142 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



The first opportunity to permit proofs of need- 

 less or wasteful expenditure by the Reclamation 

 Service. 



The first opportunity to make good in our 

 homes through the Reclamation Extension Act. 



The first evidence of sympathy and under- 

 standing for our problem from the head of the De- 

 partment of the Interior. 



The first example of courageous independent 

 judgment and non-partisan administrative ability 

 we have had from the head of the Interior Depart- 

 ment since the organization of the Reclamation 

 Service. 



The first evidence of a power higher than the 

 Service itself. 



He has also instilled in the Service in marked 

 degree a wholly new cooperative spirit and a great 

 measure of his own geniality and directness of 

 methods. 



Surely, with this record in mind we may 

 approach the very difficult and intricate problem 

 of our just debt to the United States with the feel- 

 ing that the solution sought is an honest one, and 

 that no unfair advantage will be taken of our dis- 

 ability to make complete and conclusive showings; 

 but every oppertunity will be furnished us to dem- 

 onstrate the actual facts. 



The game will be played fairly by the Honor- 

 able Franklin K. Lane. It is not his fault if we 

 cannot win. 



He cannot undo the past. But he has ma- 

 terially assisted to lighten its burdens in the future, 

 the just as well as the unjust, by helping us to dis- 

 tribute the payments over twenty years, in install- 

 ments of the principal equivalent to only half the 

 usual annual interest charge on all loans in the 

 districts where most projects are situated. 



In spite of war clouds and greatly disturbed 

 markets, the year 1915 opens with great promise to 

 Reclamation settlers. 



A definite determination of our indebtedness to 

 the United States is at last in sight. This problem 

 once out of the way, the foundation for further 

 financial progress will be finally laid and the basis 

 for true cooperation between the Reclamation Serv- 

 ice and settlers will at last be established. 



Any change in the administration of the In- 

 terior Department in the near future would be a 

 serious blow to real Reclamation progress and true 

 conservation of resources, and a calamity to the 

 entire West. These problems are too big to be 

 subordinated to any personal interests. 



600 NEW SILOS FOR SIX COLORADO COUNTIES 



C ARMERS in the Colorado counties of the Ar- 

 * kansas valley are expected to build at least 600 

 silos during the year 1915. 



Here is the silo building record for these coun- 

 ties for 1914: 



Pueblo county, 28; Otero county, 30; Prowers 

 county, 42; Crowley county, 18; Kiowa county, 20; 

 Bent county, 17. 



Previous to this year there were very few silos 

 in the Arkansas valley. Here and there an enter- 

 prising dairyman had thrown up one of the big 

 tubes or had dug a pit silo. Such men were looked 

 upon as daring adventurers or gamblers by their 

 more cautious neighbors. 



The silo pioneers succeeded ; they had feed for 

 their dairy cattle and other livestock throughout 

 the winter, and their farms showed real profits per 

 acre at the end of the year. Still there was skepti- 

 cism concerning the siloing of irrigated crops. 



Late in 1913 this skepticism began to die out 

 and when the spring of 1914 had arrived the silo 

 "epidemic" had set in throughout the valley. 

 Profits of silo-using farmers and the work of the 

 educational forces in behalf of the "feed ice boxes" 

 had dealt blows that told. 



The silo companies operating in the Arkansas 

 valley have already placed a large number of orders 

 and report a most promising lot of prospects still 

 to be "closed." It is on data gathered from these 

 men that the estimate of 100 silos for each of the 

 six Colorado counties in 1915 is made. *" 



The silage put up this year in the Arkansas 

 valley counties of Colorado is valued at more than 

 $500,000. It is estimated that it will be sold at the 



rate of $10 a ton in the form of fattened livestock 

 or better milk-producing cows. 



Auto engines proved valuable assistants to 

 many of the farmers, who utilized them to run their 

 silo cutters. 



By running the crops through a cutting box one 

 increases the quantity that can be stored in the 

 silo. The silage being packed better keeps better 

 and with a greatly diminished percentage of waste, 

 all of which more than offsets any difference in cost 

 per ton. When the crop is put in uncut a horse fork 

 is generally used for elevating to the top of the 

 silo, when it is either dropped into the center of the 

 silo or onto a platform, where a man forks it into 

 the silo by hand. A better job may be done under 

 the latter plan. 



The equipment for cutting the crop into the 

 silo consists of a power, either electric, gasoline or 

 steam, a cutting box, and elevator, either endless 

 chain or blower. The equipments are put out of a 

 capacity sufficient to meet the requirements. A 

 surplus of power and capacity is much more de- 

 sirable than not enough. Wherever the cost of such 

 an equipment makes its use impractical or prohibit- 

 ive, it will become necessary for the farmers of a 

 community to band together for its purchase and 

 use. 



The cost of getting the crops from the field to 

 the silo depends greatly upon conditions. Here is 

 where the farmer can display his executive ability 

 and management. There need be no great haste or 

 excitement about filling the silo. It does not need 

 to be filled in a day or two. The cutting box should 

 be adjusted so as to cut the crop of corn in one-half 

 inch lengths and all other crops in one inch lengths. 



