Douglas daily dispatch., 1927-07-03


Out in the Sulphur Spring valley this
summer more paint and new wire and
lumber is being used than has been
trucked out there for many years.
There are more holes going down to
the water and more high class pumps
being dropped into them.
All Of this, however, is going on on
a conservative scale. Also it is being
done by people who have learned the
lessons that experience teaches, and
they know what they are doing and
what they want to do it with. They
are building good fences because
stock gets badly cut and SCARED or
poor fences. They are using lots OF
paint because they have found out
that unpainted surfaces are not cheap
but very dear.
A few years ago, and even the past
year, a number of thousand gallon
pumps were installed in the valley in
wells that had not been developed to
supply that much water. In each OF
these cases from $500 to $1,000 had to
be spent to correct the error.
There are a number of instances OF
persons taking out small caliber
pumps and installing larger ones, only
to find that the 10 or 12-horse engine
that had whipped the water up with
the little pump would hardly turn
the big one over Experience teaches
about these things.
On the other hand, the farmers
have found that well. sunk to water
level and then 20 feet beyond will
very seldom fail. They have found
that a type of pump which agitates
the formations at the bottom of the
well and that will pump mud will
develop the deep stratas so that q
large volume of water is made avail
able permanently.
They tell the story of the man who
came from the Casa Grande district
where big corporation makes ap-
proximately $1,000 an acre on lettuce
This man planted ten acres of lettuce
in this valley and raised a good crop
He loaded truck with the fine stuff
and brought it to Douglas. The first
store he went to took a dozen heads
and told him they could use a dozen
two or three times week. All the
other stores he went to already had a
supply.
The man cursed and growled He
went home and turned his cows into
the lettuce patch. The extra allow
ance of green food gave the animals
the collie. They died. The farmer
got into his truck and drove away
He is probably still driving and
everywhere he stops he tells that the
Sulphur Spring valley is good for
nothing
He lost the point If he had raised
through cooperation with his neigh
bOrs hundred or thousand acres
of lettuce and had made arrange
mentS beforehand for it's sale in the
big eastern markets he would now be
millionaire and booster.
Another man went out into the
valley and built up fine set Of
poultry houses. He developed a we'll
sufficient for a good windmill and he
then went out and secured 5000
chickens. During the winter the price
OF eggs was high, but he had to buy
all his feed and he found that to feed
his chickens ration that would pro-
duce eggs he had to spend more for
feed than the eggs sold for.
Summer came and the hens laid
more eggs. but the prices for them
went down so that the man finally
went broke. There were SO acres of
cleared level land on this mans place
His one milk COW grazed over it..
Lizards played about on it. Rabbits
and owls infested it and the man
went broke. Another man bought
him out
This man cleared the ranch of all
live stock that could not subsist with
out store feeds. He bought team
OF horses, a plough, a harrow, disc
seeder and a corn cultivator He
drilled a well that would hold 300
gallon pump and installed such a
pump with sufficient power.
He planted grains and cultivated
and irrigated them. When they were
ripe he harvested them and spent the
months of the fail in threShing and
storing them. Early in the spring he
bought 5000 chickens, and after he
had paid for them and their first
eggs had paid for the farm machin-
cry and the new pump and engine, he
found that they we're a clear profit,
because he was not out a penny for
feed for them If the price of eggs
went down he still made money, be-
cause all he took, in was clear. If
the price went up he made twice as
much
This man went step further. He
installed breeding pens and incu-
bators and Matched his own baby
chicks from his own eggs. He now
figures that his expenses are for the
labor of two men, for oil for his en-
gine, a very little store food for him
self and family and few repairs
from time to time His income is
guaged by the amount of feed he can
raise every year, for he keeps no more
chickens than he has feed for. He
has found that by devoting large
amount OF time to mis- crops he can
produce enough feed to keep all the
chickens he has room for and that
with that many chickens he can make
more in a year than he ever did be-