24 SOILS OF THE SAN LUIS VALLEY, COLORADO. 



with dairying or stock raising. In this connection sugar beets, ruta- 

 bagas, and other root crops will be found important crops. They 

 can be grown profitably for such purposes upon the heavier and 

 imperfectly drained types. 



Mexican labor is employed to a considerable extent, but upon the 

 average farm the most of the labor is performed by members of the 

 farmer's family. 



A limited local market for vegetables, fruit, and truck crops is 

 offered by towns within the valley, but with extensive development 

 of intensive farming of small irrigated tracts this demand would 

 soon be supplied. 



The benefits accruing from the application of barnyard and stable 

 manures and the use of green manure crops is worthy of much wider 

 recognition, particularly on the porous soils of coarse texture occupy- 

 ing upper valley slopes and alluvial fans. 



The home seeker in the San Luis Valley will find a healthful and 

 invigorating climate. By judicious selection he will be able to secure 

 desirable land at less than the average price for irrigable lands. He 

 will find the range of crops suited to the soils and climatic conditions 

 sufficiently wide to admit his engaging in general farming, stock 

 raising, and stock feeding, dairying, or in the production of inten- 

 sively cultivated crops, such as sugar beets and hardy vegetables. 



He should, however, be provided with sufficient capital to com- 

 fortably house himself and family and to provide shelter for stock, 

 to purchase necessary farm equipment and live stock, and provide 

 for fencing, drainage, and irrigation improvements. Before pur- 

 chasing he should investigate sources and adequacy of water supply 

 for irrigation purposes, and should extensive drainage or reclamation 

 operations be necessary to bring the land to a productive state, he 

 must look into the feasibility of such improvements and be provided 

 with sufficient means to tide over the unproductive period during 

 which such improvements are being made. 



He will be able to provide, for home consumption, practically all 

 necessary vegetables and dairy and poultry products, which may also 

 be made to yield some additional revenue in supplying local markets. 

 He will do well, however, to devote his land to staple and tried crops, 

 leaving the promising but unproved crops alone until they have 

 passed through the experimental stage, 



SUMMARY. 



The San Luis Valley lies partly in south-central Colorado and 

 partly in New Mexico, at an altitude of approximately 7,500 feet. 

 The part in Colorado covered by this report runs north and south 

 for about 80 miles and has a maximum width of 45 miles. It is 

 drained by the Rio Grande del Norte. 



