Pueblo chieftain., 1922-01-02

Farm statistics are like religion:
they are OF attractive interest only as
applying to the individual. Western
people especially are disposed to pay
only a glance at chronicle OF the past,
so far as concerns the country in gem
eral. Each is. interested in his own
experiences and his own achievements
in the past year. He would be keenly
alive to any accurate forecast of the
future but does not take much stock
in horoscopes. According to Hoylc we
should present on this page today
bushcl or SO of figures stating output
and estimates OF production of the diff
ferent crops, but we cherish n deep
hostility toward bushels OF anything.
and do not place implicit confidence in
official estimates, whether of agricul-
lure or OF distilla tion. Any how the
reports for 1921 II given would he en-
dividuals coming out at the little end
of the multiplication table.
Yet taking IL by and large. and
climh1ns up out OF the river bottoms.
IL has been a wonderfully good year.
Loss OF crops and even of whole acres
of land was a hard blow but would
have been far more severe in any pre-
vious year, for this season the disas
ter was in considerable degree balanced
by the production on hundreds Of acres
OF new end high lands where nothing
but sagcbrush ever grew before.
All records OF precipitation were
broken and the total mark of the rain
gauge was 20.11 when the wea ther clerk
turned over a new leaf Saturday night.
Tho Arkansas valley reader should not
skip over this with any mental excla-
nation of Everybody knows that"
for everybody does not know 1t. 1t Is
at least desirable that those statistl-
clans up north should know IT. AS
predicted in this column. they are
again sending out blue stories about
Coloredo's farming for the year 1921
just as they did in 1920, representing
poor pickings because of alleged
drouth and emphasizing dry conditions
In the northeast corner OF the state.
They give out no word about tho Won
derful advance in dry land farming in
the five great valleys of southern and
western Colorado; nothing about the
three successive good seasons OF corn
and wheat in Bacn and FL Paso and
Prowcrs counties; nothing about the
tremendous hay crop in all the noun
tn In counties of the south half of
Colorado: only routine mention OF tho
finest crops of potatoes ever produced
in San Luis valley. tho bose crops OF
Deeis anu in'ions ever ErtNn III NT-
kansas valley.
The fruit in Fremont county was
frosted in April leaving only til. Gent
ton JaneD apples. The celery crop
in Pueblo county was to a large extent
destroyed by the June flood. But there
was an excellent production OF fruit
In the Grand valley and IL. quality the
best Alfalfa made prodigious growth
in the six counties of Arkansas valley.
Baca's broad prairie was a marvel.
Nov as to the future: In old times
there would have been grave uneasi-
ness over the small amount of snow
deposited in tho mountains Mt this
date. hut in late years there has been
such remarkable change Of climate,
such cop.ulcto reversal OF old time
habits. wc no longer
depend on the snow for farming. In
deed. we think mc<e frequently about
how to keep out of raging floods.
This was the first year in at least
seven when there came such Good
water" ms Could he utilized Normal