whole country is open to us as a market, and that the article can be sold wherever it is introduced goes without saying. It will sell itself.

An asparagus bed of 1 acre will yield, after the third year, about 200 pounds a day for sixty days, which is as long as it is wise to cut it; this will bring an average of 10 cents a pound during the season. An acre in sweet potatoes will yield 900 bushels, worth $1 a bushel at least as soon as they are dug. An acre of onions will yield 500 bushels, worth never less than $500, and an acre of celery can be relied upon to bring at least $600. A man needs 2 acres in alfalfa and 2 in corn or oats for his horse and cow and 2 acres for house lot, orchard, and kitchen garden. That makes 10 acres in all, which is as much as any man needs to farm for profit, and is fully as much as the most industrious man can cultivate properly. There is an abundance of good land for such purposes to be had in all parts of the Territory. Take, for example, the Rio Grande Valley, the oldest portion of the Territory in point of settlement, a section that has been settled for more than three hundred years, and yet not onefourth of the available land in this section of the country is under cultivation at the present time. Beginning a little above Bernalillo and going down to a point a little below San Marcial, we have one of the most desirable and fruitful sections of the famous valley and lying right in what may properly be called the agricultural center of New Mexico, a district of about 150 miles in length and with an average width of about 5 miles, embracing 750 sections or 480,000 acres; and yet a careful writer, who has traveled frequently over the district of country in question, says: "If we concede that one-tenth of the land is now under cultivation we are making a very liberal estimate." But if we should almost double this very liberal estimate we should still have in the district referred to about 400,000 acres of unused land—enough to furnish homes and profitable employment to 400,000 families, or more than the entire present population of the Territory. And there is no waste land in this district named; it is all arable and all tillable and needs only the application of water to make it as productive as the best land in any part of the world. The Rio Grande carries water enough for the cultivation of the whole of this tract without encroaching in the least upon the rights of those who live farther down the river. True, there would not be water enough under the system of irrigation at present in use-a system that was adopted three hundred years ago, when economy in the use of water was something wholly unknown and totally unnecessary, and under which the water wasted is at least five times as much in quantity as the water used-but it is not to be supposed that this system will continue many years longer. Modern systems of irrigation are being introduced in all other sections of the country where farming is done by irrigation. New Mexico will not remain long behind the times. The system practiced in California and Colorado, and in the Pecos Valley in our own Territory, which puts the water upon the cultivated fields and not upon the waste places and the wagon roads, will soon be adopted in this section, and then, as we have said, the Rio Grande will furnish water enough to irrigate all the lands in its valley and will support more people than are now in the whole Territory.

A country like New Mexico, where all kinds of fruit and vegetables can be grown to such perfection and in such profusion, is the place for canning factories, and it is safe to say that there is hardly a settlement in the Territory in which there is not at the present time a good opening for an establishment of this kind. The genial climate, the long seasons, the almost perpetual sunshine, and the rich soil, which is further enriched at every irrigation by the valuable sediment which is brought down from the mountains, all combine to produce conditions which are not surpassed in any part of the world for the successful growing of garden vegetables, and the yield of these is so enormous that it would hardly be believed by any one who does not possess a practical knowledge of the subject. There is a reliable home demand for all such products, and everything of that sort that can be grown here will be needed to supply the wants of our own people; but there are comparatively only a few vegetables that can be kept for winter use without preserving or canning. It is a well-known fact that the people who live in the cattle and sheep camps and the mining camps and villages of the West are the largest consumers of canned goods in the world; many of them practically live out of tin cans. The area of country in the Southwest that can be used for mining and grazing purposes is so much greater than the area that can be cultivated, and such a great number of people must always tind employment in those occupations, that all the vegetable products of the country will always find a ready market at home. But, as is well known, it is necessary for the greater part of these products to be canned in order to be utilized. At present we are not producing one-fourth of the vegetables we consume for want of proper facilities for preparing them for market, and while we are able to produce more and better vegetables than any other section of the United States, our people are fed mainly upon the inferior products of other sections. If this condition of things had to be

permanent it would be rather discouraging; but it will not continue very much longer; the good openings that are presented in all parts of the Territory for the establishment of canning factories will soon be taken advantage of by men who are looking for good business opportunities. The only reason why such industries have not already been established in all sections of the Territory is the fact that our present careless and haphazard system of irrigation renders the supply uncertain; but given a reliable modern system, such as will soon be introduced in every section where there are intelligent, progressive people, and it will be but a little while before we have canning factories enough established in the Territory to take care of all the vegetables we can raise, and the large sums that we now send abroad every year to pay for stuff that we buy from other sections will be kept at home for the benefit of our own people.

With respect to canned good, woolen goods, and all other articles which can be manufactured successfully here, we will not only have the advantage of a market at home for all we can produce, but the Territory is so far away from any other manufacturing center that the cost of transportation on goods shipped in from abroad is great enough to give the home manufacturer a good "protective tariff" which no Congress can repeal.

CANAIGRE.

An industry that is exclusively adapted to the arid Southwest, and especially adapted to New Mexico, is the production of the canaigre plant.

The following extract from Bulletin No. 21 of the Arizona Experiment Station will give the information asked by many as to whether canaigre may be grown in their respective localities:

The best conditions for the growth of canaigre are a cool but not freezing climate, a moderate amount of moisture, sandy, fertile soil, and probably also a sunny and arid atmosphere. These conditions are nowhere combined more perfectly or for a longer period of the year than during the six or seven cooler months in the arid Southwest. *** A mean temperature of about 70° or less is required for the growth of canaigre. Above this, even though there be abundant rain, as was the case in August, the roots will not do more than sprout feebly, and various attempts to make them grow in warm weather have failed. This seems to limit canaigre to the Southwest, for nowhere else, excepting possibly in some of the Southern States, is there so long a period of mild weather. It has been grown experimentally in Florida with some success, but in the Northern States the interval between the servere cold of winter and the extreme heat of summer is too short to allow of much root development. The sprouting of the roots in August, under the influence of rain, suggests that, in the culture of canaigre, one or two summers would prepare the plant to grow more promptly on the advent of cool weather.

The growing plant will stand a good deal of cold. When frosted the leaves lie prostrate on the ground, but immediately regain position when thawed out by the sun. The root also will endure freezing. It has been left in the ground all winter 60 miles north of New York City, subjected to a temperature as low as 15° below zero, without injury. At Lincoln, Nebr., the roots stood a very severe winter without any damage whatever. At Peoria, Ill., plantings made in 1892 were still alive in 1895, and similar results are noted at Washington, D. C., and Garden City, Kans. The new root development, however, is stated in a number of cases to be insignificant under such conditions.

As to locality, canaigre is found more commonly in sandy washes where water is more abundant. With irrigation it will make a good growth in any fertile, tillable ground, but the influence of soil conditions on actual production has been little studied. It seems to stand considerable alkali, and is even reported in the salt-grass meadows of Tia Juana Valley, near San Diego, Cal.

The tanning materials in canaigre remain pretty constant throughout the growing season, with, however, a small but distinct increase after the plants become established in vigorous growth. The amount of this increase in mature roots from year to year was further shown by taking four samples of wild roots, comprising every age up to about 5 years, dividing the samples as nearly as possible into successive years' growth and analyzing. It was found that the average increase of tanning materials from year to year, in ten instances, was 1.64 per cent in water-free material. In one set of cultivated samples the averages of the first and second years' roots differed 2.64 per cent. This indicates a small but constant increase in the per cent of tanning materials from year to year, but holds true only so long as the roots retain their

vitality. When they die the tanning substances quickly disappear. Although the percentage does not increase remarkably from year to year, the roots themselves become larger, so that the actual amount of tanning materials is much greater.

A factory for extracting tannin from canaigre is located at Deming, 230 miles from Albuquerque and directly tributary to El Paso; but arrangements are made to start a tannin factory at San Antonio, N. Mex. Parties interested have been very busy in San Antonio for the past several weeks taking options on land, selecting a site for the factory, and perfecting other arrangements attendant upon immediate construction.

The factory at Deming has been depending upon its supply of canaigre from the wild root, which grows in the greatest abundance in southern New Mexico, and is gathered by the natives and shipped. Now, however, it is proposed to cultivate the plant, and already options have been secured on 3,000 acres in the immediate vicinity of San Antonio, with 2,000 acres more to follow, thus making 5,000 acres altogether. This immense tract of land will be placed under a complete system of irrigation, for, although the canaigre plant grows wild in the most arid regions, it takes five years to assume mature growth, while under irrigation a good crop can be produced annually. Canaigre grows only six months in the year and, strange to say, this is during the winter season from October to April. This plant has been used by the Mexicans for centuries in tanning their leather, but always in a dry form. Now, however, there has been discovered a process by which the acid can be extracted from the green root, so that a new supply can be taken from the fields every day and converted into tannic acid, thus making the root worth from $80 to $90 per ton in any market.

San Antonio was selected as the most suitable place on account of its irrigating facilities and its rich coal fields. The coal mines of the Hilton Mercantile Company lie not very far distant and the fuel can be had at a very nominal rate. The factory will employ 50 or 60 men, while the cultivation of the plant will give work to an additional force of 250 men. The capitalists who are interested, it is said, will spend a quarter of a million of dollars before they get the factory in running order. This will undoubtedly make it one of the most important enterprises in the Territory, and will mean a great era of prosperity for the San Antonio Valley.

THE CANAIGRE PLANT.

Canaigre is one of the richest producers of tannic acid known to the chemists and tanners. In tanning leather it is absolutely essential to have great vats full of the acid, in which hides soak until rid of much of the animal matter and are rendered pliable. Canaigre is found wild in the greatest abundance in almost every part of New Mexico.

Through deforestization, the former great sources of supply of tannic acid, oak, hemlock, beach, and sumac, have been greatly diminished. Canaigre has been declared by experts to be a better tannic-acid producer than hemlock bark.

To Mr. Francis E. Lester, registrar of the New Mexico College of Agriculture at Las Cruces, I am indebted for the following description of this valuable plant and its uses:

Canaigre (Rumex hymenosepalus) is a native plant found wild in the region known to botanists as the Lower Sonora life zone. It is most at home in a sandy soil, and in the lower plains and river valleys. Its name is a corruption of Spanish "cana agria”

(sour cane), otherwise known as wild dock, wild rhubarb, etc. Its roots are like those of the dahlia or of the sweet-potato, being tuberous. They vary in size from the fraction of an ounce to more than two pounds in weight, and grow in clusters which increase in number and size every year, growing darker and harder as they grow older. A plant grown from seed will produce a root from 1 to 4 ounces in weight the first season, and this root will produce from two to a dozen other roots during the next season. The life of the plant is about five or six years. Wild plants are found yielding as many as eighty to one hundred roots, weighing 8 or 9 pounds. In cultivation the plant has been satisfactorily propagated by cutting the tubers, or by detaching the shoots, in the same way that the sweet-potato is propagated.

The plant makes its growth during the winter season, between September and May, blooming in March and April, and dying down in May. It will stand a good deal of cold, one plant having stood 15° below zero in New York State.

Experiments show that the per cent of tannic acid in the roots runs from 25 to over 30 per cent. The effect of cultivation appears more in increased size and number of the roots than in increased percentage of tannic acid.

When shipped green the roots were found to ferment on the way, but shipped in a dried and sliced condition they meet with a favorable reception. By drying and slicing, a ton of canaigre chips is produced from 3 tons of green roots. In 1891 over 1,000 carloads were shipped to European points. The prices ranged from $55 to $65, delivered.

Experiments, for the purpose of obtaining a more concentrated form of canaigre product, resulted in 1892 in producing a satisfactory canaigre extract, and a factory was erected at Deming to produce the extract. The product is a semisolid extract, having a standard purity of 48 per cent of tannic acid. One ton of this extract is obtained from 4.83 tons of green roots. The entire output of the factory was sold at prices averaging 5 cents a pound delivered.

S. P. Curtis, the juror of tanning materials of the World's Fair, says: "I am of the opinion that canaigre contains a large quantity of tannic acid, with less injurious substances than any other known tannic material in use. Leather tanned with this material is much stronger, more durable and flexible, and is affected less by heat and moisture than that tanned by any other material. It reduces the time of tanning to at least one-half that required by other materials used in modern tanning, and it contains a filling property not found in any other tanning material."

These favorable comments are practically repeated by experts in other countries. With the rapid destruction of the oak and hemlock, tanners will have to look elsewhere for a tanning product.

Twenty to forty years are required to grow a fair-sized tree, while in two years as much tannic acid as would be contained in the tree may be produced from canaigre on a few yards of land. A ton of hemlock bark furnishes about the same quantity of tannin as a ton of canaigre roots, but the former costs more than twice as much as the latter. Moreover, the cost of working the hemlock bark into extract is greater than that of working the canaigre chips.

Canaigre is a certain crop. It responds readily to cultivation by an increased yield. It is easily planted. About 900 pounds of young, 1-ounce roots, set at intervals of 1 foot in rows 3 feet apart, is sufficient for one acre. It is a winter crop, and is irrigated when water is little used for other irrigation purposes. The roots may be left in the ground for an indefinite time before harvesting.

The cost of growing an acre of canaigre is not more than $16.50. The roots will yield from 12 to 20 tons per acre. The crop may be irrigated four to six times, the land being cultivated after each irrigation in order to loosen up the soil. Planting should be done before October 1, and harvesting between June and September.

Analysis shows that the waste product left after extraction is as valuable for fuel as mesquite wood. When well rotted, it is also valuable as a fertilizer.

It is said that the available supply of native roots near railroad shipping points has been exhausted, and the industry must in future depend upon the cultivated product. In this territory, where, as every resident knows, the wild tuber grows luxuriantly all around, some test crops of this plant ought to be made.

Only the But at the

It was said, long ago, that the manager of the plant at Deming declared that San Juan County was the best country for the growth of canaigre he had seen. lack of railroad connection prevented that plant being located there. prices mentioned it ought to pay to ship, dried and sliced.

CELERY PRODUCTION.

A product in which the Pecos Valley is gaining special distinction is its celery. It is an industry which is developing rapidly, constantly acquiring new markets. The most extensive production of this deli

cacy

is near Roswell, on the Spring Brook celery farm. The farm is watered by a great spring bubbling from mother earth, which, combined with the continual sunshine peculiar to the Pecos Valley and the saline nature of the soil, makes a combination for growing a high grade of celery not possessed by any other country. The constant Sunshine, which blushes the apple, crimsons the cherry, ripens the golden grain, colors the flowers, and flavors the fruits with the choicest essence of nature's brewing, is no less potent in storing up those essential qualities in celery that raise it to a standard excellence, surpassed by none, equaled by few, and may be well said to bear the same relation to the celery trade as gold to the monetary system. The celery raised in the Pecos Valley is pronounced by those qualified to judge superior to that raised anywhere else in the United States, and the fact that it leads all competitors in every market it has reached would seem to verify the assertion, particularly when it is known that it came in competition with the product of the most famous celery farms in the whole country. The soil of the valley seems to possess to a marked degree the constituents which impart to this table delicacy the peculiar nutty flavor so much sought after by epicures. The Spring Brook farm has proven a full success, both in the production of the vegetable and in marketing it to financial advantage. The Roswell Register notes this fact in a recent paragraph, which says:

W. M. Farmer has just received returns from his last shipment of celery. The total figures show that, in addition to supplying the local demand, he shipped out 88,815 pounds. The express bill on this was $1,389.80. The gross income realized at the farm for the crop of 20 acres was over $6,000.

The planting on this farm has been increased to 25 acres this season, while all over the valley farmers are putting in beds of greater or less extent.

FANCY TOBACCO SEED TO BE DISTRIBUTED AMONG NEW MEXICAN FARMERS BY THE COMMERCIAL CLUB OF ALBUQUERQUE,

The following letters relative to the culture of tobacco have been received by the Commercial Club of Albuquerque, and the seed mentioned is now at the club rooms awaiting distribution. The seed will be issued in small quantities to all farmers who wish to raise tobacco and who will agree to give the intelligent care and attention necessary to insure successful cultivation. The letters are self-explanatory:

COMMERCIAL CLUB, Allmuquerque, N. Mer.

CHICAGO, ILL.

GENTLEMEN: Not long ago Mr. Chambers, general freight_agent, sent me a sample of the tobacco raised in the vicinity of Albuquerque, which I sent to an expert grower in Virginia, who reports on same as follows:

"The tobacco you sent to me has an excellent flavor, but owing to the fact that it was cut before being thoroughly ripe it cured up green. In as dry a climate as New Mexico, with the proper kind of seed to begin with, tobacco ought to cure a splendid bright red color without using any fire at all. But in order to get the right color and flavor, two things are necessary-the right kind of seed, and allowing the plant to become thoroughly ripe.

"In New Mexico the plant bed should be made in February, and should be from 20 to 50 yards square, according to the size of the crop contemplated, and should be irrigated. The plant bed should be gotten in thorough order and the seed should be sown in it by the 1st of March.

The plant should be ready to set out in June, and, if the ground is in good order, one rain or one irrigation will make the crop. Tobacco requires less water than any