Imperial Valley press., 1924-01-22
BY WINFIELD BARKLEY

oy 4N1 1AA4kS ofAnALlI
Manager, Imperial Valley and San
Diego County Development Bu-
reau, Southern Trust and Com
merce Bank.
The world is full Of average peo-
ple-1 IN an average man-anf
what interests us, after listening to
all this talk about the wonderful
Imperial Valley, is what is going to
happen to the man of average in
telligence, capital and willingness
to work, who undertakes to farm 4
piece of land in the valley3
/ have watched the development
Of Imperial Valley from its very
conception; / have made many
trips to this section and I have
made it my business 10 see and
study conditions-but! no matter
with whom ! am l-avelng, l am
continually being shown land which
has raised two bales of cotton to
the acre; vineyards are pointed on
which have cleared $4,000 in one
year, and cantaloupe land which
has paid for itself in one season.
II catch the drift of what You
want said my friend. "The next
time you are in Inc valley. we Il
go out and discover your average
man. -
On the way over, I cleaned 4 few
facts about the place we were to
visit. A 40 acre ranch had been
selected, for the reason that 20
acres is all the land an average man
ought to try TO farm and farm
Alright. I learned further that this
farmer had for "a years been IN
charge of the shops of a metropo-
Titan street railway system, and
had turned to farming only when
he was past middle age. 1 was also
told that this farmer had added 10
his handicap by buying a ranch
which had proven a failure in an
other mans hand; was q mass OF
Bermuda grass and had 10 fences
or buildings, except shacl; carry
ing the complimentary title OF
"house.
Fresh Paint Everywhere
We found Farmer Balm looking
after flock of young chicks in
q make-shift brooder house. He
apologized for the brooder house
which was an adoption of tool
shed, saying that he was going TO
build q real one next year. But I
noticed that it was painted, rs was
the water tank, and that the house
must have had two or three coats
recently applied. Evidently here
was man who had discovered that
paint is made to use on the farm as
well as in the city.
81 bought this place, which was
a solid mass Of Bermuda grass, four
years ego, pa!Eng $4,000 for 40
acres,' said Balm. 81 paid $1,000
cash and gave 4 mortgage for the
balance. / had seven cows and 100
chickens; l bought two more cows,
and wife and started 10 work
TO hours per day-and i'll 90 months
we paid off the mortgage. We rails
ed all our calves and the butcher
paid US 81 500 for beef in the first
19 MONTHS
All nicely fenced into four and
five acre fields, il was a liberal
education to go over this ranch and
listen TO Balm as he told how he
had fought the Bermuda with thick;
ly sown Sudan grass; as he show
ed what was once a streak of hard
land which had been conquered with
repeated manurings AID much cul-
tiyation, and as he told of plans
for the future, for there remains,
and always will remain, much to be
done on Farmer Balm S ranch.
He has 81 cows and IS yearlings
and is milking 90, while up in the
sheds are a number of calves. Al
falta, Sudan grass, milo and
wheat are all grown, although Balm
expressed partiaiity for oats. He
believes in heavy seeding and lib
eral use of manure-said something
=