Imperial Valley press., 1923-02-07
Horticultural, Dairy
Poultry, Stock Raising
SMALL FARMS
FOR VALLEY
GROW In FAVOR
Less Ground, Bigger
Profits, Theme of New
Campaign
BY William Won Mueller

The small farms idea. which has
been launched in the county, APP
peals to the ranchers Of the valley,
or at least the greater portion of
them, who are coming to realize
that the day of the big farm, with
thousands of acres is not so desir-
able as formerly.
Time was, when the valley was
entirely new, when, by reason of
the virgin richness of soil, the I'M
perial Valley would produce the
largest yield of'cotton per acre from
the least amount of labor of any
portion Of the United States. Dur
ing the war period, the high prices
of cotton caused many men to go
wild to secure more and more acre
age each year to plant to this pro-
fitable product.
Many men made fortunes--only
TO lose them when the period of
depression set in, and the few real
ly fortunate ones, who retired wher
they had realized comfortable
nest egg, either made their way
out of the valley, or else bought
reasonably sized ranches where
they entered into the trucking game.
More Small Farms Now
In the last two years or so, many
more small farms have come into
existence than previous to that
time, and greater number Of
acres were devoted to other crops
than cotton, but even in following
the sometimes profitable lettuce,
cantaloupe and watermelon grow
ing the acreages attempted proved
too large, and, where small plot
of 20 to 40 acres would have realiz-
ed a comfortable margin of profit,
considerable profit was wiped out
when the tail end of the crops were
dumped on market filled to over
flowing, with hundreds of carloads
going to waste either ON the tracks
or in the fields for want of de-
mand.
In the last year, however, a bet
ter understanding still has come,
and many more are realizing that
| the 90 to 40 acre raneher is going to
secure greater benefits from more
scientific farming of y diversified
crop, made possible BY intensive
farming methods.
2o-Acre Farm Ideal
The 2O-acre farmer, with small
plot of alfalfa on which to run a
COW and n flock of chickens, and
who devotes, say, five acres to ber-
ries, five acres to grape fruit, five
acres to lettuce and five acres to
| cantaloupes or watermelons is the
man who makes the profit. He is
able to prepare his soil intensively
with not too great an expense, be-
/ ing able to do the greater amount
of the early season work himself,
| And, coming in different seasons of
the year, is constant, bringing in
a revenue from December to July in
the trucking, and from October on
until February from his grape fruit,
making lit an all year proposition
! instead Of the concentrated effort
of one crop year, which means to
make or break him.
Larger Acreage, Less Profit
In isolated eases there are still
men who desire to own u section or
two, and farm it, and, whore the
funds are available to farm such "a
large tract properly, the rancher
may make good. But it is an es-
tablished f2ct that the larger the
acreage, the less profit proportion
ately per acre.
its soils, its climatic condition, and
when the people of the Imperial
Valley will farm their lands on the
/ intensive plans of the farmers in
the east, who make every inch of
| their land count, and who work the
land, rotate their crops, diversity,
| fertilize, and keep their acreage
within bounds.
Why that may come is because
the valley is extremely fortunate in
"A crop may be raised at any season
its abundant supply of water. Add
to that good common sense, and
! there is no end to the possibilitic'
/ of this Valley, where some kind OF
crop may be raised at any seacon
of the year, and where three crops
in rotation, may be taken from one
plot of ground.