128 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



general way I would suggest that peaches, pears and 

 apples be so arranged that there is left eventually a 

 good apple orchard. Whatever is done in this line 

 however, let the farmer always be prepared so that 

 if the crop of fruit should happen to strike a glutted 

 market he can dry, can or preserve it in some shape 

 so as to save it until some future time, when he may 

 market it more profitably. 



SUGAR BEETS AS A SURPLUS. 



We now arrive at the question of what surplus can 

 be most profitably produced. I do not think that an 

 average farmer can profitably and successfully use 

 more land than has been indicated along the lines 

 mentioned. Certainly exceptions will be found. 

 Some men are especially adapted to fruit culture, 

 others naturally prefer live stock, but I speak now 

 for the average farmer men who farm because they 

 prefer the free, independent life of the agriculturist, 

 where each man's time is his own, and the profits 

 always in exact ratio to the amount of intelligent 

 labor performed are all his. To such I would say: 

 Plant your remaining land in sugar beets, and be 

 prepared to utilize the crop. 



Why do I suggest sugar beets? First, because 

 nearly all this arid region, when irrigated, is well 

 adapted to their culture, and all recent experiments 

 show conclusively that sugar beets will mature much 

 better and contain a larger amount of saccharine 

 matter when raised in a warm, dry climate than 

 when cultivated in the moist and damp atmosphere 

 of the eastern States. Men who have given the sub- 

 ject much thought and study are united in the belief 

 that what was once known as the Great American 

 Desert will in time become the source of the sugar 

 supply of the United States. Of course, wise and 

 patriotic action by the national government would 

 very materially hasten this. But sooner or later it is 

 destined to come. So I say raise sugar beets, because 

 they are well adapted to the country, and their suc- 

 cessful culture will sooner or later bring a factory in 

 your neighborhood; then you will always have a 

 market for all your surplus crop at fair prices. 



But you ask, " What shall I do with my crop until 

 a factory comes, or suppose it never comes at all? " 



To this I answer it is a crop which may be used in 

 a dozen different ways if you only prepare to utilize 

 it, and it need never be thrown on an unprofitable 

 market if properly handled on the farm. Practical 

 experiments demonstrate that it is a most excellent 

 stock feed, and may be used with the very best of 

 results wherever corn is used in corn countries. 

 Generally speaking, dry countries in Western America 

 are not well adapted to corn culture. The very fact of 

 nearly all the nights in our hottest months being com- 

 paratively cool prevents corn from growing and 

 maturing as it should. But in the sugar beet, con- 



taining as it does from 200 to 300 pounds of sugar to 

 every ton, we have a most valuable substitute for 

 corn. Can you think of any food more fattening for 

 hogs or cattle ? The flesh it produces is hard and 

 firm, equal in every respect to the very best corn 

 fed. It may be fed with equally good results to 

 stock of all kinds. I would suggest first the hog, be- 

 cause when killed, if the local market will not pay 

 all you think it worth, you still have the alternative 

 of rendering the lard, smoking the hams, and salting 

 the sides, all of which may be kept until such time 

 as the market is right. If your home market is too 

 small your product is in a shape which will stand 

 transportation to some large center or better market. 

 It will be many and many a year yet before hog 

 raising is over done in Arid America. 



But beets are not alone useful as hog feed. They 

 may be fed with equally good results to all kinds of 

 stock. When given to milch cows the flow of milk is 

 quickly increased; cooked, they very soon fatten old 

 cows. Horses easily learn to like them, and they are 

 good food for sheep. 



Another strong point in favor of sugar beets is 

 they are a crop which can be produced on the same 

 ground many years in succession, as the tops left on 

 the field when the crop is harvested replace nearly 

 all the elements which have been taken from the soil, 

 the sugar in the beet having been absorbed largely 

 through the leaves from the sunshine. For all these 

 reasons, and many more which constantly become 

 apparent as this crop is more extensively cultivated, 

 I favor the idea of the farmer in this section of the 

 arid region making sugar beets his surplus crop, pro- 

 vided only that he prepares beforehand to utilize it. 

 It would of course be folly to plant them unless you 

 had some stock to which to feed them. 



One other important suggestion and I am through. 

 Every new settler in the very beginning should plant 

 as many shade trees as possible. First, as wind 

 breaks and for the grateful shelter they afford; 

 and, secondly, because until you have shade trees, 

 and the resultant moisture in the air, you cannot to 

 good advantage successfully raise such small fruits 

 as currants, blackberries, raspberries, etc. All of 

 which, when raised, should be handled, as far as 

 marketing is concerned, in the same manner as in- 

 dicated for strawberries. 



If settlers in our new country would work along 

 the lines suggested, I believe it would only be a few 

 years until they would find themselves comfortably 

 well fixed, as the saying is, and each succeeding sea- 

 son their wealth increasing. The old free and in- 

 dependent spirit of our forefathers would be renewed 

 as men found themselves more their own masters 

 and further removed from the baneful influences of 

 large corporations, trusts, monopolies, etc. 



