Imperial Valley press., 1915-10-16
RURAL CREDITS
{ o VI MIS- SSION IS
HOLDING HEARING

Agricultural and financial conditions
of Imperial valley were thoroughly
discussed this morning in testimony
offered at the hearing conducted by
the Rural Credits Commission at the
Barbara Worth hotel Colonel Vein
stock, president d The state Rural
Credits Commissioni pr David p. Bar
rows. EIwood Mead. one IF the
foremost authorities ON irrigation IN
The country, and Senator W. r. Brown.
members of the commission. conducted
the hearing, and for more than an hour
Volleyed iutcrroeations along agricnl-
nral lines at W. L Packard, superfn-
tendent of the State Experiment Farm
al Meloland.
Replying To a query as to what the
approximate size Of the Imperial Val
ley ranch is Nr. Packard stated that
IN some Instances the ranches were
l6o acres, i'm others $50 acres. but that
The unit ranged between 10 and so
acres. Forty to 80 acres. he said. was
the average size Of The dairy farm
Alfalfa production Mr.. Packard SET
at - TO 10 tons to the acre each
year
What is the cost of bringing the
land To productivity?' Mr Packard was
asked
To this he answered that the cost of
bringing it under cultivation was large
lE affected by the location. In some .
places where little leveling was re
quired between SIS and $50 an acre
Was necessary to bring it under cult
vation, while i'm sections where the ley +
cling of the land implied the removal
of sandhills 500 an acre was neces-
sary.
That the development of the valley
in the last 10 years had been accom-
piished for the most part by capital
mad here, with the exception of a few
places whore outside capital had been
brought in i'm large quantities. was the
reply of Mr. Packard 10 question by
one of the committee.
targe Proportion OF the homestead
ers have left the valley. Mr.. Packard
continued in response 10 another ques-
tion. as statistics show that an appre-
ciable number of landowners i'm the val
ley do not live in the county.
In reply to question asked by Mr.
Mead to what the trend of land !
prices had been in the last 10 years.
MI. Packard stated that prices had
been rising steadily in the last 1G
years until they reached the highest
point . years ago. Six years ago, he
said. land could have been bought for
$50 t $125 an. acre, while now, after
an increase of S25 an acre a year, land
has reached 5000. $500 and in some
instances 500 an acre
The greatest difficultY-that is the
greatest apparent difficulty Mr.. Pack
ard said, is that the farmers hold their
land at a speculative Value-that is.
they sell if they can get their price.
Rotation of crops. he said. could not I
be commended for this reason. Pres
ent low prices of land. he said. were
forcing farmers to ranch their places
more carefully.
Are the farmers properly equipped
to get the most out Of their land?"
Mr. Mead asked.
'No. tney lack capital. Tehy hold so
mucn land they cannot handle the land
with The capital they have" Mr.. Pack
ard replied.
suppose we had a system of rural /
credits whereby money was PROVIDED.
What if that benefit were confined eX
clusively to residents2"
u think it would be very good, in
deed" Mr.. Packard replied. at would .
add greatly to the benefits of the val
ley"
In response TO query as to wheth
er he thought that plan would tend
TO increase the population of the val
ley. Mr. Packard replied that he be