The experiment was doomed to failure from the beginning. General Carleton’s illusion that the Bosque Redondo would spawn a farming community of thriving transplanted Native American prisoners was disastrous.General Carleton was a strict taskmaster however, and although the Native American prisoners were sick, ill-fed and unfit for heavy manual farm labor, and fields were improperly irrigated, he nearly realized his dream of a bountiful harvest. By mid-summer 1863 the corn alone was expected to yield twenty-five to thirty bushels per acre, a minimum of 75,000 bushels. Considering the extraordinary handicaps under which the Indians worked, this was an astonishing accomplishment. When it seemed Carleton would realize his dreams, nature dealt a lethal blow. The reservation’s 3,000 acres of planted agricultural land was struck by an inch-long cut worm, or “army worm”, that destroyed the crops. The following year, another promising crop was again insect-infested and destroyed. Demoralized, the Indians would refuse to plant again.