El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-12-22
HOES AND COWS
= ARE MAGICIiNS
Editor of earth" Magazine
Says These Animals Are
Gold on the Hoof.

Hogs and COWS are to be the homely
magician who will convert the valleys
Of the Rio Grande into outdoor ma
ticnaI banks Of issue. F. L. Vandegrift
editor of THE Earth" magazine, and
an expert on community development
work, declares.
IN my trip through the Rio Grande
valleys with c. L. SeagraVes, general
colonization agent for the Santa Fe,"
he said, 4 saw hogs waxing fat on
alfalfa. When a rancher needs some
money he loads up Jew hOSS ana
cashes them at the bank. 1 also saw
few-too few-dairy cattle in the val
leys. The dairy industry is growing
everywhere and the Rio Grande val
Ieys should have their share Of it.
And it ought to be an easy matter"
continued Mr.. Vandegrift, for there
is no fairer land in the west than that
in the little valleys which lie below
the great dam 1 have visited them
many times since 1 came to this work
in 1907, and every time 1 find added
attractions of value and beauty. Every
year the country becomes more
Americanized and the work of the
sCEOOlma' am more apparent
Ride Through Valley.
we spent a day in the Mesilla val
ley, Mr.. Seagrayes comforting with r.
d. Bassett, the very efficient immigra-
ton commissioner of your joint bureau,
and L riding with Mr.. Hoagland and
Mr.. Stevens. 1 saw much of the valley.
There are more modern frame houses,
new college edifices, better highways,
the usual thrifty orchard, wider spread
OF alfalfa meadows than ever before.
Each is of great interest and promise
OF future stability. We found pigs
IN the clover, and Hereford beef cattle
in the feed lots. and, outlying, saw
kaffir corn and the other African for
age plants which will aid in the great
err prosperity that will follow the ad-
cent of the new water.
The silO, too, is coming. There are
about So silOs in the valley. We
found one farmer who has 10 silOs and
IS feeding zoo hereford yearlings; an
other who has two silos and is feed
ln6 100 head, 40 more loon to be added;
another feeding so head; another 70;
and so on. This is something new.
cattle has always been great indus
try up there, but thoroughbred beef in
large herd has not been common.
Farmers Have Few Pigs.
I'VE also found pigs. Every farmer
mas Few pigs, ana they are found in
increasing numbers. Just now they are
IN the alfalfa and the pasture is so
green and abundant they dig right to
the roots. 1t is the observation of
-desqulte, that pigs Will not touch the
roots OF alfalfa il they find plenty Of
top. However, they like the root of
Johnson grass, and wherever they find
II coming in they go after the root
and branch, respecting the alfalfa. Mr.
Poe believes that one of the missions
OF the hog is to destroy Johnson grass.
MI Poe's sows produce two htters
yearly, and of litter of eight or nine,
SIX gEoW into maturity. When they go
10 the market the six weigh 1900
pounds, worth Just now, around cents
per pound. Whenever Mr. Poe needs a
little cash he hauls a load of hogs,
say 1000 pounds to e. PasO. His last
load brought z cents. However. he
gets the best prices in August, and
ne always has hogs ready about that
Farmers Need Cows.
The farmers are milking some COWS,
DuI there is great need of more in the
valley. The dairy industry is grow
ing everywhere else in the south and
southwest and ri Paso should come
in for share of it. The influence of
cows on cOmmunitys material wei
rare is remarkable. For example, I
was at Mulvane, Kansas, a few days
ago where milk COndenSOry is paving
out $1,000 daily for milk, and SOU
daily for labor. Monthly, on the 18th,
the institution pays out $4,000 in
HOO Inhabitants
Seven hundred farmers, within a
radius of 10 miles. receive $4,000; p
wagon men, $500; and 40 men and
women employed in the plant, $500
Gut OF their profits the farmers build
slIos and buy COWS. The condensory
gets behind all debts incurred for
coWst the banks receiving a share of
their milk checks monthly So it is
very easy to start in the dairy in
dustry IN the Mulvane district, if one
mas the win. And condensory is SO
certain and sure of success that can't
lai only hesitates long enough to make
sure that a district is adapted to the
larry industry. For example, the Hell
yetla company, of Highland, Ill. estab-
-lshed the cOndensOry at Mulvane four
years ago, where there were only 500
COWS IN the district. ) Now there are
'UUO' and the condensOry will Ultimate
y take the milk of 10000.
mere never are hard times in a
community which supports a milk con-
lensory, for everybody has money and /
mere are numberless profitable wavs !
u spending. Farmers interested in !
ms subJect would obtain valuable in (
formation by addressing c. l.. Sea /
raves whose office is in the Railway /
exchange, Chicago"