THE IBBIGATION AGE. 



235 



summer on alfalfa they are turned, about November 1st, into 

 the pea field where they again glean their feed direct from 

 the field without any harvesting expense, and peas are ad- 

 mitted to be the finest feed known for fattening any kind 

 of stock, particularly hogs and sheep. In fact, the buyers 

 on the Chicago Stock Yards will always pay a better price 

 for pea-fed hogs than they do for corn-fed hogs. 



As stated earlier in this letter I think the hog proposi- 

 tion is the ideal farming method for the San Luis Valley. 

 An acre of alfalfa pasture will furnish feed for about 15 

 pigs from the time they are weaned in the spring until they 

 weigh, say 100 pounds, in the fall, and no other feed is 

 necessary, except possibly a small amount right at the time 

 of weaning. About November 1st the pigs are turned into 

 the pea field for fattening, and an acre of peas will fatten 

 at least four hogs and should bring them from 100 pounds 

 weight on November 1st to about 200 pounds by March 1st, 

 when they will be ready for marketing. Of course, it would 

 not be the proper idea to turn the hogs into the entire field 

 at first as that would result in their taking away the easiest 

 found first, and later when they are supposed to put on the 

 finishing touches of fattening up, they would be skirmish- 

 ing around too much in picking up the remnants of feed. 

 The proper method is to allow the herd to have a certain 

 new acreage every week or two, and to reserve an ample 

 acreage for them to feed over freely when finishing up in 

 the spring, and this can be more thoroughly cleaned up, 

 after the fat hogs are sold, by the brood sows. I believe 

 this to be the cheapest method of producing hog flesh that 

 can be practiced in any part of the country. 



Now, regarding the cost of producing these crops, it is 

 not necessary to say anything to you regarding the cost 

 of producing alfalfa, as you are thoroughly familiar with 

 that. Peas are sometimes spoken of as being a substitute 

 for corn, but San Luis Valley farmers would consider corn 

 a rather poor substitute for peas, because peas produce more 

 food per acre at a small fraction of the cost of producing 

 corn, and at the same time are enriching the soil, which 

 cannot be said of corn. The cost of raising peas is esti- 

 mated at from $1.50 to $3.00 per acre. I have known of 

 cases where peas were raised five years in succession with- 

 out plowing the ground, and in some kinds of soil this 

 method seems to be even more successful than more thorough 

 cultivation would be. In all heavier soil, however, and those 

 inclined to pack solid, plowing at least every second year is 

 necessary, and plowing every year can be done to still better 

 advantage. Our method has usually been to plow the ground 

 in the fall at a cost of about 75c per acre. In the spring 

 we would take the drill into the field without any further 

 cultivation, and the sowing costs about 20c per acre. It 

 takes about thirty pounds of seed per acre, and 2c per 

 pound is about the average price, making the seed cost 60c. 

 In ordinary seasons the peas should be irrigated twice, 

 which will add a further labor cost of probably 40c. 



I think I have now given you all the figures necessary 

 upon which to base calculations as to the advantage of farm- 

 ing in this territory. I have given you a lengthy epistle on 

 this subject, and I trust have given you the desired infor- 

 mation. If any further questions arise, however, would be 

 pleased to give further information along any line. 



Yours truly, 



MERITS OF THE ORLAND PROJECT. 



Spokane Chronicle Project Engineer Robbins, of the 

 Fort Shaw. Mont., irrigation scheme, says that the lands 

 will be open this fall and that they will be allotted by 

 drawings to be held in October. All of the surveys for 

 this land have been completed and forwarded to Wash- 

 ington, where they must be approved by the surveyor 

 general's office and then filed in the local land office for a 

 certain length of time. This was one of the matters taken 

 up by Engineer Robbins with Secretary of the Interior 

 James R. Garfield, during his recent consultation with that 

 official, and after representing the case to Mr. Garfield, 

 the latter promised to make an order giving the Fort 

 Shaw surveys precedence, so that they may be taken up 

 immediately with the department and not be compelled to 

 await their turn. By this, all formalities can be gone 

 through in time to allow of the opening of the land to en- 

 try this fall. 



The Keclamation Service, in undertaking the Or- 

 land Project, has seemingly made a slight departure 

 from its usual practice, inasmuch as there is no Govern- 

 ment land under this project, but every acre is in 

 private ownership ; however, closer investigation shows 

 that the irrigation of this area is in the highest degree 

 consistent with the policy of the Government, for the 

 motive actuating it in all its reclamation work is not 

 the sale of its land, nor is it the irrigation of so many 

 acres, but it is the establishment of self-sustaining 

 homes. 



If, then, as has already been amply" demonstrated, 

 a few acres of irrigated land at Orland will serve to 



Scene on Irrigation Ditch. Orland, Glenn County, California. 



support an industrious family in comfort approaching 

 luxury, it can readily be seen that from the standpoint 

 of the Government this is one of the cheapest projects 

 with which the Service has to deal, for while in propor- 

 tion to money expended, the number of acres irrigated 

 may not be so large as in some other projects, the num- 

 ber of homes established will easily place it in the lead. 



Orland enjoys a practical immunity from frost 

 which permits a wide range of products. Indeed, this 

 is so marked that it early attracted the attention of 

 that authority on irrigation topics, William H. Smythe, 

 who in 1901 visited the town and carefully listed the 

 products, measuring the ground devoted to each, of that 

 single acre on which, for years, the owner and his wife 

 had lived in comfort, annually adding a substantial 

 sum to their savings. Through the notice he gave it in 

 his writings and lectures, this has become the most 

 noted acre in California. This fitness for a diversity 

 of products later excited the enthusiasm of the experts 

 of the Keclamation Service, who freely prophesy that 

 when this land has been devoted to its highest use, but 

 few farms will be of more than ten acres in extent. 



Now that the engineers are actively at work and 

 promise that by the Spring of 1910 water in abundance 

 will be ready for each of the fifteen thousand acres to 

 be admitted to this privilege it becomes certain that 

 within two years this area, from a grain growing sec- 

 tion requiring for the support of a family a square 

 mile or more of land valued at from fifteen to forty 

 dollars per acre, will be changed to a region of fields 

 of alfalfa, interspersed with orchards of the various 

 deciduous fruits and groves of lemons, olives and 

 oranges, whose value per acre is reckoned by hundreds, 

 or even thousands, of dollars. 



