The St. Johns herald., 1920-09-30
The Observation Tour
Sept. IS, 1920 MT. H. c. Overson,
 St. Johns, Arizona. Dear MT. Overson:
Sept. IS, 1920

farmers Observation Tour to Navajo Go. The trip covered four days as fol- lows; Sept 13, Edgar to Snowflake. Meetings and entertainments at Snow flake in evening at which the following Apache Go. people participated; B, B. Crosby, O. Wilkins, J. Rothlisberger, O. Hamblin, F. Burk. E. Skousen. Punch and cake were served by the Snowflake people and a general good time was enjoyed by all, Crops in the Snowflake fields were carefully inspect ed, note was made of the varieties grown and the methods of culture Orange drip cane very sweet variety for sOrg- hum attracted particular attention. The potato crops were also a source of much attention on account of the uniformaty of growth and excellence of quality and yeild.
 Sept. IA, was spent at Taylor, Joppa, Clay Springs, and Pinedale. At Taylor truck crops such as melons, tomatoes, early potatoes, etc were the draw card. At Joppa we saw the filling of large silo in full and perfect operations The silo is 20 by 45 feet and will hold in the neighborhood of 375 tons Hurley Bros have two of this size. A dozen silos are in the course of construction most of them are being made of lumber The large ones of Joppa are concrete while those at St. Joseph are pit silos. We were we'll and pleasantly entertained at luncheon at the Hurley ranch. Six silos at Pinedale are being made of 2 As laid flatwise with tar between in octagon form. The silos at Whiteriver are so made and are proving good. The Lakeside farmers are using the Linden type of silo. Material for concrete is difficult to get at this place. In the evening we attended the Navajo Apache wedding of Rogers and Sher- wood.
 Sept Is, visit to the dry-farm re- zion at Linden with special attention to winter wheat production, methods of harvesting corn with sleds whereby one can harvest four to six acres per day. At Joppa one lad kept three wagons busy hauling on a short haul. That speaks we'll for sled cutting. In the evening we had the liveliest time of the season at Lakeside. Following the speeches and music the good folks of Lakeside served dainty rich refresh ments with ice cream the latter being furnished by dairyman N s. Hanson. The speeches consisted of relating farm experiences and the wording in each case was vanished to suit the occasion. Uncle John Rothlisberger who got a bag of beans as prize for the best speech says that he laughed more dur ing the evening than he had during the past two years.
 Sept 16 the party returned home via Cooley having enjoyed every minute of the trip.
 This party of Apache county farmers gave evidence of large capacity for eating water melons. Daily they fill ed up and loaded up at Taylor, the mel on town. Every two hours or so each day the party would halt to eat water melons Erastus must have had his fill for after one of good eating periods he remarked that melons had lost their good flavor. And their are corn stories to tell for we found corn thirteen feet tall having stalks as big as mans arm growing at an elevation of $500 feet. MT. Burk took a stalk along to tell it's own story as a corn story from him might not be convincing to his fellow Apache County farmers.