The following table shows the assessed value of lands and houses and of certain kinds of personal property in the different counties according to the returns for 1891: Total 1,041, 237 8, 597, 867.50 1,378, 151 1, 850, 962. 75 90, 337 101, 687. 25 8, 259 20,412.27 THE PUBLIC LANDS. LAND OFFICES. During the year ending June 30, 1892, the entries at the several land offices were as follows, rejecting fractions of an acre: Making an aggregate for the whole Territory as follows, in cases: The approximate number of acres open for entry in the Santa Fe district is as follows: Socorro County Santa Fe County Valencia County. Mora County San Miguel County Colfax County. Taos County. Bernalillo County Rio Arriba County. Total Acres. 1, 255, 608. 62 859, 826. 24 2,454, 076.50 395, 608.72 1,707, 047. 76 237, 772.69 301, 063.33 1,400, 587.87 1, 112, 661. 47 1,096, 136. 10 10, 820, 389. 30 The approximate number of acres unsurveyed in the Santa Fe land During the year ending June 30, 1892, the total number of miles of Government lines established was 1,462. The number of township and mineral plats made in the surveyor-general's office was 264. Fortytwo mineral surveys were approved during the year. The boundary line between New Mexico on the west and Texas and Oklahoma on the east, referred to at large in my last report, still remains unsettled, and the injurious consequences necessarily continue. The "land court act" threw a large amount of new business into the office of the surveyor-general, connected with the title of the "small holdings" so numerous in New Mexico. The number of applications to August 30, 1892, under both sections 16 and 17 of that act, is 60. The provisions of this law are still so imperfect that few can take advantage of them. The amendments necessary to make it effective are treated of at some length under the heading of "small holdings," and nothing at this time is of more importance to the welfare of our people. THE PECOS NATIONAL PARK. This park, which was strongly recommended in my last report and by the surveyor-general in various documents, was finally established by Presidential order, dated January 11, 1892. The benefits to be derived from this action are manifest and varied, and our people unite in thanks to the Secretary of the Interior for his continued advocacy of the measure. IRRIGATION. This subject has been so fully considered in former reports that there is little to add. The enterprises in San Juan County have been carried forward and the admirable systems in the Pecos Valley extended. Through the pendency of litigation the important work of the Rio Grande Irrigation and Colonization Company has been further delayed. A new company has undertaken to increase very largely the water supply near Santa Fe, and the prospects are excellent for a large extension of the agricultural and horticultural area in the vicinity of that city at an early day. Another company is inaugurating an important irrigation enterprise in the valley of the Puerco. The following is a list of irrigation companies which filed articles of ncorporation from August 1, 1891, to August 1, 1892: San Juan Irrigation and Improvement Company. Locality, San Juan River, in San Juan County. The Mimbres Canal and Deming Water Company. Locality, Mimbres River, in Grant County. Albuquerque Artesian Water Company. Locality, Albuquerque, Bernalillo County. Eddy Waterworks Company. Locality, Eddy, Eddy County. New Mexico Homestead Company. Locality, Socorro, Socorro County. CLIMATE AND RAINFALL. New Mexico keeps up its reputation as having the finest climate in the world. During the last year public attention throughout the United States and Europe has been directed to this Territory as a sanitarium to a greater extent than even before. The American Health Resort Association has published a number of reports on the subject, which are attracting invalids by the hundred from all parts of the world. There seems but little doubt that in a short time it will almost entirely supersede Florida, Colorado, and California as a health resort. The reasons for this are found in the equable temperature and extreme dryness of the atmosphere. The following table shows the temperature and precipitation of moisture at Santa Fe, during the year. The annual precipitation at Santa Fe for a series of years is as fol lows: Previous to this year there has been but one station of the Weather Bureau in New Mexico; that is at Santa Fe. This has now been supplemented by a number of stations for voluntary observers. Mr. H. B. Hersey, the director, affords the following information as to the present status of the service in New Mexico. He says: In June, 1891, I recommended to the Chief Signal Officer the establishment of such a general weather service in New Mexico, but owing to the approaching transfer of the Weather Bureau to the Department of Agriculture no action was taken at that time. Soon after the transfer I was authorized by the new chief of the Weather Bureau to organize the service, and was appointed director of the same. The necessary steps were immediately taken to secure a force of voluntary observers. The instruments are all furnished by the U. S. Weather Bureau and are of standard patterns. The work of keeping the record throughout the Territory is performed by public-spirited residents without compensation. Their reports are mailed at the end of each month to this office, where they are summarized and a bulletin published, giving full meteorological data for the Territory. These bulletins are issued to the press for publication, and to any interested persons. Reports are received from the following stations: In both these important branches of industry there has been much increase and improvement. The area of the land employed in agriculture has been greatly enlarged for grain, vegetables, and especially for grasses and alfalfa. This is very gratifying, as the home demand has been much larger than the supply, and hence the Territory has been continually impoverished by buying from abroad what should have been produced on our own soil and by our own people. If we turn to horticulture we find an advance which is really marvelous. Every county and indeed almost every precinct gives evidence of it. The planting of fruit trees at each recurring season is almost universal. It is not possible even to approximate to the number added this year, In addition to the statistics of prominent orchards previously reported, I am enabled to give these figures regarding some of those in Colfax County. The immense establishment of Hon. M. W. Mills has been previously referred to. At Rayado Hon. Jesus G. Abreu has a large and flourishing orchard, principally of apples. Mr. M. E. Dane, northwest of Maxwell Station, has a most promising collection covering 20 acres. Mr. John B. Dawson, of Cimilorio, one of the "old timers" of this region, now has over 40 acres planted, containing about 6,500 trees. Mr. Manley M. Chase, his neighbor from the earliest days, is the owner of an orchard of equal size and containing about the same number of trees, but they are younger and just commencing to bear. In previous reports I have spoken of the orchard of Mr. A. D. Coon, à few miles south of Socorro, which is of much general interest, as it has been grown entirely without irrigation. I have visited it recently and find it looking splendidly. In a late letter Mr. Coon says: I planted 1,200 fruit trees this spring. My orchard, which I am growing on firstbottom land without irrigation, is looking well and making a very nice growth this year, as it has always done from the start. Many of my four-year-old pear and apple trees are fruiting this year, which is evidence that my orchards will, with age, fruit without water. All my trees require is age. Among my 8,000 trees one can not see an off-colored leaf; all are bottle-green and healthy. In Grant County the introduction of fruit-culture is a comparatively recent matter. The orchards along the Mimbres have been previously referred to. The following from Hon. John A. Miller, of the Arbolado ranch, shows the progress there. Almost every dooryard has been planted in fruit trees during the past year that had not been already planted. I think it will be safe to say that 100 acres of 100 trees each have been set out this season. I have introduced the Green Mountain grape during the past two seasons and find them giving excellent satisfaction. The grape is one of the finest table fruits |