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THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



Mr. Fowler and his friends have not heard the last of 

 this action. 



The deposing of a man does not necessarily unmake 

 nor is the elevation of a man, through connivance, an in- 

 dication of his greatness. 



Mr. Fowler is a man of pleasing personality he is 

 suave a good talker, and, perhaps, a good politician. He 

 must have some strength in his own community and state, 

 otherwise he would not have been recognized and honored 

 by selection as president of various organizations, nor 

 would he have been taken into the reclamation fold in 

 connection with the Roosevelt dam and Salt River devel- 

 opment work. 



In conclusion, it is the opinion of the AGE that the 

 selection of Mr. Fowler as president of the Nineteenth 

 Congress will be his undoing. No fair minded man can 

 understand the moves made at Pueblo and retain full 

 respect for the individuals interested. 



It is unnecessary here to go into the insinuations and 

 methods used by this coterie to defeat Col. Twitchell. 

 The fact remains that he is the brighter man of the two 

 and is a man that no combination can permanently down. 



THE VALLEY OF CONTENT. 



T"HERE is a charm to the name which has been applied 

 to the Arkansas Valley in Prowers County, Colo. 

 The title above given, "The Valley of Content," means a 

 great deal to the man looking for a home and who has 

 been induced to consider Colorado in his investigation. 



The development of the valley from present indica- 

 tions is beyond the ordinary, and the reasons for it are 

 not far to seek. The people in Prowers county are proud 

 of the irrigation systems which have brought the lands 

 into prominence. It is doubtful if any irrigation canals 

 in the state are in better shape or have a warmer public 

 endorsement than the Fort Lyon and Amity Canals. 

 While these were originally separate systems, they have 

 been combined in a way to make them unusually strong 

 and with a water supply that is unquestioned as to pri- 

 ority and abundant in the amount furnished. 



The Arkansas Valley is coming into prominence for 

 several reasons. These reasons are, one might say, purely 

 agricultural. The alfalfa crops are beyond the belief of 

 the man who has never looked over an irrigated country, 

 and the end is not yet. Every man who is buying land in 

 that valley under the ditches above mentioned, is plan- 

 ning to grow more alfalfa, and the day is not far distant 

 when the vivid green of alfalfa will prevail as far as the 

 eye can reach. At the present writing, the green fields are 

 dotted until they appear like a prairie dog village, the 

 stacks are so numerous. 



Another factor in the development is the feeding of 

 sheep, which is done in connection with alfalfa, or rather, 

 it affords a market for the alfalfa. It is easy to see that 

 one can ship alfalfa more easily in the form of mutton 

 than when baled. The estimate is that over 200.000 sheep 

 were fed in the vicinity of Lamar and Holly during the 

 winter of 1909-10, and calculations are being made for 

 even greater feeding this coming season. 



Sugar beets form no small part of this agricultural 

 progress and as the big farms are being rapidly divided 

 up, this crop will be grown still further, and there are 

 plenty of factories to take care of the product. There has 

 been a change made in the matter of paying for the beets, 

 and they are now more profitable than formerly, because 

 instead of a flat rate of $5.00 per ton, they are getting 

 higher prices if the beets show over 15 per cent sugar con- 

 tent. With each additional per cent above 15, 25 cents 

 per ton is added to the price. Last year at the Holly fac- 

 tory as high as 22.8 per cent was found in some of the 

 beets. The last summer having been unusually hot, the 

 chances are that there will be large prices paid for the 

 beets. 



The growing of small grain, particularly wheat, is 

 also a source of much profit. This year, there are no re- 

 ports of less than 40 bushels to the acre, running from 

 that up to nearly 70 bushels. The mill at Lamar with a 

 capacity of 500 barrels of flour per day, consumes most 

 of the local crop. 



In the vicinity of Holly where there are many farms of 

 40 acres, the tendency is toward truck farming, fruits, 

 vegetables of various sorts, and melons, and the Holly 

 melons are beginning to assume as important a place in 

 the eastern markets as the well-known Rocky Ford. In 

 fact, there has been a premium on Holly melons during 

 the season of 1910. When one begins to discuss the mat- 

 ter of truck farming, he gets into a territory that is both 

 wide and deep, and the possibilities in this line are un- 

 limited. So far, this work has been more or less experi- 

 mental, but new blood is coming in and the new genera- 

 tion of farmers is developing these resources in a very 

 profitable way. Seed growers are turning their attention 

 also to that country in an effort to develop their seed 

 business and to test their products. One man who has 

 experimented more or less on vegetables, asserts that 

 there is nothing grown in the same latitude anywhere in 

 the world, but what will grow at Holly. Among other 

 crops last season, he had less than a half acre, possibly a 

 third, of sweet potatoes. They, produced 86 bushels and 

 sold for $2.00 and $2.50 per bushel. 



The transportation facilities of the Arkansas Valley 

 are apparently in advance of the country, and this will be 



A Prowers County, Colo., Wheat Field, which Produces Sixty-six 

 Bushel to the Acre. 



a great factor in future settlement. The Santa Fe main 

 line runs along the south side of the river through Prow- 

 ers county, while a branch runs from Holly to Swink on 

 the north side of the river. This branch was an inde- 

 pendent road, but is now owned by the Santa Fe, and 

 a dozen embryo towns are being built and the indications 

 are that there will be some thriving little cities along that 

 line in the next few years. 



It has been the history of irrigated countries else- 

 where, that the towns develop rapidly in the vicinity of 

 intensive agriculture, and there will be no exception in 

 this valley. The efforts now being made along the line of 

 colonization are toward the small farm not to exceed 80 

 acres, and as the readers of THE IRRIGATION AGE are well 

 aware, the 80-acre farm is large enough for the intensive 

 farmer and means much for the country and for the future 

 of both town and state. 



Send $2.50 for The Irrigation Age, one year, and 

 the Primer of Irrigation, a 860-page finely illustrated 

 work for new beginners hi irrigation. 



