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CROPS PRODUCED, FARM UNITS, ETC. <br />The acreage of crops grown under the Fort Lyon Canal <br />is about as follows: <br />Alfalfa, 50,000 Acres <br />Fall wheat, 10,000 Acres <br />Orchards and small fruits, 1,000 Acres <br />Sugar beets, 5,000 Acres <br />Miscellaneous: oats, corn, cane, <br />spelt, cantaloupes, etc., 12,600 Acres <br />Total 78,600 Acres <br />The farms generally average 80 to 160 acres in size, <br />although the largest covers about 3,000 acres. <br />GENERAL CONDITION OF CANAL. <br />The main Fort Lyon Canal is certainly remarkable for <br />the uniformity of its cross - section, the smoothness and <br />evenness of its velocity, and its freedom from either <br />deposits or destructive scour. It is very rare to find a <br />canal which never requires to be cleaned out and runs <br />year after year without a general overhauling and re- <br />pair such as most irrigation ditches are obliged to un- <br />dergo. The banks are well established and so thoroughly <br />compacted and knitted together with roots of cottonwood <br />or willow trees, which are encouraged to grow as a fringe <br />along the lower bank, so that breaks are of rare occur- <br />rence, and are only expected after severe storms and <br />general overflow of sheet water from off the plains. <br />There are a few places here and there on the canal <br />where the banks require protection on the outer side of <br />curves, but this is cheaply made by the use of hog -wire <br />fencing with straw or manure spread over the slopes <br />27 <br />