El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-09-23

signature of the writer. but the mans
will be withheld if requested.I
WOULD RESTORE VALLEY VINE
YARDS.
Editor FL Paso Herald:
In order to plan restoration Of the
once productive vineyards of this val
ley, it is necessary TO locate the exact
cause of the destruction OF so much
prosperity. OF course everyone will
say the song, lack of water. But this
was only the natural result OF a rad
zeal detection in the establishment OF
the vineyards No vine grower win
deny that scanty supply of water is
an ldeal1St1c condition for the produce
ton OF wine grapes To get the high
est quality, 10 TO u inches is amDly
sufficient With Is inches, very fine
table grapes can be produced What
ever the quantity of water used or re-
celVed above that, is positive detri-
1t is very evident that the old vine
yards OF this valley, If not planted BY
the old Mexican residents, were evil
slOVenly, easy way of putting pIenfv
OF water on the vine. This is the Wrones
way as it causes the roots to grow
specifically and in consequence a.
happened to this valley. a failure Of
water for irrigation kills the vines
Why not let this profitable lesson be
taken home, and why continue to plan
Tor the use OF Superabundance Of
water, when it is worth money!
furthermore, wrong planting and ex-
ceSSlVe irrigation cause the vines to
produce much less than they should
a prominent Mexican vine grower. now
dead, was said to possess about 1000
acres of vines in bearing according IN
me statement OF one of his sons, the
product was about 400 600 pesos 100
pesos per acre But when we figured
up the price received for the wine we
found that the crop was about three
quarters OF a ton per acre The pro-
duct on such land should have been -,o4
less than four tons per acre I know
OF 20 acre vineyard in Mexico the
only one set ont and cared for prop
erly, gave 5000 kilos of graDaz
per hectare, or more than two tons per
acre the third year, and four tons per
acre the fourth year The differences
IN the scarcity Of water in the last case
and Superabundance in the first
All fruit raisers know that they can
not eliminate surplus water, once il is
on the land When the Fresno Cal
colony was established in 1883 one of
my nelghbors who went there told me
that they had to dig As to so feet deem
Tor a we'll Ten years later an eight
loot hole was sufficient to obtain need
ed water. That condition Of things is
not even good for alfalfa let alone for
any any other farm product, and still less
for fruit
To plant we'll. and establish new
roots properly, a great economy Of wa
ter IS OF paramount Importance The
rainfall of Is inches in Santa Clara
valley Cal, was always considered
SUFFICIENT, until the orchards were
bearing very heavy crops. The vines
never needed any more. The immense
advantage to be obtained hereafter
from the Elephant Butte dam IS that
the FARMER or fruit grower shall be able
to assure himself Of a certain olIantitv
OF water at the time he requires ii.
with this. say six inchesof water be-
sides the annual rainfall, he ought to
good crops of healthy fruit: and later
on he may increase the quantftv to
eight or 10 inches. But for the pur-
pose OF this calculation. It must be
understood that thorough methods OF
cultivation must be used. so that no
part OF water be wasted and that the
SOIL shall be uniformly compact and
Tree from layers Of sand or gravel
L. D. Combe