Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1917-06-25
You Need More Workers.
dyou are to make business" better than usual during 1.-THE wal penod-so use the classified columns
COMMUNITY ACTION
ON IRRIGATED AREAS

department oil agriculture. This ~ par
ticularly true of the government reclama-
ton projects, of which there are 81 now
In operation, including at present about
$4,000 farms with a total Of approximately
100000 producing acres. If these farms
are Ia be made Ia yield their full possiblli-
ties far-slghted cooperation must accom-
pany individual Enterprise.
Practically all of the government recla-
nation projects are far removed from the
great consuming centers. In consequence.
transportation charges are high and the
problem of marketing may become as diff
iicult a. the problem of production. 1t
j. in working out the most probable meth
eds Of crop disposal tina. community ac
tion i particularly desirable.
Probably no problem J. of more impor-
tance ~ the farmer, especial, the farmer
On irrigated land, than the proper >clec-
tlon 81 the industries in which he j. 10 en-
gage. The advantages and Disadvantages
Of each industry must be considered not
~ Ia itself. but ~ it, relation tn, the other
Industries IN which the farmer i engaged
and expects Ia undertake. furthermore.
each industry must bc considered from
the point of view of H. ~appr"priatene~> t.
The operations IN which the rt>t Of the
community j. engaged. Because ot mar
ketIng difficulties u may. Tor instance. hc
impossible for 4 man 10 grow cotton pro
titably II h. ~ the only one ~ the area at
tempting Ia 40 this. On the other hand. II
the whole community j. growing cotton. II
may be quite possible 70 dispose advan-
tagcou~ly Of the entire crop.
At the present time the principal crops
IN point of acreage on the government re
clamation projects are ~ follows: For
age. chiefly alfalfa cereals: iruit crops
POTATOES: seeds, chiefly clover and alfalfa
sugar beets; cotton and truck crops.
Which ones of these should be- adopted de
pends, of course, upon local conditions. Ina
each ease, however, there J. abundant IN
centiye for the community 10 get together
for the benefit 81 all.
The COMMON practice on reclamation
areas i 10 seed the land to alfalfa a. soon
as possible. This j. accompanied or fol
lowed by the planting Of small grains So
that only newly irrigated lands a large pro
portion of the cultivated acreage i given
up To- these crops. Usually II follows that
there l. an overproduction and that the
pr, Item of di~posing of the crop l. "A diff
ficult one. Under ordinary conditions
neither alfalfa hay nor grain will bear the
cost of transportation to distant %centers.
Under these conditions, livestock pro-
ductiOn offers great Inducements. Hogs,
for example, bring high prices i'll proper
ton 10 their weight and can, therefore, be
shipped comparatively long distances and
sold NJ a profit. II has been found that
the returns secured by pasturing hogs on
irrigated alfalfa supplemented with a light
ration of grain are frequently three To
five times as great as could be obtained by
selling the alfalfa a. hay. With grain, the
gain from marketing it in the form Of pork
4. usually from % to 80 per cent. In ad
ditlon, the amount Of capital required t.
start III the SWINE industry J. relatively
small and the returns cuIne quickly. For
these and other reasons. pork production
- considered ~ one ~ the most promising
industries on irrigated farms.
For the maximum Of success, however.
community action i Indispensable. Tins
j. particularly true ot the control ct con
i%tagiuu~ Diseases. Hog cholera. for IN
stance cannot be- controlled efficiently by
individual action. On irrigated lands the
germs cf the disease may be carried ~ the
irrigation water and IN this WAY he spread
through the entire community. On The
other hand. the isolation ~ the ordinary
reclamation areas makes Il comparatively
easy to enforce the required quarantine
and sanitary regulations.
Another example If the value Of ON
unity action i Ia be found ia the utillza-
ton of the grain crcop~. 1T frequently
happens that farmers III or near r%ecianla-
ton projects ship their grain out IN the
fall. and IN the following spring SWINE
growers on the area buy the same kind Of
grain at higher prices and ship II into
cess J. obvious. Again, cooperation can
promote the production of one breed only
IN a community and the effect 81 tins N
facilitating improvements IN breeding and
marketing y great. a final argument 4
10 be found IN the saving effected hy ship
ping hogs in carload lots.
The farm units III The reclamation pro-
jects are usually 81 small that few farms
can produ1ka carload of hogs. The far
mer, thSY in practice must either sell
TO the Yer, who secures the profit
from I'd rate on carloads, or else
coope i ~neighbors in shipping to
mark \ter method i evidently