Estancia news-herald. [volume] (Estancia, Torrance County, N.M.) 1912-19??, 1915-04-29
RALPH c. ELY ON
IRRIGATION

h't'NiS " NJ u'S1i OSCN NY III Tx
has it insured, and the greater
the danger the more certain he
is to take out policy. 1t woulC
be nice thing for most of US il
we could insure our earning pow.
er, but no one has ever tried tc
write policy of that kind that
ever heard of.
The man who is farming in
Illinois or Iowa, or any Of the
eastern states where the rainfall
is sufficient year after year to
produce a crop, and where it is
frequently excessive, improves
the crop and in a measure in
sures it by a drainage system.
III the Estancia Valley you are
very likely to have lean years
and years Of plenty. 1t looks
now as tho the rains this year
would be entirely adequate to
raise a crop and | am afraid that
a great many people, filled with
a false hope because Of this un-
usual condition, will be led to
rely upon the ordinary rainfall
in the succeeding years; but they
will often fail to produce crops.
The value of land cannot be de-
termined by it's earning power in
a single year but it must be de-
termined by its absolutely re-
liable net earning power, year in
and year out for q period Of
years. If you would insure your
house or barn against the loss, if
the thrifty farmer Of the eastern
states insures his crops, as far as
possible, by a drainage system,
why should not the farmer Of
the Estancia Valley insure the
adequacy of his water supply by
the installation of a pumping
plant if he can do 50? If the
year is a wet year and the pump
ing plant is not required at all,
the only cost Of having it, is the
interest on the investment and
the taxes, with some possible
slight deterioration due to the
passage of time. If the year is,
generally speaking, wet year,
but there is a period Of few
weeks in the early summer, we
will say, when it is droughty and
crops don't grow, even if it is
not bad enough to destroy them
and they merely stand still, the
farm has a lessened earning
power and the farmer a de-
creased income, because of that
unfavoraOle condition; and that
condition is likely to occur every
year. About once in so often in
this arid west, we may reason
ably expect a year or two years,
to come when there will be prac-
tically no rainfall when it is diff
cult to germinate the seed or
practically impossible to mature
crops. Everybody knows that,
and every body realizes the awful
discouragement thar confronts
the man who sees his field OF
corn grow up two or three feet
in height and then stand still and
the ears blight into profitIess
nubbins. If the rains come at
all, they come just too late to do
him any good. After the harm
has been done, the showers start
in but his income is gone, If the
average man has forty years IN
which to work, every time he
loses year he has lost part of
his life. Why not insure against
this living death?
Now, it can be done Not with
out effort, not without cost, not
without difficulty. A pumping
plant is a mechanical device. 1t
may kick up and go wrong, The
average farmer is not good me-
chanic and wants a simple, fool
proof outfit. He doesn't want
to be tempted to fuss around
with the monkey wrench to over
come difficulties which he does
not understand. Cheap outfits
merely breed trouble, and trouble
means disappointment. A skill
full man can sometimes use cheap
stuff and get better results out
of it than an awkward man can
get out of a first class outfit; but
the first thing | want to advise
is. that whatever you get should
be absolutely good. l have seen
a number of my friends save
little money in their installation