engaged in agriculture but in mining and stock-raising. Finally, it must be borne in mind 

 that Nevada is one of the foremost states in raising cattle and sheep, hundreds of thousands 

 of head of which are shipped annually to the San Francisco, Chicago, Omaha, Kansas 

 City and St. Louis stockyards. Almost all the cattle and a considerable portion of the 

 sheep are fattened before shipment in Nevada, consuming approximately 500,000 tons 

 annually of alfalfa and other forage grasses fed from the stack. Hay for stock feeding 

 sells uniformly at from $6 to $7 per ton on the farm. The finer grades of alfalfa inter- 

 mixed with timothy and bluegrass are baled and sold in the towns and mining camps at 

 from $12 to $20 per ton. Hay and forage crops, to date, constitute the chief agricultural 

 staple, due to the pre-eminence of the stock-raising industry. Very little hay is exported, 

 however, on account of the local demand, and this is also true of the cereals. The flour 

 mills at Reno, Lovelock, Minden, Nordyke, Paradise and Sheridan not only purchase all 

 the local wheat, barley and oats obtainable, but are large importers of these cereals from 

 California and Utah. While the price of hay is fixed by the local demand, that of the 

 cereals mentioned is governed by outside quotations. 



Potatoes is the principal export crop; with hay, it is the only agricultural staple 

 which the State produces in quantity sufficient for its own consumption. Nevada potatoes 

 are said to be the finest grown in America, and all in excess of the local demand commands 

 a ready premium in the California markets. The price varies through a considerable range, 

 but for the past five years has been as often above as below sixty cents per bushel, or $20 

 per ton. The average yield is about six tons of marketable potatoes per acre. Yields as 

 high as ten and fifteen tons to the acre are not uncommon where soil conditions are 

 specially favorable and the grower is expert. 



The market for all other vegetables, fruits, berries, butter, cheese, eggs, poultry and 

 pork required to supply the local consumption of the towns and mining camps, is far in 

 excess of local production, and enormous quantities are annually imported. 



The Nevada farmer has no unsold crop on his hands at the beginning of the succeeding 

 season. Moreover, he is not restricted to one or two possible crops for planting, but may 

 choose from a considerable range for rotation in order to get the best results from his land 

 and maintain its fertility for the longest period. 



In Conclusion. 



One other important fact needs to be presented in concluding this chapter on the 

 agricultural outlook in Nevada. The early agriculturists of this State were primarily 

 stockmen and farmers who raised forage crops exclusively. The stockman, unless he 

 happened to have acquired a tract of natural meadow, gave little or no attention to land 

 reclamation, preferring to buy hay of the farmer to tide his cattle or sheep over a hard 

 winter or to fatten them for market, rather than to bother with growing it himself. This 

 condition largely obtains still, and its effect has been to direct the agricultural development 

 of the State almost exclusively until recently to the growing of hay and forage crops. 

 The average Nevada farmer raises alfalfa in preference to anything else, and is not 

 tempted by greater profits to grow any other crop. Alfalfa is sure money and requires 

 but little attention. Once well seeded and properly irrigated, it will not be necessary to 

 plow and replant it oftener than once in ten to fifteen years. Nor have the farmers of 

 the State who grow such quantities of alfalfa given as yet any particular attention to 

 raising hogs. While beef and mutton are exported in enormous quantities, not enough 

 pork is raised to supply the home demand. Yet alfalfa is one of the best of hog foods, 

 and the great profit to farmers has been demonstrated of turning a crop such as alfalfa 

 into pork. 



The very condition of the agricultural industry in this State, devoted so exclusively to 

 forage crops, spells opportunity for the small and intensively cultivated farm. 



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