Semi-weekly herald., 1914-10-01

have something else. Some fellow the
races, others the circus and still 9TH
ers stay At home. We do not lay it
- hobby or anything else that
might be sugEested, but just the same
the writer has certainly followed the
county and district fairs this fall and
il the Creator permits we will con-
clude the list with the big one to
be pulled off in Durango the coming
week. We started out to see the San
Juan basin counties and look nature
squarely in the face this year and we
have succeeded to our hearts content
and we are satisfied there is no sec
ton on this northern hemisphere
where the soil is more productive than
in this southwest. We started the
general Sightseeing and country tours
early in the summer, following the
county tours by one to Pagosa Springs
and tributary country; then to Aztec,
Pennington and Shiprock, and last
week we visited the Montezuma coun-
ty fair held at Cortez, and in each
instance there were distinctive feat
urcs. At Pagosa Springs it was a
spiritual gathering regular old
fashioned Baptist meeting where the
heavens poured forth good old-fash-
ioned rain just to remind the visitors
that Baptists are partial to water, es-
pecially in the matter of baptizing.
We refer to this because it was the
only time rain overlook us on any
of the trips. Then at Pennington
the distinctive feature was fruit
peaches, pears, apples and then more
fruit; at Shiprock the drawing card
were watermelons and Indians; at
Cortez the vegetable kingdom reigned
supreme. Do you know that the
Montezuma pumpkin and the Monte
yuma squash are world beaters?
One squash was so large that it took
IA years to attain its full growth
There were others weighing around
100 pounds that one farmer brought in,
saying he did not know he had any
until frost killed the vines, while an
other farmer said he could not load
his largest pumpkin in the wagon
alone and not wishing to mar its
beauty by quartering it, concluded
there would be others on exhibit of
similar magnitude where there were
more men to handle them, We do not
wish TO be understood that fruit did
not occupy a conspicuous place at the
Cortez fair. Far from it. There was
one table set aside for fruit and the
apple display was splendid. There
were good many peaches but the
apple was king. Our friend Galloway
was there with fruit display from
McElmo canon and if any one thinks
they have an edge on peaches they
want to sample those from McElmo
After sampling the McElmo peach,
through the courtesy of Mr.. Galloway,
our appetite was whetted for more
and we made ten-mile trip down the
canon to spend an hour or two in Mr..
G.'s orchard, but more of this later
Since our last visit to Cortex or II
Montezuma county fair, a fine agri-
cultural building has been erected
and this was filled to oyerflowing
with products Of the soil, vegetables,
grain, fruits and everything grown
both under and on top of the ground.
Space will not permit a detailed state
ment, but from the numerous exhib-
itors and the general display it must
have been apparent to all visitors that
the exhibit was not picked one from
a certain farm or district, but general
over the county. Must have been thir-
ty to forty potato exhibits and about
the same in other lines. Regarding
pumpkins and squash we We're not
fooling. Reminded us of the stories
Kansas people tell where the doors
have to be taken off to let in the
largest. There was one squash that
tipped the scale at 81 and pumpkin
at 80 pounds. Had it been given n
few additional days to grow it would
have gone beyond 100. Several pies
in one this size;
We have stated on previous occa-
sions that more interest is displayed
in smaller communities wnen II comes
to turning out. and also in showing
the products Of the soil. We saw
more vehicles at Cortez than we ever
saw during fair week in Durango
The grounds were lined with teams
and rigs Of every description. Lined
up without break were thirty-two
nutomobiles-this without intervening
teams. Then there were autos in the
background and flying about the town
While therS were number of autos
from out d he county, Durango, Pa
gosa Springs, Shiprock and other
placcs, Montezuma county furnished
the bulk Of the buzz wagons, sixty
or more. We doubt II there was a |
farmer in the valley that was not
present Friday afternoon. The nn-
ssal fairs are "gst-together affairs"
Isr tie people Of our ncighboring |
III <-~--4 sI