i^tisctiiantous. 
AGRICULTURE AND HOTICULTURE. 
In New Mexico and Texas tributary to 
the line of Atchison, Topeka and 
Santa Fe Railroad. 
MESSRS HOLMES AND SWKETLAND. 
[Special Correspondents of the Rural New-Yorker,] 
While the Territory of New Mexico can 
not bo considered of especial prominence as a 
whole, as an agricultural area, still it is not so 
entirely devoid of arable regions as those 
who have never visited hero Imagine. There 
are, however, but lew localities capable of 
producing crops without, irrigation; hence the 
arable laud is found only in the valleys through 
which rivers course, or in small patches 
watered by springs. Few people have an idea 
of the vast extent of this Territory. Its area 
is about 181,000 square miles, or 77,500,000 
acres, or larger than all the Middle States and 
over twice as large as the combined New 
England States. Thus in this immense area, 
when wo find portions of it capable of being 
improved by the immigrating agriculturist, 
those portions represent thousands of acres of 
rich lands in the river valloys, still open to 
the settler by government entry or private 
purchase. 
The climate is especially delightful through¬ 
out this region, and wore it not for the lack 
of sufficient moisture during the growing 
season, the agricultural excellencies would be 
very great. There is rain enough in the Ter¬ 
ritory, but it is not equally divided. In the 
general character the seasons resemble those 
of California, being familiarly known as the 
“wet" and “dry." The husbanding of this rain¬ 
fall by artificial lakes or reservoirs will be the 
only means of reclaiming the hundreds of 
thousands of acres outside of the river valleys, 
unless success attends the experiments now 
being made by government to secure abundant 
water from artesian wells. 
Where water iB obtainable irrigation is easy 
and comparatively cheap. It is accomplished 
by digging a large dib’h, called here Acequia 
Mculre, running through the furm and branch¬ 
ing from that into different portions of the 
fields by smaller Aoequias. We have been 
told that the average cost of irrigation does 
not exceed $2. per acre, while the crops re¬ 
sulting are sure and abundant. 
Many desirable homes are still to be found 
for farmers in the valleys of the San Juan of 
the Northwest; in those of the Rio Grande, 
the Gila and the Mimbros in the south and 
southwest, and in the valley of the Mora of 
the southeast, it would be a desirable plan 
to colonize, and by forming a stock company 
the cost of irrigation could be materially les¬ 
sened. 
The cereals and all of the vegetables (except 
in some sections the Irish potato) have been 
raised with marked success. The Indians and 
Mexicans, prior to the advent of the railroad, 
were the only farmers, and very poor farmers 
as a rule they prove to be. We see no im¬ 
proved machinery, and are reminded of the 
ancients when we learn they cut wheat with 
a sickle and that it is thrashed by being placed 
in thin layers upon the hard thrashing ground, 
which is surrounded by a circle of poles, and 
the grain beaten out of the heads by driving 
over it a flock of goats or sheep and sometimes 
burros —the faithful little mountain donkey. 
After the grain has been trodden out, it is 
raked into a pile and the farmer awaits a 
wind to blow the chuff away, while the wheat 
falls by its own weight. We saw Mexicans 
plowing with plows of the same sort used by 
the farmers of the river Nile when Moses was 
a boy. They consist simply of a stick, crooked 
and forked, up»n the end of which is fastened, 
with thongs of raw hide, an iron or stone 
point. 
Does it not seem wonderful that with such 
primitive tools to work with, many handsome 
crops arc raised? Notable products of the region 
of the valley of the Rio Grande are the Mex¬ 
ican onion, the cauliflower and the cabbage. 
The former is a large, white, almost odorless 
onion, some attaining the enormous size of five 
inches in diameter; it is not strong, but sweet 
and palatable. It can only be raised in this 
region; the demand for the seed is much 
greater than the supply, but when taken East 
or North the quality deteriorates,and the third 
crop is generally as strong as the native onion 
of the locality. The cauliflower and cabbage 
attain enormous size,and the bean is considered 
the “Mexican potato," producing from 'J00 to 
1500 pounds per acre. Lettuce, turnips, par¬ 
snips, carrots, radishes, peas, tomatoes, the 
different varieties of pumpkins, squashes, and 
and melons, okra, celery, cucumbers and 
ground peas mature early and attain excellent 
proportions. Las Vegas, Santa Fe, Sacorro 
and El Paso, Texus, have tributary interests in 
agricultural development which we will 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
speak of in succeeding letters upon those 
localities. 
THE VINEYARD AND THE ORCHARD 
are unquestionably the interests which will 
always prove the most remunerative in the 
valley of the Rio Grande. The magnificent 
garden of Bishop Lamy in Santa Fe, shows 
what cum bo doue there. The progress made 
in fruit culture about Bernalillo is wonderful; 
while further south, about Las Cruces and 
Mesilla, the multitude of vineyards and the 
number of orchards elicited our astonishment 
ami admiration. 
The grape which is the most cultivated 
throughout this Territory is the “Mission" 
variety, supposed to have been introduced by 
the Franciscan friars, and successfully grown, 
for over 200 years by the natives. It is of the 
color, size and shape of the California grape, 
but surpasses it in flavor: The skin is thin 
and delicate, forbidding its use as a market 
grape, but makiug it of unusual value as a 
wine maker. 
Vineyards should be started from cuttings 
and planted from six to ten feet apart each 
way. The native method of growing does not 
require staking or trellising, and the culture of 
the first three years is devoted to strengthen¬ 
ing the main trunk. The yards ure irrigated. 
The vines are covered in the Winter as a pro¬ 
tection against frost, and uncovered in March 
or April. We visited a vineyard at Dona 
Aua, near Las Cruces, where the net profit 
upon 150 barrels of wine, the production of 
one year, exceeded $5,01(0. The cuttings cost 
nothing except the 1 bor of setting, and the 
third year the crop pays a profit. The yield 
is from one to two gallons to the vine, 700 to 
!M)0 vines to the acre. Good vineyard land in 
the Rio Grande valley can be bought at from 
$5 to $15 per acre. 
Some vineyards of Muscatel Grapes are 
found, but the fruit is generally for use as a 
table grape ami for shipment. A curious fact 
in wine makiug by the uncultured natives is 
the method of treading out the juice with 
their feet, ns did the slaves in the great vine¬ 
yards of classic times. 
Apples, pears, quinces, plums, cherries, ap¬ 
ricots, nectarines, Siberian era Its, and peaches 
all grow in abundance, the pear, apricot and 
Siberian crab being unexcelled. The apple 
trees preseut a remai kably healthy appear- 
anee, but the orchards, instead of being regu¬ 
lar and systematic, are, many of them, planted 
along acequias so that water may be a cer¬ 
tainty. 
The small fruits are equally abundant, and 
of every variety, wild currants (both black 
and red), wild gooseberries and wild raspber¬ 
ries (of delicious flavor) mature their fruit 
annually. 
One vineyard and orchard which we visited, 
of an extent of forty acres, during the 
four years prior to the coming of the railroad, 
yielded an income of $8,000 per annum, and 
that with no facilities for transportation of 
fruits, wiue or brandies Of course, fruit, like 
grain, is ouly grown where irrigation is prac¬ 
ticable. 
Albuquerque, with its population of some 
4,500, two-thirds of whom are Americans, is 
situated on the Rio Grande River at an alti¬ 
tude of 4,1)18 feet. It has the advantages of ag¬ 
riculture and horticulture, as we have named, 
to a great, extent. It is peopled by a live, en 
terprising, thrifty, go-ahead class of citizens, 
the east end especially being modern. It has 
a good hotel, and a mammoth one is being con¬ 
structed. There are two lines of street cars, 
three Protestant churches, one Catholic, good 
schools, civic societies, a Board of Trade, a 
gas company, a telephone exchange, a build¬ 
ing association, two flouring mills, a foundry 
and machine shop. The place has an extended 
radius of trade, important mining interests, 
the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad extending 
westward into Arizona, the Atchison, Topeka 
and Santa Fe K. 11. stretch to Eastern markets, 
and, in fact, there are so many items of inter¬ 
est and moment that we will make this city 
and its surroundings the theme of a future 
letter. Wo are requested to state that the 
Board of Trade will cheerfully answer all 
Inquiries regarding this section. 
Of course, the character of vegetation dif¬ 
fers materially from that of Southwestern 
Texas northward, influenced by higher or 
lower altitude and differences of lutitude, 
the lower Rio Grando valley 100 miles each 
way from El Paso, presenting more vegeta¬ 
tion of a semi tropical character. 
Although not in strict accord with our sub¬ 
ject, wo will embrace this opportunity to give 
our readers au idea of the timber resources of 
New Mexico and Southwestern Colorado. 
Forests cover about 2,500,000 acres and extend 
from the north end of the Mogollons and 
Black Ranges south nearly to Silver City, and 
from the Couchillu Negra (Black Knife) 
Mountains westward nearly to Clifton, Ari¬ 
zona. The different varieties of timber found 
in these tracts are Yellow' Pine, (of which there 
are immense quantities) Silver leaf Pine (many 
of them being five to six feet in diameter and 
150 feet without a limb) White Spruce, Red 
Pine, Juniper Pinon, or Edible Pine nut, a 
species of mahogany called by the natives 
“ Manzonete,” the Rocky Mountain Willow, 
two varieties of cottonwood, dwark Live Oak, 
Box Elder, dwarf walnut, White Oak, aspen 
and several others in different localities. 
Wild grapes of two distinct varieties are 
abundant. 
While columns might be written upon 
any one of the subjects of which we shall 
treat, w r e will in the interesting series of let¬ 
ters to follow this upon the resources of this 
fascinating region, endeavor to give our read¬ 
ers an accurate idea, in general, and a more 
detailed review of the numerous new and 
beautiful cities, each one of which has risen, 
during the last few years, like a Phrenix from 
the ashes and debris of a past dating for cen¬ 
turies. 
■ ■ - 
RURAL BRIEFLETS. 
The Forestry Movement. —Yes! we may 
say, on good authority, that a grand move¬ 
ment of the people in this important depart¬ 
ment of agronomy has been stirred up by the 
good citizens of Cincinnati, Ohio. It is pro¬ 
posed to hold a Congress of those interested 
and willing to be interested in forestry. Dis¬ 
tinguished foresters have been invited and 
already a long list of acceptances of appoint¬ 
ments to read papers has been received. These 
papers will give rise to very interesting dis¬ 
cussions, and so this subject will be forcibly 
brought before the attention of the American 
people. The agricultural press of the United 
States and Canada will be fully represented.. 
Our friend and correspondent, Dr. John A. 
Warder, President of the American Forestry 
Association, which has been doing good work 
in a sure and quiet way for some years past, 
Las also issued a call for a meeting at the same 
time with the Congress, of which it may con¬ 
stitute a section for the time being. 
These meetings will be held in the last days of 
April, 25—211, proximo...... 
Pi evidential Arbor Day bos lieen appointed 
for the 27th, when a grove of permanent trees 
will be planted on a beautiful site in Eden 
Park, within the limits of Cincinnati. Each 
tree is to bear the name of a President of the 
United .States, and to bo planted by himself 
or by one of his lineal descendants where pos¬ 
sible....,................ ..... 
Roadside planting has also been encouraged, 
and township committees appointed to carry 
it out so far as possible. 
We are a little surprised to learn that our 
friend and occasional contributor, Mr. Wil¬ 
liam Robinson, of London, England, is about 
to found and conduct a weekly illustrated 
journal of agriculture in all its branches, enti¬ 
tled Farm and Home. It is well that he does 
not propose to establish such a journal in 
America, for, already flooded with Farms and 
Homes, Homes and Farms, Home Farms, 
Farms and Firesides, its identity would be 
bard to fix as a new applicant for the farmer's 
favor. But In England, Sir. R.’s chosen name 
for his weekly farm paper is fresh, and there 
is scarcely another that as well conveyB in 
eleven letters the full scope of its field of in¬ 
quiry. Mr. Robinson is the founder and editor 
of the Garden ; of Gardening Illustrated, and 
of several other periodicals, and we had sup¬ 
posed that his hands, heart and head were 
moderately well employed. But the present 
new comer sho ws that we were mistaken, and 
that he is not bo engrossed by his old loves 
that he longs not for new fields and pastures. 
While British agriculture is suffering from a 
depression quite unequaled in her history, it 
is not a time that men of ordinary prudence 
and enterprise would care to embark in so 
rickety a vessel upon a turbulent sea. But 
Mr. Robinson has met with rare success in all 
of his many undertakings, and we have faith 
that the present one may not prove his first 
failure. The first Dorm journal of England— 
the Agricultural Gazette—complains in no un¬ 
certain words that purely farm journals are 
not half supported in that country. Is this 
the fault of the journals or the farmers i Mr. 
Robinson no doubt thinks it is the former, and 
his new venture will give him an opportunity 
of testing the correctness of his opinion. 
Mi. Robinson thinks that bad and ill-managed 
markets bar the farmer’s sway, and that while 
he often fails to get a fair price for his pro¬ 
duce, the town folks are paying the middle¬ 
man or tradesman three fold what would am 
ply repay the grower. He believes that the 
near future will see some healthy changes in 
these respects. That the consumer should pay 
absurd prices in towns mid the producer not 
bo able to earn a fair reward for his labor, is, 
Mr. Robinson says, a scandal that cannot be 
allowed to last, as it means serious loss to the 
whole community, save the middleman. He 
proposes also to deal with the railroads, whose 
unequal and burdensome rates will have to be 
regulated by law, and with the government, 
too, which with “strange injustice" allows 
“ foreigners a more favorable tariff than our 
own people.” This is the policy of the new 
paper boldly foreshadowed. 
A word as to the brilliant little portulaca. 
241 
Many buy the seeds of the so called finest 
strains of double, and find to their disappoint¬ 
ment that the blooms are for the most part 
single. The bed is therefore neglected. The 
siugle flowers are permitted to form and shed 
their seeds. Later, the double flowers appear, 
and both these and the single ones are permit¬ 
ted to grow and bloom together. The conse¬ 
quence is that the next year single flowers take 
possession of the bed... 
I .et our readers bear in mind that the single 
flowers are earlier than the double ones, and 
that just so soon as a plant displays a single 
flower it should be pulled up ami thrownaway. 
Thus In a few weeks the bed will be rid of its 
single-flowered plants and only the double 
ones will remain. This is the only method of 
obtaining and preserving a lied of these 
charming little roses, which, unlike the siugle 
flowers which wither by mid-day, maintain, 
except during the hottest of weather, some of 
their color and beauty during the twenty-four 
hours. Single buds may at once be deter¬ 
mined by their narrow, conical-pointed shape. 
Double buds are round, or nearly so. 
The single flowered plants may therefore be 
weeded out by their buds without waiting for 
them to unfold. 
Every single bud matures fifty seeds or 
more—we have counted over one hundred as 
we now remember—while the fully double 
flowers, having no sexual organs, do not form 
seeds. The semi-double produce seeds spar¬ 
ingly, so that it is to these alone that we must 
look for the perpetuation of the bed. It is 
very plain, unless the single flowered plants 
are persistefitly destroyed, that a fine bed of 
portulaca is out of the question. 
There is some trouble about this, good read¬ 
ers—we grant that. But a bed of double por- 
tulaeas is a rare aud beautiful sight, and will 
fully repay all the trouble it costs. We have 
had such a bed for nine years, aud there is no 
other in our grounds that has elicited more 
words of admiration. 
Mu. James T. Hawkins, of Ohio, writes us 
as follows: 
“ I WILL send you a small package of my 
Black Mexican Sugar Corn for trial. I have 
been raising it for six years and think a great 
deal of it as a second early variety for table 
use. I have raised different varieties, both 
late and early, but the Mexican is the best to 
my notion. What 1 send you is choice selected 
No. 1 seed. Please give it a trial, and if 
worthy of a passing notice give it through the 
columns of the Rural" 
Our older readers are well aware we have 
spared no praise upon this excellent variety of 
sweet corn. We have raised it for home use 
for many years..... 
According to Bailey (of Billerica) and some 
other ‘'crazy-heads" a good deal more must 
come out of a silo than goes into it to merit 
one-balf of the praises which they bestow upon 
the 1 New Dispensation.’ ” The fact is, how¬ 
ever, that less comes out than goes in, and a 
year or more of unprejudiced investigation 
will probably show the force of Dr. Lawes’s 
remark, that he did not like a system that 
seemed so destructive of food... 
Do you want an evergreen that holds its 
deep green color better than almost any other; 
that never grows to a large size ; that is, 
therefore, well suited to both large and small 
lawns; that grows compactly aud possesses an 
individuality most marked ? It is the Broad¬ 
leaved Hemlock—Abies Canadensis macro- 
phylla. Try it. 
The Charleston News (S. C.) is alive to the 
interests of farmers of that State. It says: 
“Last year the Rural New-Yorker dis¬ 
tributed small packages of certain choice and 
rare seeds to its subscribers, among them R.B. 
Sorghum, recommended as the best improved 
variety of sorghum for green forage. We 
gave it a trial last Summer, and notwith¬ 
standing the very hot and dry season the 
result was so satisfactory, both for the vigor¬ 
ous growth and amount of green forage it 
produced, as well as for the heavy heads of 
clean, white grain, that seed was saved, 
which we shall be glad to distribute gratui¬ 
tously in small packages to any of our readers 
applying for it, and semliug a stamp to pay 
postage. Address H. W. Ravenel, Aiken, 
S. C.". 
A friend who does not know the author, 
sends the following ; 
Whether was IIrat, the egg nr the hen ? 
Toll me, 1 pray you. ye learned men. 
The hen was first, else whence the egg ? 
Give us no more of your doubts, I I leg. 
Nay, eggs were first, else whence the hpn ? 
Hvivr could sin' have come ? from where and when 
A llg Cor your learning ! 'Tlx fudge. I vow, 
If you can't answer this question. Now, 
Toll me, I pray you, ye learned men, 
Whether was llrst, tins egg ur the lieu ? 
Let us say to Mr. Wm Johnson, of Canada, 
and others for whom he asks the question, that 
those who try our wheats as Spring wheals are 
eligible to premiums the same as if they sow 
in the Fall. The seed must i>e planted within 
' an area of 38 sq. feet, or one-fortieth of an 
acre—10 inches, one foot or any other distance 
apart, or in any other way. The Rural 
merely requires to know the number'of seeds 
planted and all the particulars of soil, manure 
and cultivation. We respectfully solicit all 
who try these wheats as Spring kinds will 
oblige us with one of the largest heads. 
