45 



'as far as El Paso, because grasshoppers and other insects 

 do but little injury to vegetation in the region under con- 

 sifleration. Grasshoppers in numbers sufficient to do 

 damage, have visited El Paso, only once during the last 

 twenty years. This was in the spring of 1875, wher! their 

 stay was so short that good crops of fruits, grain and 

 vegetables wer^ made after the grasshoppers had left. 

 i ' One of the best irrigated-farms we saw is that belonging 

 to Messrs. Taylor & Spears, at Ben Ficklin near Fort 



;i^6iicho, in Tom Green county. Here nine hundred acres 

 are irrigated from the south branch of the Concho river. 

 We went over the place on the 17th of June. Six 

 reaping machines drawn by horses were cutting the bar- 

 ley ;• large barley stacks were being made ; barley gathered 

 by horse rakes ; threshing done by machines ; wheat and 

 oats had been harvested ; corn, large and growing luxuri- 

 antly. Rarely have we seen so much order and agricul- 

 tural 'beauty. Last year (1874), six hundred acres were 

 irrigated, and about fifteen thousand bushels of barley 

 grown ; ten thousand of which were sold at Fort Concho 

 at $1.89 per bushel ; corn, three thousand bushels grown ; 

 worth I $2.00 per bushel ; oats, ninety tons worth $30 per 

 ton. . 



All ; kinds of vegetables are grown, which are suited to 



the climate. At Mr. Taylor's table we had Irish potatoes, 



' greeii peas, beans, beets, etc. Fruit trees had been planted 



and #ere growing finely. After the barley is harvested, 



mill^ and beans succeed. 



The river is dammed, which gives an abundant supply of 

 water at all times, with a fall of water fifteen feet. Prom 

 twelve to fifteen miles of ditch are made, four feet wide 

 at the bottom, and six feet at the top. These are the 

 main ditches, from which water is conveyed by small gate- 

 ways into side ditches, running more or less parallel to 

 each other, and from there distributed over the fields so as 

 to cover the whole ground. This is done a short time 

 hefere sunset or during cloudy days. After the ground is 

 tbofoughly saturated, the water is shut off. The side 

 ditches are so shallow as not to interfere with the machines 

 used in harvest time. 

 ' At the stage stand, near the forks of the roads leading 



"to Forts McKavit and Concho, are fine large springs, from 

 which aboitt forty acres are irrigated. . At Port McKavit, 



■ the troops have irrigated gardens of from eight to ten 



