Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1920-01-21
SHEAR EDITOR WRITES FROM TEXAS.
Mercedes, Texas, Jan. 3, 1920.

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Mercedes, Texas, Jan. 3, 1920.
, On the morning Of the first day of
the new year, 1920, the excursion party
of the w. p. Stewart Land Company
arrived at Mercedes, Texas, in the
Lower Rio Grande valley The long
train was side tracked at the next sta
ton, called Stewart, where IS automo-
biles, owned and driven mostly by
farmers and fruit-growers in the vicill-
!ity. met the excursionists and took
them OH an all-day tour through the
irrigated district. On that trip we saw
many large fields of cabbages, Bermuda
onions, head lettuce, eggplant and
other crops that are grown there in the
winter months. Every month, in fact,
is a planting month as well as a har-.
vesting month, in the Lower Rio
Grande valley. The farm work is done
mostly by Mexicans, who work for $1.O0
to $1.5p per day and board themselves.
Whole families of them were seen out
in the fields preparing the soil or plant
ing onions and other crops and this
on January first. We also visited sew
eral citrus groves, where the trees
were loaded with oranges, lemons and
grape fruit-a novel as well as pretty
sight for one who halls from the far
north, where snow and ice abound at
this time of the year. The soil and cli-
mate is specially well. adapted for
growing oranges. lemons and grape
fruit: The valley also produces the
finest of grapes. Thousands of acres
Of young orchards, not yet in bearing,
We're seen on each side of the road as
the automobiles sped along. A short
stop was made to inspect a field of
Rhodes grass, lately introduced from
South Africa, which affords wonderful
pasture for cattle, hogs and horses,}a and
makes a crop for cutting every six
weeks. Alfalfa fields are green all the
year around, and yield eight to ten
cuttings per year. Corn, broom corn,
sugar cane and cotton are all great
money making crops in the valley and
many farmers were seen hauling these
products to market Several thrifty
little towns were passed thru on the
trip in one of which banker named
Gaines, who formerly lived in Illinois,
gave us a splendid talk about the Rio
Grande valley and it's agricultural and
horticultural possibilities. Returning
from the very interesting automobile
trip the cars were halted at the Stew
ard Club House, which is beautifully
located on Llano Grande Lake, an arm
fof the Rio Grande FLYER. Here the
Stewart Land Company entertain their
excursion parties. The turkey supper
served us after we returned from the
long automobile trip did not fail to sat.
isfy the most fastidious epicurean
The table decorations were pOinsettas
freshly picked from plants growing Ut
side on the ground. .,sa asss G.s
On the second day of our stay in the
lower. Rio Grande valley, we visited
some more fruit orchards, a fine dairy
and stock farm, and also another farm
where young farmer, recently from
Illinois, had made o wonderful success
as hog raiser: The valley is remark
ably we'll adapted to raising hogs, az
filters of pigs may be narrowed in an,
month Of the year, owing to the mill
climate, and do equally wen and hos
cholera, so we were told, is an unknown
| disease. Green feed grows twelve
months in the year and corn is an ex
cellent crop. We visited a while at thu
mammoth pumping plant of the Ri
Grande Land & Irrigation Co., which j!
a concern independent of the land com
pany. Here. the silt laden water from
the Rio Grande river is pumped into
main canal 30 miles in length, $50 fee
in width and feet deep, with nearl!
100 miles of branch canals that dis
tribute the water to all parts Of tn
irrigated tract, of more than 2OO,OO
acres, in the so called Mercedes system
The pumps have a capacity Of 340,OO'
gallons per minute. A large reservoir
containing over 400 acres, is kept full
of water as reserve. But there !
little danger that the water supply fur
nished by the Rio Grande river will
lever become exhausted. For ages tn
1000 miles long river has flown onward
In its course to the sea, varying ittl
ii volume from year to year, draining
North eastern Old Mexico, Arizona
New Mexico, Colorado, and Northwes
Texas. It takes care Of the rain an
snow falling in that tremendous are
Of territory and holds in solution In
gradients of plant food washed ont fro1
disintegrated rocks and soil. This sil
laden water fertilizes the land to whic
the water Is applied by irrigation an
makes the use Of artificial fertilizer
unnecessary. The soil Of the Lowe
Rio Grande valley has been produce
Eby successive deposits Of silt in remot
times, when the river carried q muc
i larger volume of water and was NOR