El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-01-25

! Conditions Affecting Results
! Farmers in general are beginning
] to realize the necessity of having their
| alfalfa lands carefully leveled in order
/ to secure the best results from irri-
! cation, but do not give lands planted
/ to other crops sufficient attention
| In many instances an attempt is
/ made to make irrigation take the place
/ Of cultivation, which not only results
IN failure, but does considerable
/ damage to the land.
There is no doubt with proper ap-
I piica1on Of water to the soil, proper
crop rotation and sufficient cultiva-
/ ton, the value of the output of the
I land under the project could be ma
terially increased.
With the present uncertainty Of
water, each irrigator applies all of
the water possible when his turn
comes to irrigate, fearing that it may
be his last opportunity to secure
water This method naturally leads
TO an eXtraVagant use of water, which
will be difficult to control until such
time as they are assured Of a definite
supply Of water.
Poor alignment and construction of
bitches, coupled with obsolete methods
of diverEng, water from the main
bitches, cause a great deal of waste,
also an uT41sUal amount Of maintenance
expenses
No Shortage of Water
While there has been no shortage of
water a number of the communities
have experienced a lack of wafer for
unable to divert water from the river
during low stages and Immediately
after nigh water on account of having
Inelr intakes damaged The community,
the La Union, estimate that they have
been damaged approximately $1,000
by this condition.
In anticipation of the early compile
ton Of the Rio Grande project. none
of the communities feel justified in
going TO any very great expense to
construct permanent headworks or
TnnnnraTU
dams
Las PaIOmas Valley
The PalOmas valley begins about
six miles below Elephant Butte dam
and extends IS miles below to a mar
row gorge in the river banks 1t con-
tains the first irrigable lands to re-
ceive storage from the Elephant Butte (
reservoir. Estimates show this valley !
to contain approximately 2949 acres
on the east and 6913 on the west side
Of the river, or total Of 1862 acres
Of irrigable land. Owing to the shift
ing of the river and the Typographical
conditions of the country, it is almost
impossible to maintain ditch in this
locality: therefore, no ATTEMPT has been
made to irrigate these lands for a
number of years although at some
former time about 500 acres were wa
tered from q ditch owned by cattle
company. No lands have been irri-
gated during the season of 1912.
RincOn Valley, New Mexico.
Rincon valley begins at a narrow
of Palomas valley and extends about
40 miles below to the Leasburg diver
sion dam at Selden, n. NJ.
It IS the second valley to receive
storage water from the Elephant Butte
storage reservoir, and estimates show
IL to contain approximately 1880 acres
on the east and 1880 on the west
side Of the river, or total of 3O,430 /
acres for the entire valley. A farm
unit survey is being made of the Rim
con and Palomas valleys, which when
rafar LOT cd vii civ cot
estimate Of the irrigable area in the
valleys Portions of the valley are fur
nished with irrigation water from the
natural flow of the river at various
intervals by the community bitches
leading from the river, using tempo /
rary dams OF brush and sand to divert /
the waters 55,r during low stages of the |
river The valley contains four dis !
tinct irrigated districts. that is, Mill /
Bosque, Carried, Colorado and Tonuca- !
Mil BOsque District.
The Mil Bosque district. the first /
and north district on the west side of /
the river. During the year of 1912. :
there were approximately 500 acres in I
this district Watered partly from the |
river and partly from run-off from a
number of large arroyOs, which dis 4
charge into the acequia arroyo Bonito. /
Inc lower portion Of the acequia (
arroyo BonitO was not cleaned out this |
year and as consequence about 100 !
acres in the immediate vicinity of Mill
BOsque which were cultivated during
irrigation, but We're dry-farmed with
small success.
The Garfield District.
The Garfield district, the second dis
trict of the RincOn valley all on the :
east side of the river. irrigateds during
the season Of 1912, under the San Ysi-
dro community ditch, 4 total of about !
5000 acres. During the months of Nav /
and June considerable trouble was ex-
perienced on account of high water |
and consequent shifting of the river
oh Il 8 ]
maintain a permanent heading in the |
river.
The appended table will show the
approximate cost of maintenance and
distribution Of same. OF the last item |
in the table, canal maintenance the
major portion was expended on the con-
a number Of arroyos which gave con-
1911
FrOsts Damage Fruit
Late frosts destroyed practically all
the fruit with the exception of the
apple crop, which will be about one
half Of the normal; also held the al 1
falfa back so that a number of the !
Excessive rains during the latter mart ]
of July, all of August and A mari of |
September caused a total loss of prac-
tically all of one cutting of aIfaIfa !
and damaged the corn and bean cTong
considerably. The wheat Weld was
below normal on account of the late !
spring, being from y to 43 bushels per
acre with an average Of 25 bushels |
but the quality was better than during
past years, due to the planting of I
better qality of seed. Only small
acreage Of oats and barley was
planted.
The Colorado District
Colorado district. the third district |
OF the R1ncon valley, located all on the
west side of the river, irrigated during
the season of 1912 from the Santa Te9
resa community ditch, a total of 294O
acres During the season of 1912 only
about ITO acres of wheat were planted
which gave an average yield of 81
bushels per acre. as compared with an
average yield of about Is bushels Der
acre for the season Of 1911.
The corn crop was damaged consid-
erably on account of not having water
to mature it. and viii give an average
yield of only about IS bushels per acre.
The alfalfa CrO0 was pOucidaro b1--