THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



179 



Many other crops can be raised in the Mimbres Valley 

 such as onions, sweet potatoes, grain, corn and garden 

 stuff. A very great possibility exists in the raising of 

 fruits, such as apples, peaches, nectarines, plums, pears, 

 etc. These fruits are now raised on a small scale and are 

 demonstrated to be of a very excellent flavor and variety. 

 The return from horticultural crops would be large prob- 

 ably four or five times that from agricultural crops. 



Market Conditions. 



Mr. Fuller analyzes the freight haulage records to 

 Deming and Silver City alone, and concludes with the 

 observation that "the gross value of the staples listed, at 

 the then prevailing market prices, if raised in Deming 

 would be over half million dollars annually, excluding daily 

 shipments, amounting to $200,000 a year, and an immense 

 amount of canned stuff that could be prepared at Deming 

 with the proper facilities." 



Beyond these "Government" figures the Deming 

 Chamber of Commerce estimates farming profits in the 

 following terse resume ".$30 to $75 per acre in farm 

 crops to $100 to $500 per acre in garden truck" and offers, 

 in substantiation, sworn statements of farmers. 



Land Values and Watering Cost. 



Alfalfa yields three cuttings an average of l l /2 tons 

 per acre the price in the field ranging from $12 to $17 per 

 ton. The watering cost varies from $12 to $15 per acre 

 annually. Mexican beans vary from 4J/2 to 6 l / 2 cents per 

 pound the watering cost varying from $3.75 to $5.50 per 

 acre. Onions yield as high as 30,000 pounds to the acre 

 and sell at from \ l / 3 to 2 cents per pound the watering 

 cost varying from $7 to $10 per acre. 



Raw land at the present time, near town, sells for 

 from $60 to $100 per acre. Land with water developed, 

 near town, at from $125 to $150 per acre but the range 

 of investment is wide. Raw land "relinquishments" can* 

 be had at from $2 to $25 per acre. Deeded tracts, within 

 five to ten miles from town, at from $15 to $30 per acre. 



Figuring the limit of "profitable lift" at 85 feet, the 

 cost of a farm with complete installation, will figure about 

 as follows: 



Land, $20 per acre. 



Water, $30 (pumping plant, equipment, ditches). 



Improvements, $30 (stock, tools, etc.) 



Leveling and preparing the land, $5 to $20. 



The ultimate cost per acre for completely improved 

 farm with a perpetual, indefeasible water-right owned in 

 fee and independently of anyone else. Measuring profits 

 upon this basis, the possibilities of land in this valley can 

 be easily calculated. 



This is the opportunity the Mimbres Valley offers to 

 homeseekers. The advantages of pumping have been 

 thoroughly demonstrated. (See the reports of the United 

 States Census of Irrigation for 1910 and the increase in 

 land irrigated by pumping within the last decade.) 



Each 40 or 80 acres requires a well, casing and screen; 

 a pump and power either gasoline, or crude oil engine, or 

 electricity. 



Deming already has a central electric power plant and 

 several miles of transmission lines have been constructed 

 with the intention of determining the commercial possi- 

 bilities of pumping with power furnished in this manner. 



Send $1.00 for The Irrigation Age, one year, and the 

 Primer of Irrigation, paper bound, a 260-page finely 

 illustrated work for beginners in irrigation. 



A SYNOPSIS OF THE DRAINAGE PROBLEM. 



The National Drainage Congress, which assembles in 

 New Orleans April 10-13, is expected to bring the day ot 

 the 10-acre intensively cultivated farm near at hand through- 

 out the wet land areas of the United States. The small in- 

 tensively cultivated farm in the now irrigated lands of the 

 once arid West has proved successful in every way. In Hol- 

 land, Belgium, France and other continental countries, where 

 constant and expensive fertilization is necessary, all the food 

 crops are produced on very small farms, in the main rented 

 or leased from the large landed proprietors. 



In the wet land states of the United States, drainage 

 will open up some 75,000,000 acres of highly productive land 

 to purchase by thrifty farmer families, and this development 

 is expected to result in a back-to-the-farm movement on a 

 large scale. The independent land owning farmer is the 

 backbone of the nation's prosperity. 



In the first place, the low lands, because of the nitrogen 

 bearing humus, are so fertile when drained that a single 

 family can carefully cultivate only a very small area. This 

 will mean a dense rural population, farm houses close to- 

 gether, many conveniences in the way of good roads, rapid 

 transit, nearby schools and churches that isolated farm life 

 deny. 



In the next, canalization necessary for drainage will give 

 navigable waterways from the farm to market, which is an 

 advantage now enjoyed by the prosperous Hollander only. 



The National Drainage Congress will attract many men 

 of note from all sections of the country. In the discussions, 

 it will be shown that drainage will put an end to malaria. 



It will also be shown that proper river regulation will 

 lower the crest of floods and freshets sufficiently to greatly 

 reduce the cost of levee protection. 



The National Drainage Congress will ask the federal 

 government to provide the ways and means necessary for 

 complete surveys, for the creation of a comprehensive plan 

 of reclamation by drainage covering all the wet land states, 

 and for the opening up of navigable drainage canals into 

 which local drainage canals can empty. It will also ask 

 the federal congress to enact the Newland's River Regula- 

 tion bill. 



It will not ask the federal government to do the local 

 work necessary to drain any man's land. 



By solving the interstate problems involved, by pro- 

 tecting one state from the flood waters of another state, by 

 regulating the flow of all navigable rivers, and by making 

 it possible for a state, a county or a land owning individual 

 to drain low lands free from the menace of channel con- 

 gestion and from freshets from other states, the federal 

 government will clear the way for the rapid development 

 of the 75,000,000 acres of marsh lands in the United States. 



Louisiana has solved all the local problems incident to 

 the drainage of her 10,000,000 acres of alluvial prairies, and 

 hundreds of dredges and ditch digging and road building 

 machines are now at work night and day. The money for 

 this work, amounting to some $200,000,000 ultimately, is being 

 supplied through the sale of state protected district drainage 

 bonds. During the sessions of the National Drainage Con- 

 gress the Louisiana plan will be discussed at length and the 

 delegates from other states will be given -an opportunity 

 to see the work underway, the reclaimed farms under culti- 

 vation, and the navigable drainage canals in use by the 

 farmers. The bond plan, which will probably be adopted 

 by other states, will come in for particular attention. This 

 bond plan has just been approved in its entirety by the 

 Louisiana Supreme Court. 



The marsh land area requiring drainage in the United 

 States is as follows : 



New England States, 296,000 acres; New York, 525,000; 

 New Jersey, 320,000; Pennsylvania, 48,000; Maryland, 192,000; 

 Delaware, 121,000; West Virginia, 22.400; Virginia, 384,000; 

 North Carolina 2,645,000; South Carolina, 3,120,000; Georgia, 

 2,690,000; Florida, 19,800,000; Alabama, 1,480,000; Mississippi, 

 s',760,000: Louisiana, 10,200,000; Texas 2,240,000; Oklahoma, 

 32,000; Arkansas, 5,910,000; Tennessee, 640,000; Kentucky, 

 441,000; Ohio, 152,500; Indiana, 800,000; Illinois 1,485,000: 

 Missouri, 2,440,000; Kansas, 352,000; Nebraska, 512,000; Iowa. 

 928,000; North Dakota, 3,100,000; South Dakota 410,000; 

 Minnesota, 3,830,000; Wisconsin, 2,350,000; Michigan, 2,- 

 940,000. 



