Farming on the Texas Staked Plain
THE STAKED PLAIN OF WEST TEXAS.
Intensive Farming on the Texas
Staked Plain, and How to
Make it Pay.
BT F. E. ROESLER, DALLAS, TEXAS.
Intensive farming means, emphatic~ly,
that every acre that is to be farmed shall be
thoroughly cultivated; that nothing shall be
allowed to go to waste; that no labor
shall be done in vain, and that the farmer
shall not neglect the day of small things. It
means further, that the shortcomings of
nature shall be supplied by human agency
as far as practicable, and that the risk of
cr0!) failure, through drouth or excessive
rain fall, shall be reduced to its sm~lest limit.
If the soil he too poor, it should be fertilized
by manure or otherwise; if it is too wet, it
should be drained, and if it is too dry it
should be irrigated. To accomplish the
above, it is self-evident ~at no one should
cultivate more land than he can thoroughly
work.
The Staked Plain and Western Texas
generally produce a good average of all crops
grown in ihe United States, and under
pecuharly favorable conditions enormous
yields are occasionally obtained. Of wheat,
the average yield is from 12 to 25 bushels
the maximum yield, 40 to 55 bushels. Of
oats, the maximum yield is TOO to 120 bush-
els per acre, but the average yield is from 5o
to 6o bushels. Of corn, the average yield
is from 20 to 25 bushels, hut the maximum
yield 6o to 90 bushels; of Irish and sweet
potatoes, ioo to 250 bushels per acre, are
considered a fair average crop, but 350
bushels have been occasionally raised. Cot-
ton ordinarily runs from one-fourth to three-
fourths bales per acre, but occasionally some
farmer will obtain two bales.
A year seldom passes by but that a few
individuals, in some locality exceptionally
well favored with timely rains and other
favorable conditions, raise a maximum crop.
During the years t886 and 1887 the yield
of nearly all staples was much below the
average, and in some localities failed entirely.
The reasoning of the intensive farmer is
that if a certain tract of land will produce a
certain quantity of grain, in a good season,
and the yield can be increased by more
thorough c~tivation and fertilization, then
the proper thing to do is to fertilize that
tract of land; and further, if a maximum
crop can be raised because of a timely rain-
fall, then a like crop should be grown when
the rainfall is not timely, and that the water
necessary to produce such a crop should be
supplied by the far~er. The intensive farmer
proposes that every acre cultivated shall pay
in full for the labor expended upon it, and
the crops to be grown shall be selected with
reference to the price they will bring in the
market. To illustrate the value of
FERTILIZING THE SOIL
the following quotations from the Marshall
(Tex.) Messenger is herewith presented:
Within the past decade many farmers iri Georgia
and other States east of the Mississippi rher have
reduced the screage, and by more thorough culti-
vation and liberal fertilizing have wonderfully in-
creased the yield. In fact, the cultivation of
small tracts has reached such perfection that ten
acres of land are considered ample to mainlain an
average family.
We copy from the Atlanta Constitution the re-
cult of the contest of four farmers in Georgia, in
raising cotton. We give names and pustoffice ad-
dress of the farmers and the respective amount
raised and the amount of fertilizers used by each
one, and the number of acres cultivated and the
amount of lint Cotton raised on five acres. during
the year i~86.
Names. P.O. its. fertiUzer. The. ~otton.
J. C. Sims . . Hoganville . .2,000. .10,897
R. G. Ray . . Palmetto . . 2,6co . .10,809
C. Pryn - . - Palmetto - .3,200. .10,793
Geo.W. Truitt - Legrange - 6,550. - 8,831
These Statistics are endorsed by the best men
in Georgia and are published in the leading paper
in the State-the Atlanta Constitution. We
notice the far~er who raised the largest crop
used the smallest amount of fertilizer-only one ion
to five acres. The highest priced fertilizer in the mar.
ket is $45 per ton-that is, just $i I per acre. There
were over two hundred contestants, all of whom
made splendid crops, ranging all the way from two
to five bales per acre. More than five years ago,
when these farmers commenced to see what
amount of cotton could be produced on one acre,
one of them stated that five bales, of 450 pounds
each, could be produced, but the idea was ridi-
culed as altogether beyond the possible. In the
year t885 the best five acres only produced at the
rate of two and one-third bales, and the result of
i886 was nearly five bales. What will be the re-
sult of the contest in 1887, is yet to he seen. The
Atlanta Constitution says that the result of the
two hundred contestants demonstrates that two
hales of cotton can and should be raised on every
acre in cotton if properly fertilized and cultivated.
Why, then, we ask, should farmers in Eastern
Texas cultivate land that it will take from three
to five acres to produce one bale of cotton? We
can prove by a plain, practical illustration, that a
bale of cotton raised on laod thst it takes five
acres to produce a bale, costs at least $65, and a
bale of cotton raised on land that produces two
hales per acre costs not more than $18, every cost
being taken into the calculation,
For the premium in corn there were more than
three hundred contestants in the different States,
24 THE STAKED PLAIN OF WEST TEXAS.
but the largest nurnher in Georgia. The average
of the three hundred was 102 bushels of shefled
corn per acre. The number of acres in the contest
was five for each contestant. The highest nomber
of tIoshels per acre, and the one capturing the
premium, was 164.
Among the contestants was one mali who. with
one hor.~e, planted and cottiv~ted land that pro.
ducell twenty.one hales of cotton.
That intensive farming pays is shown by
the following comparison of yield, cost and
profit per acre, On 10 acres, cultivated in
the old-fashioned way, and on To acres cul-
tivated intensively to acres of cotton in an
average season, l)y ordinary cultivation, in
Texas, yield about 3:~ bales of 500 pounds
or i666 pounds, which, selling at 10 cents
ier pound, make a total of $i66.6o. Gin-
ning, haling, and hauling may be put down
at $3.75 per hale, or $ (2.50 for the whole
cr01). Picking can generally he done for 75
cents per 100 pounds of seed cotton, at $12
per hale, (Ir $42 for the crop. Presuming
that the cultivation is done by the farmer
himself, or his family, the cost ot cultivation
is not included. The money value of the
Jo-acre crop is $i66.6o; the expense ot
hauling, picking, ginning and baling, $54.50,
which leaves a halance Of$12. 10 to pay for
labor of etiltivation and seed. The net yield
per acre is $i 1.21.
By the intensive inethod the crop should
yield as follows : 10 acres of cotton at 2
bales per acre, yield 20 hales or 10,000
potinds, which sold at 10 cents per pound,
bring $i,ooo; 20 hales ginned, hagged and
haled cost $3.75 each, or $75 for the entire
crop. The cost of picking seed cotton will
be the same per bale, or $240 for the 2C
bales. Two tons of fertilizers at $45 will
cost $90. i~he expenses of the crop, not
conilting cultivation, amount to $405, leav.
mg a balance of $5~5 net, for the crop, or
$59.50 per acre. Allowing that more labor
must he expended on the second crop, and
taking it for granted that this expense ic
e(l(lal to the net yield per acre of the first
crop, $1 1.21, there would still remain $48. 2(;
clear profit.
The average yield of corn in Texas is
about 25 bushels per acre. Ten acres, with
ordinary civilization, will yield 250 bushels,
worth 50 cents per bushel-$t25. By in-
tensive farming, the yield of corn should be
brought up to 75 and 120 bushels per acre,
or 750 to 1,200 bushels for the jo acres.
Selling at the same price, the yield will be
$365 to $6oo, while the fertilizers would
only cost $90. The first crop will bring
$12.50 per acre, while the second, after de
ducting cost of fertilizer, will bring $26.50
to $5'. The same rule holds good with
other staple crops.
The soils of the Staked Plain of Texas are
as rich as any in the State, and generally
produce above the average, crops of superior
sm~l grain and other staples. Many of the
soils will xieed no fertilizing for years to
come, and with timely rains produce a max-
imtim yield.
I~he annual rainfall in Texas varies from
16 to 50 inches, the country along the
Sabine river, on the Louisiana line, and near
the coast, -getting the most, and El Paso
county, on the Rio Grande and adjoining
Mexico and New Mexico, about 900 miles
west of the Sabine river, getting the least.
In Wcstern Texas, west of the Brazos and
east of the Pecos river, the average annual
precipitation is from 21 to 36 inches. about
the same as that of ~ issouri, Kansas, Ken-
tucky and Iowa. Generally it fills in
proper scason to mature all farm crops, the
heaviest fall being from April to the begin
ning of October. A total failure of cro~~s
was not known in Western Texas until the
year i8S6, when it was practically complete
in a ntimber of counties-the crops in the
remainder of the State being below the
average. On the irrigated lands in El Paso,
Reeves, Pecos, Presidio and the Rio Grande
border counties and in New Mexico and
Arizona, the yield was larger than ever he-
fore and immensely profitable. The writer
holds that
IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE
wherever they can be practically applied,
are just as profitable and ilecessary in the
States of Illinois, Iowa, Indiana or Ohio as
they are in the arid regions of California,
Arizona or New Mexico. Whenever the
rainfall is belated or insufficient to mature
the standing crop in the ficld, the farmer
should supply the want as fur as practicable.
Severe drouths are common to all parts of
the United States, and no part thereof has as
yet escaped loss from this cause. There is
always a critical moment, when the precipita-
tion or the absence of rain will decide the
fate of the crop. The joint neighborhood
prayer-meeting will not avert the coming
disaster, but a liberal water stipply from the
irrigator's ditch certainly will.
In the Rio Grande Valley, in New Mexico,
C~ifornia and Old Mexico, where irrigation
is practiced, without fertilizing artificially,
the yield per acre of all common crops is
double that of the Middle and Western
THE STAKED PLAIN OF WEST TEXAS. 25
States. Irrigated lands, cultivated after the
most primitive methods, produce from 75 to
ion bushels of corn; 30 to 70 bushels of
wheat; 50 to 75 bushels of oats; 40 to 50
bushds of barley ; 30 to 45 bushels of rye
75 to 200 bushels of sweet potatoes; 500 to
8oo bushels of mangel-wurael, weighing from
30 to 40 pounds each; beets, 175 to 400
bushels, etc. Cotton, hemp, flax, tobacco,
sorghum, fruits and vegetables arc grown in
quantities that would surprise any farmer of
the Eastern States.
The rainfall of Southern California does
not exceed 12 inches, but the State is never-
theless considered a superior agric~tural
region. The rainfall of the Texas Stakcd
Plain is three times as great, and ordinarily
fine crops are grown wi~out irrz~a/ion which
is impossible in Southern California. Water
from underground sources is just as easily
obtained on the Staked Plain as in Califor-
nia, and the natural soils are in every re-
spect superior in (Tuality to those of the
latter State, and the climatic conditions are
equally favorable in both cotintries. Lands
in California, that can be cultivated, range in
price from $ioo to $i,ooo per acre. TIer-
ter lands in every respect, equally capable of
irrigation, can be had on the Texas Staked
Plain for $2 to $5 per acre, and that. on ten
to forty years credit terms. One~tenth of
the quantity of water needed to irrigate a
tract of land in California will be sufficient
for all demands of a similar tract in Western
Texas, for the reason that the annual rain
fall alone on the Staked Plain is ~ufficient
generally to grow a crop, and the amount
supplied by irrigation is applied only when
the fate of a crop is dependent upon a de-
layed rainfall. The various methods ol
irrigation employed iii California are de
scribed at length in the foregoing report
made by Mr. It. K. Brant.
The writer understands perfectly well that
a i6o-acre farm can not be irrigated from a
common barnyard well, and does not pro.
pose that an~ one farmer shall attempt to irri-
gate such an acreage. There is, however,
nothing in his way to irrigate successfully 5,
10 or 20 acres, and on this irrigated land to
plant such crops as will bring the highest
possible market prices. He can still raise
his corn, wheat, hay and other forage on
unirrigated land, but two or three years
experience will teach him that there is more
money in the cultivation of his ten or twenty
acres under irrigation, be the same in Texas
or Louisiana, than there is in five times' that
mtich unirrigated land.
A MODEL FARM ON T}iE STAKED PLAIN
Should be arranged about as follows, and
consist of r6o to 640 acres of land, which
the State will sell to an actual settler at $2
per acre, on forty years credit terms, with
5 per cent interest. Railway and private
lands will range in price from $2.00 to $5.00
per acre and can generally he had on cash,
five year or ten year credit teries. Of this
land 8o acres should be fenced off for the
farm, 6o acres to be cultivated without irri-
gation-say 15 acres in sorghum 20 acres
in Johnson grass, 5 or In acres in cotton, to
acres in corn or wheat 20 acres set aside
for irrigation, house, barn ~tc the remain-
der of the 8o acres to be sown in oats, millet,
broom corn, castor beans etc Uhe live
stock of the farm should (0051st of 40 head
ofmilch cattle and good l)urham Jersey or
Holstein btills ; some 300 he id of sheep of
the best grade, 25 hogs 25 horses, brood
mares stallions and jacks ~nd the usual
~umber of chickens, turkcys etc. The
unirrigated part of the farm should produce
forage in abundance for ~l the live stock,
and a considerable quantity to sell, in addi-
tion to the regular field crops.
The irrigated twenty acres will have to be
supplied yvith two or more good wells, which
shoud each have a basin of to to i5 feet
diameter in the water-bearing strata. Wells
ofthis description may cost from $200 to
$500 each. The lifting machinery may con-
sist of horse-power or powerful windmills.
At convenient points there should be wood-
en tanks I2Xi2 feet and 6 feet deep. The
fence around the 10 or 20-acre tract should
be rabbit proof, and the planting inside,
after cutting off a lot for the house and barn,
should consist of 5 or 6 acres in fruit trees,
such as peaches, apricots, almonds, pears,
prunes, wild goose plums, etc. ; five acres
more should be planted in grapes-such as
the T)elaware, Mission, Raisin and other
table grapes. The remainder of the irriga.
ted land should be planted say as follows:
One acre in El Paso onions, which ought to
net the grower from $300 to $400 per acre;
an acre of sugar corn, shipped to El Paso,
Fort Worth, Dallas or Waco, should net
$ too clear, after paying all expenses. Cab-
bage is never worth less than 3 cents per
pound, wholesale, in Dallas, and sells readily
for 5 to 10 ceOts in any of the Western
towns. Sauer-kraut is never worth less than
$8 per barrel and an~acre under irrigatiola
should not yield less than 40 barrels. Cu
-cumbers grow rank in any season on the
26 THE STAKED PLAIN OF WEST TEXAS.
Staked Plain, and should be pickled, and
are then worth from $6 to $9 per barrel, and
a carload per acre is easily raised. ~~oma-
toes are never worth less than $r per bushel
and often sell readily for $2 and $3. Irish
and sweet potatoes are always in demand
and find a ready market at $1.50 to $2 per
bushel, and under irrrigation from ISo to
300 bushels per acre may be grown. Pea-
nuts and castor beans readily bring from 5oc.
to $r per bushel. Broom corn is worth from
$50 to $i~o per ton and « ton is usually
grown per acre Peaches and grapes after
the third year should net at least $too per
acre. Beans, peas. etc., find a ready mar-
ket at all times, and for garden vegetables
there is a healthy demand all year round.
flay from the prairies is worth $ro to$12 per
ton, from sorghum or Johnson grass $t~
to $20, common field corn 65c. to $1.25,
and oats 50c. to 75c. mfllet $io to $i~ pet
ton. In proper seasons melons, muskmel
ons, pumpkins, egg plants and squashes are
in great demand and bring high prices. Sor
ghum syrup is in demand at 5oc. to ~5c. per
gallon. Good vinegar for pickling can be
made from the juice of sorghum and water-
melons.
The growing of fruits and vegetables of
nearly all descriptions has reached such mag-
nitude and perfection in the counties trav-
ersed by the Iron Mountain Railway in
Arkansas and Southern Missouri that regular
daily fruit trains run from Texarkana to St.
Louis, Chicago, Memphis, Kansas City and
Denver during the season. The shipments
are daily made as ordered by the commission
houses and consist in the main of peaches,
strawberries, blackberries, plums, early pota-
toes, peas, beans, melons, etc., and the net
money yield per acre runs from $200 to $300
per acre. Within the past five years the
canning and evaporating of fruits and vege2
tables has become an important industry in
the State.
The great majority of the inhabitants of
Western Texas and particularly of the Great
Staked Plain are engaged in the raising of
cattle, sheep and horses. Jn the mountain-
ous part of Texas are a number of mining
camps and in New Mexico mining and cattle
raising are the principal pursuits, and beyond
this is Arizona similarly situated. Good
trading towns are numerous, but farms are
not, and hence the highest prices are readily
paid for all sorts of farm produce. In the
large towns of Central Texas, ~ike Fort
Worth, Dallas, Waco and many other places,
first-class prices are paid for fresh vegetables,
potatoes, onions, fruits-fresh, canned er
evaporated. The mode of reaching the dif
ferent markets is to ship daily to the commis-
sion merchant the exact quantity desired,
and never anything that is not of the first
quality. Fresh vegetables from Odessa can
be delivered within i5 hours in Dallas, or
within 8 hours in El Paso, Texas.
If a farmer goes to the trouble (for the
expense is small) of irrigating land, he
should manure it and work it thoroughly in
order to get from the soil everything it will
produce. Careless or shiftless farming will
not pay, but an irrigated farm of ten acres
well cultivated and fertilized, if need be,
will easily support a family in comfort.
Nbw we wish to har'e it distincily understood
that all standard crops of Texas can be grozt~
on the Staked Plain without irrigation, tha,,,
such have been grown successindy for a number
Updated: August 05, 1998