The Monte Vista journal., 1917-09-15
WONDERFUL OPPORTUNITIES IN The SAN IJS VALLEY

land. And in the we'll developed and
thickly settled sections such as the
Monte Vista, Del Norte, Center, Car
mel and Terrace districts, are grow
ing crops that will produce much
more per acre than the average yields
The principal crops raised are al
falfa, wild hay, field peas, wheat,
oats, barley, rye, potatoes and vege-
tables. Then lambs and hogs are
raised and fattened for market, and
to such an extent that the San Luis
valley has become famous as a pro-
ducer of pea-fed meats.
The mountains surrounding this
valley furnish grazing for sheep and
cattle during the summer months,
and in October this live stock is
brought to the farms and fed during
the fall and winter seasons.
Alfalfa Crop
Thousands of acres of alfalfa are
now grown in the San Luis valley,
and this crop builds up the soil and
makes it richer and more productive
through it's nitrogen gathering bac-
terra. Alfalfa is high in protein
that valuable and high priced con-
stituent of any feedstuff-which
builds up the lean meat tissues, the
bones and the cheese producing part
of the milk.
When the alfalfa field is plowed
the roots decay and make the best
kind of humus building manure.
When the manure from the alfalfa
hay is returned to the soil that pro-
duced it, vast stores of nitrogen ac-
cumulate and result in bigger and
better crops of potatoes, grain or
sugar beets which may follow after
the alfalfa field has been plowed.
Thus, alfalfa is the best of all for
age crops and unequalled as a soil
fertilizer.
Alfalfa produces two cuttings each
year and this yield of large tonnage,
makes the crop of great value to the
farmer.
Small Grains
Wheat, oats, barley and rye are
very productive crops in this valley
and have their place in crop rotation
under irrigation. The soil, climatic
conditions, abundance of water for
irrigation and the Diversified farming
I, ,Dlc n 10 q
great small grain district.
The average yield per acre of
wheat under irrigation is about three
times the average production where
rainfall supplies the moisture, and
thirty to forty bushels per acre at the
present high prices pay the growers
very high rate of interest on their
land Investment.
The Field Pea Crop
Field peas are not costly crop for
| the farmer to grow, as the peas are
drilled in, and the crop produced
without cultivation. Then during the
| fall and winter months the crop is
harvested by the lambs and hogs.
The field pea crop is both a forage
and a grain, and the pea-hay proper
ly made is roughage unexcelled by
any other. 1t is also a fertilizer for
| the soil as the pea vine Is humus
building plant. The threshed peas
are a highly nitrogenous food and
will put fat on any kind of livestock.
The peas make wonderful growth
and prolific yield in this altitude, and
the vines cure perfectly producing
splendid quality of feed.
| The west is not a corn growing
country, and the pea-crop takes It's
place in supplying fat producing
crop for live stock raised, and an
acre of good peas will feed and fatten
eight to twelve lambs and then leave
n supplv of peas for the hogs that fol-
low.
Peas when threshed for seed pro-
duce yield of about 25 to 30 bush
els to the acre, and these are sold at
about $3.50 a hundred pounds.
The Potato Crop
The San Luis valley is one OF the
four large potato growing districts or
the Rock Mountain region, and the
quality of this product produced here
is par excellent. The yield per acre
of potatoes runs as high as zoo to
nt hn