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Show 96 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS. who, in speaking of this as a farming country, said: "We raise 28 bushels of wheat to the acre, against 12 in the States east of us; 40 bushels of barley, against 24; 35 bushels of corn against 25; 200 bushels of potatoes against 93. Of small fruits, as gooseberries, raspberries and strawberries, we raise 2,000 quarts to the acre, and realize from thirty to fifty cents a quart through the season." " Speaking of crops and prices," said he, " I am reminded of an Illinois farmer who came to Colorado twenty years ago and took a ranch by the side of mine. The first year he made a good crop and was quite jubilant over it. But the next year, owing to his inability to procure water, he did not succeed so well. This was prior to the present splendid system of irrigation, which, m combination with the general excellence of the soil, doubles the crops. The disheartened ranchman gave up trying to farm in this country, and said he was going back to Illinois where God waters the crops, and he could get a good price for what he raised." " Yes," said I, " and when the season is over invest your money in quinine and shake the balance of the year." " When the grazing advantages and productive qualities of this soil were discovered," continued our loquacious granger, " there was a great rush for land, and the country all around, far and near, was pre-empted. " According to law a house must be built on the preempted claim, the party must live in it a stated period and cultivate the land. Often a rough, unpainted board shanty was built, after which the pre-emptor would not see it again until, with the growth of the country, the land had become valuable, when he would ' bob up serenely' to claim his property. His perjury never occa- |
