Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 January 1889 — FARMING IN COLORADO. [ARTICLE]

FARMING IN COLORADO.

NATURAL ADVANTAGES OF THE FAR WEST IN GROWING CKOrs. Immense Yield es W heat Last Year Prolific Growth of Pota:oes ami Kiudred Vegetables—The torn Crop Abundant— A Grand Country. [special correspondence.] Denver, Col., .doc. 25. 1888. Three days ago 1 goi back to my cosy hotel here irom an extended trip over the State of Colorado. The geqial editor of the Field and Farm u short time ago extended to me an invitation to accompany him in a jaunt through the State. It was his usual yearly trip at the close ot the harvest season to gather up items regarding agriculture and its kindred belongings. The gentleman. Captain Cutler, is one of the best posted men in the Rocky Mountain region, and. in addition, a splendid traveling companion. Possessing the personal acquaintance of nearly every ranchman in the State, with a phenomenal tact in getting information. I had my doubts last spring as to the ability of Colorado farmers to raise successful crops. This is a dry climate, the rainfall being very small, and to one accustomed to regard abundant rains as essential to crops, it did seem to me that the land was hopelessly barren. I want to correct that Impression, now that I have had visible proof, and to say that I am thoroughly convinced the most inviting and profitable farming sections of the United States lie within the boundary lines of Colorado. It seems strange to talk of Colorado and adjacent States as especially adapted to farming, yet such is the uctual fact. The Colorado farmer does not care, so far as his crops are concerned, whether or not the entire year passes without a shower. An ever-oompensating nature provides an abundauce of water in the melting snows of the mountains, that flows down during the warm, dry summer months, needing only the simple skill of the farmer to store the water and distribute it over his fields at the time when it is most needed. I learn that at the present time there ure over 5,000 miles of main line irrigating ditches completed, and more than 600 miles in process of construction, to be finished by next spring. The soils of the plains, apparently so sterile, are the worn down debris of rocks abounding in potash and alkalies, the richest chemical materials for the growth of nearly all crops. They only need the water to mako them more productive than the best soils in the Eastern States, which have long required the application of those mineral fertilizers so profusoly abundant here. In one place, near San Isabel, where last spring the {Slain looked to mo like a worn-out door-mat, uninviting and sterile, I saw this month an immense potato field from which the yield of the meals tubers amountod to two hundred bushels pee acre, and in some instances exceeding this. The water brought by a small irrigating ditch from one of the numerous branches of the San Luis River was the magic elixir that had brought about such marvelous results. In other places over the State I f{)und it to be no uncommon thing, in fact, the usual thing, for the potato crop to range from 150 to 200 bushels per acre. Wheat lihs done remarkably well. My friend. Captain Cutler, had been busy gathering statistics. I give yo.u some of his figures. The Captain is inclined to be conservative, and I told him so. His reply was, w.tli a shrewd twinkle of the eye: “Well. I’ve lived here many years, and have some property. I expect to live some years to come. If I only tell half of what the land will do, and let the buyer find out ‘the value of his ranch, why, then, I am making every fellow a good advertiser of what I have left. “His figures are thoroughly reliable. They show the wheat crop of 1883 to bo not loss than three million bushels, averaging from twenty-five to thirty bushels per acre. Tho crop of winter wheat was an experiment, heretofore the spring variety being sown. The crop of winter wheat has, however, exceeded the yield of the spring grain by about six bushels to the acre. It used to be thought that corn would never succeed as a crop in Colorado. Eastern corn growers said: ‘ Your altitude ia too great, and your nights are too cold." Let me say. that during the trip from which I have just returned I have seen thousands of acres of splendid corn, from every acre of which twenty-five bushels have been gathered. Ido not mean to say that I have not seen poor crops. I have; but they we're the result, not of any unfitness of the soil, but of the improvident, shiftless stupidity of the fellow who calls himself a lahner. The man who floods his fields with water in early spring time, before the Irosts have lelt the ground, and then neglects the needs of his o. op during the balance of the season, preferring to loaf around a whisky mill in town; such a chap couldm't raiso half a bushel of sweet potatoes to the acre on the choicest spot in the Garden of Eden. The alfalfa hay is one of the great staple crops of Colorado. It is a planted crop, and, though not requiring what might be called cultivation, does require some attention in irrigation. It yields, with fair treatment, an absolutely reliable crop of five tons per acre, worth in the stack from $6 4 to $lO per ton. Three cuttings are made yearly, and in many instances four. There is no better hay for all kinds of stock. Pigs eat it greedily and fatten rapidly upon it. The oat crop has. been an abundant one, averaging over 40 bushels per acre, aad weighing as high as 55 pounds per bushel. The dry climate, the strong mineral soil, and the timely application of the water to the growing crop, combine to make all grain heavier and of better quality. On the farm of Mr. Charles Fassctt. near Monte Vista, in the great San Luis Park. I saw an oat field that had yielded ninety bushels to the acre. The crop of barley has been good. The quality of the grain is pronounced to be superior to the best German barley, and is eagerly sought for by Eastern brewers. Vegetables have kept pace with the grains in making a record for prolific growth. Onions, beets, parsnips, turnips, are simply enormous. The cabbage crop alone will this year net a round million of dollars. Now. I expect that you will ask what is land worth in Colorado, and what does it cost to farm it? Well, land can be bought in some of the best agricultural districts at ten dollars per acre, including a perpetual right to the use of abundant water for irrigation. Under ordinary circumstances the cost of raising an acre of wheats about as follows; Plowing, $2.50: seed, $1.40t051.50 per 100 pounds; sowing or drilling. 75 cents; irrigating (spreading water over theCground by means of ditch furrows), $2.50; harvesting. $2; threshing, $1; t0ta1.510.25. The crop, at lowest average, being twenty-five bushels per acre of sixty pounds tot> e bushel, selling at $1.25 per hundred, VJI bring $18.75, almost paying the cost of both land and feulture the first year. Very many crops do more than this. The cost of culture given above applies also to oats and barley., while the profits per acre are for oats $8 and barley sl2 per acre. I am giving you fair figures, not fancy ones. The cost of farm labor is about the same as ia the Mlddl3 States, the cost of living no higher. Should any of my readers desire more detailed facts, I would udvise them to address a letter to the Bureau of Information, Denver, Col., P. 0. Box 2846. I have had occasion to seek information at that source, and have found the data I got to be reliable. Have I not shown tho presence ot rich and abundant material for a Christmas letter? A happy New Year. God Mes# us all!

JACKSON.