Gunnison news-champion., 1922-04-21

OF grausrs' contract and seed, ship
ing and cultivation can be secured By
by writing 20 the association ~ Buena
Vista
Tre altitude OF Buena Vista is 1863;
that 0f Gunnisou is 1850. Best re-
suit 10 far are even higher. from siO0
TO $500. This Is the altitude Of East
Rissr valley from Almont 10 above
Cre-tad Butte-t Last year Il was
raised a. ten thousand feet in Leadville
and s.; Elmo.
He'd lettuce raising is lots Of work
and . tlcklish operation just at head
ing tine. In hot valleys. ike the
vicinity Of Canon City, when a head
is ready 10 pick, i must be handled
within one % three days In high,
coOI valleys, the margin extends some
tiule- % tao or three weeks To Illus
.tra,s some difficulties last year, Z
large grower had in $50 acres Just
Is 10 was heading he had q hunch il
neeJIed iryigatsug. He had his men
Warer 20 aer-s in two days. X con-
tinus, rainy and fogEy with warm
night The whole so acres blew up
and eHt % seed. That grower lost
$50 900 by the two days irrigation at
the wrong time.
II a crop netted less than $500 an
acre il was considered a failure. Some
exceptional acres had returned 81 400.
Whole fields averaged 500. The as
sociation was not soliciting large
acreage here, but simply taking care
Of inquiries, advising starting expert
ments in all our valleys with a few
acres, and arranging for railroad
Transportation. Small lots would re-
quire expressing to Salida- II enough
raised lettuce, freight shipments
would be arranged over the hills, that
would make total freight east no more
thar from Buena Vista Il would
take lTJ crates for a narrow gage car
LOAD.
The railroad is constructing 10000
refrl gvrat0r cars especially for the
trade, which ought To take care Of
1922 season.
In the growing districts, field men
viii come around every week to ten
days to advise planting. irrigation,
cultivation, cutting and packing. The
agricultural college is also arranging
for field men to assist.
Cabbage and caulifower is in de-
maUi and may be grown and shipped
thru this association, which can fun-
ish -omc plants, but the supply is get
ting short. There is a great demand
for garden peas, especially dwarf tele-
phoue peas. These, however. may be
shipped separately in sacks.
Irrigation is necessary except where
land subs, but does not secp. Might
be grown under dry farming. Never
saw &, tried. Thot our rainy July and
August weather is o. X, if we did
not get warm nights with il. Lettuce
plant will stand hard freezes at both
end Of season. Last fall it froZe in
Bucna Vista on the 18th of October
hard enough to hold up 4 horse. On
the 9th growers We're pealing outside
frozen leaves off and shipping perfect
heads Of lettuce. Planting ought to
begin May 18th TO goth. Continue at
ten-day intervals, putting in portion
of field each time. so all your thinning,
cultivating and heading viii not come
at once. Must have good seeder. He
had best results from running irriga-
tion furrow first and planting on edge
two inches from furrow so that first
watering would not soak the ground
too much.
Crates cost 25 cents each. Can get
zeed from association office.
Insect rarely trouble lettuce at high
attitudes. but cut worms might on
fresh sod. Best soil is mountain
meadow land of black, sandy loan, but
mesa soil, as tried out, is showing
good results. Can be grown at least
three years on meadow soil without
rotaring crops or fertilizing. Absolute
~ new ground probably not SO good.
There is no land left to rent around
Buena Vista. Rentals run from SIS
10 si00 per acre, but in some
sections, land is frequently donated to
test il out.
Mr.. Frame further states that if
enough are interested. the association
will be glad TO send another repre-
sentative in q week or so TO explain
further.
Ralph Allen is driving a fine new