Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1922-01-30
CHAVES COUNTY
IS TURNING To
COTTON RAISING
Numerous Experiments Indi-
cate That the FIeeCy Crop
Can Be Successfully
Grown in PeCoS Valley.
tspcciaI Correspondence to The Jounnl !


recent history Of cotton growing
in Eddy county to repeat itself in
Chaves county?
An affirmative answer to this
most important question seems log
ical and is being proven by the in
Creasing interest that the fleecy
crop is drawing to itself among the
farmers Of that county.
Five years ago it was thought
practically impossible and thor
oughly impractical to raise cotton
farther north than the southern
line of New Mexico. AS a conse-
quence throughout the irrigated
district along the Pecos, alfalfa
was the principal crop, its growing
occupying about 80 per cent Of the
tillable land.
In some isolated instances a few
of the alfalfa growers possessed
stock to which they fed their prod
! uct, finally marketing it in the
| form of finished product through
fat stock but the great majority of
Them sold the raw product in the
! form of hay to outside markets
| throughout the south and thus the
treasures Of the soil were entirely
! Host to the valley and were shipped
away to enrich the soil of other
districts and at a toll of freight and
transportation charges which al
most entirely consumed any hoped
for profit.
Then came the great drought of
a few years ago and the flow of
water in the Pecos, upon which
Eddy county depends almost en-
tirely for irrigation water, grew
| less and less. The question of wa
ter became so great that the Water
| Users association, an organization
of water users who are under the
great government irrigation works
at Carlsbad, were compelled to le-
gally enjoin any person from TAX
ing water from the river whose
rights in any way conflicted with
their prior rights. But even this
proved insufficient and the yield
of alfalfa per acre fell off tremend-
ousIy, so much in fact, that some
fields had to be abandoned where
the lack of water was felt the
worst.
At this stage the small patches
of cotton which here and there
were planted by pioneering farmers
who had had experience with 1t
/ elsewhere, or who had seen it
growing in Reeves county, Texas,
/ lust across the state line and noting
1 it's success there wondered why it
would not prove an equal success
| in Eddy county, where climatic
conditions and soil were but little
different, began to attract the at
! tention of others who were casting
about for some way out of the
dilemma in which they found
| themselves.
The experiment station at Me-
silla Park had also about this time
/ interested themselves in expert
ments as to the growing of cotton
/ in New Mexico and the results OBJ
/ tanned there were, to say the least,
/ highly satisfactory. They FOUND
that an equal amount of irriga-
ton water would serve about four
/ times as much cotton as alfalfa.
They found that the growing sea-
son favored the production or a
semi-long staple cottop rather
than a short staple, and this was
an especial advantage since the To-
calities in the United States where,
/ it is possible to produce this kind
of staple are limited, 1t brought
frCm six to twelve cents per pound
premium over the shorter Varie-
/ ties, and found a reader market.
/ This was indeed good news for
| Eddy county. 1t solved their prob
! lem entirely. Alfalfa fields be-
came cotton fields and the condi-
ton Of depression through which
they had been passing came to be
regarded as blessing in disguise.
| Durango cotton was found to be
the best variety for that section,
making the heaviest yield and bet
ter suited to weather conditions
than any other.
A Durango cotton growers asso-
citation was organized with the idea
! of improving the strain and now
the Carlsbad district is noted for
| the purest Durango cotton in the
/ United States. On account Of the
| cold winters 1t is impossible for the
boil weevil to survive and though
the district is under federal quar-
antine against the pink boil worm,
it's presence has been limited to
few dead worms found in unsteril-
lied seed imported from the origi-
nal Durango fields of Mexico. As
a result of those two conditions the
seed grown in this district brings
a high premium over ordinary seed
because of the great demand for
planting purposes.
How well the problem Of the
Carlsbad district was solved by the
| introduction of cotton to its list of
crops may be judged from the re-
port of this years activities under
| the government irrigation project
by the general manager. L. e. Fos-
| ter. BY a perusal of this report
which was but recently issued. 1t
will be found that cotton Is the
| leading crop with a total of 5000
acres from which the return last
year was $6075O0 for lint and
| $59,400 for seed The acreage of
alfalfa has been cut to approx |
mately 1000, which produced hay
during the year worth only $751; |
1855. The average return per acre |
of cotton ran $66,03 for lint and |
seas for seed. while the average |
return for alfalfa was only S25.63. |
In addition to this direct gain |
there were other advantages by |
which it was increased. For one |
thing the soil is once more grow
ing richer where before it was los |
ing. There Is nearly enough stock |
in the district to consume the hay |
that is raised, thus saving freight |
and also further saving the soil
More industries are being brought |
in and moro money stops at home.
Gins afe humming in all the towns
up to Artesia and Carlsbad is to
have o cotton oil mill which will |
make cheap meal and cake avail
able to ranchers outside the con-
fines OF the valley who need 1t for
wintering their herds.
With all this activity going on
in a neighboring county and sit
uation which, while not quite so
serious but somewhat parallel, it is
small wonder that Chaves county
farmers should become investiga-
tive with the result that numerous
experiments running from an acre
to hundred acres were under
taken around Dexter. Roswell, Ha-