
/ Needless to say the Pecos Irrigated
| Experimental station is in its infancy
and also it is needless to say that 1t
has already been of everlasting bene-
| fit to West Texas irrigated and irr1-
] gable sections, a great portion Of
which is susceptible Of very high Guilt
walton through pumped water, brought
| to the surface and distributed through
| canals Two years ago, the Texas leg
stature after great pressurt had been
brought to bear, appropriated $50 600
for the establishing of experimental
stations throughout the state Texas
being so -arge and with such varying
agricultural needs, it was thought best
to establish eight additional stations,
there already being two. Pecos was Sc
lected as the one point in the state es-
pecially adapted to pumped water ir-
rigation experimentation and the state
located here. It is thus the only frri-
gated station in the ten and is irrigated
entirely by pumped water brought to
the surface and. by canals distributed
to the different parts of the farm. The
land was donated by an enthusiastic
citizen Of Pecos who sought to promote
the cause of irrigation in west Texas
through pumped water, It being his
opinion that vast tracts OF west Texas
were underlaid with an inexhaustfble
supply of pure water, well adapted for
irrigation and not containing enough
unbeneficial minerals to affect the soils.
The city of Pecos donated and in
stalled the pumps and other appara-
tus.
In the tlater part of 1910, DR.. H. II.
Harrington director of state expert
mental stations. assumed control of the
station for the state and it was then
that active work along experimental
lines began-the results of which are
even today after only six months act
i've operations Of vast significance, so
much so indeed that much larger ap-
preparation is to be asked of the in
coming special session Of the 1egisla-
ture for the support of this institution.
Since that time the work has pro-
ceeded slowly but surely The station |
will pay particular attention to fruit |
growing but at the same time will work !
along experimental lines with various /
horticultural and agricultural crops |
which it is believed are adapted to i
West Texas and particularly to that /
section lying between the Pecos river |
and the city of Ell Pasof February Is |
the first seed was sown and since then |
on orchardyineyard has been planted, |
and many field and garden seeds sown,
all of which have come up beautifully |
and so far at least amply demon 1
strated the wonderful fertility of 1
pumped water irrigation for this part
Of the state The country hereabouts |
has the essentials of air, water, sun
shine and soil, for the soil is unsur-
passed and the water proved to exist in /
practically inexhaustible quantities.
From time 70 time bulletins will be /
issued with the object in view of dis
trbuting reliable information along ir-
rigation and dry farming lines TO the
farmers Of the Pecos and Rio Grande
Talleys, which IN itself it is believed will |
be Of inestimable value to the growth
1f agriculture in this the socalled semi
zrid section OF Texas. Numbers of ex-
periments have been planned along
ines Of seeding, seed selection. cult1-
ration, irrigation and also dry farming
methods. The station will try to DEM
onstrate the duty of water the
amount to apply and the time Of ap-
olication. I have every confidence in
wonderful development along these
ines, and believe that the Pecos State
irrigated Experimental station has no. !.
come a bit too soon but that it shall be
he mecca for the agricultural advance
nent Of great section of country Ex-
'eriments made practically demonstrate
he truth of this"