While agriculture in Colorado is regarded as in its infancy, yet the product of Colorado farms alone contributed almost fifty-one millions to the world's wealth, in 1905, exclusive of wool, hides, or live stock. Professor Olin of the State Agricultural College estimates that there are over two hundred thousand acres in Colorado which produce crops without irrigation, by the application of Professor Campbell's "dry-farming" system. The so-called dry land, consisting of millions of acres in Eastern Colorado, averages now four dollars per acre, where one year ago untold quantities could be bought for an average of two dollars per acre. The speculative value of this land has gone up wonderfully under the impetus of the Campbell system of dry farming. If this system comes anywhere near proving the claims of its advocates, it will vastly increase the wealth and population of the state. With a greater understanding of the science of dry culture it is certain that the farmers of the state and the state generally will experience immeasurable advantage. In the eastern plains of Colorado are embraced more than fifteen million acres of land which are now lying practically useless, only a small amount being utilized for ranging cattle. The claims of dry-culture enthusiasts and those who have been experimenting with seed imported to meet the dry conditions are, that this empire will be made to yield harvests which will support many thriving communities. In proof of their claims they point to so-called model farms established at various places on the plains where the hitherto unyielding soil has borne substantial crops.
One important feature in the agricultural development of Colorado is the extinction of the bonanza ranch of thousands of acres. Instead, farms are reduced to manageable proportions, and are carried on far more largely by intelligent thought and scientific appliances than by mere manual labor.
The present day Colorado ranch is an all-the-year-round enterprise. The ranch owner is a careful business man, who watches his acres and the products thereof even as the successful merchant or manufacturer acquires close knowledge of all the details of his business. He sows his land with diversified crops, rotating hay, grain, and root crops scientifically for the double purpose of securing the greatest yields and preserving the nourishing qualities of the soil. Keeping in touch with the market conditions of the world, and with the advancing developments of science, he is easily the master of the situation, and in no part of the country is the condition of the farmer better, or perhaps so good, as in Colorado. The agriculturist of the Centennial State who is the owner of two quarter sections, or even of one, is altogether independent. The returns from his business are absolutely sure, and with the certain knowledge of substantial gains at the end of the season he plans improvements to his home, and comforts and even luxuries for himself and family, which far exceed those usually secured in the Middle West or by the small farmers of the East. In Colorado it will be found that almost every young man and woman of those who are natives of the state are college graduates. Co-education prevails, just as does the political enfranchisement of women, and the results of this larger extension of the opportunities and privileges of life are very much in evidence in the beauty, the high intelligence, and the liberal culture that especially characterize the women of Colorado.