Arizona weekly enterprise., 1890-12-20
OUR ORANGE LAND.
THE DIFFICULTIEs UNDER WHICH
 CALIFORNIA LABORED.
In Inauguratipg the Orange Culture Its success Established in the Salt
 River Valley.
Phenix Gazette.

Phenix Gazette
 Orange culture is proposition that is receiving greater attention at present than anything else in the line of fruit culture. Up to ten years age orange growing in Southern California was in its infancy. and the majority of the people did not believe that the fruit could be cultivated advantageously in California yet we see to-day what has resulted from the intelligent efforts of the men wko believed otherwise. In 1873 ground was first broken in Riverside for an orange grove. Dan Twogood came to that section two years prior to that date and who had been common daylaborer. had faith that the locality was suited to orange culture and what little money he could save from his daily labors he used to pur- chase orange stock, and to-day, seventeen years later. we find D. c. Twogood, one of the wealthiest men in the state, own ing one of the largest orchards in Cali l tornia
 We might also refer to Old San Der nardino as really the pioneer orange sec 1 ton of California, as many years prior to 1. the settlement of Riverside few orange trees were in bearing in that section. MF. 1 Anson Valeuven lad 90 trees in good bear 1 ing, and in 1873 he sold this fruit to San Francisco parties for S30 per thousand or three cents an orange. This began to attract attention, and Riverside and other localities began the work which to- l day has made California known from one end of the civilized world to the other
 Southern California had much more to ! contend with in inaugurating orange plant 1 ing than has the Salt River valley, and much bitter feeling and personal recrini- 1 nation occurred in reference to the sub iect Many who had lived in Los An geles and San Befnardino counties for i years contended with spirit that the corin- try was not suited for orange culture and that 1t was an insult to them to throw their time and labor away in such fiIvil- ous efforts, and that its failure would re- suit disastrously to the country. but the
 men who had engaged in the business
 kept right along and to-day all that
 lends value: all that attracts the eye
 and enehants the tourist, health-seeker
 and investor, is the beautiful fruit-laden
 orange tree.
 Now let us come home to our own
 beautiful valley, superior to any portion
 of the Golden State. All that is required
 is the cultivation of the fruit. Many of
 the leading horticulturists of California
 have passed judgment upon the capabili-
 ties of the Salt River valley. One of the
 foremost, Mir. Shorb, has maintained al
 ways that this valley has no superior Ill the
 world as an orange and grape colln-
 try.
 Many of the doubting ones throughout
 California and Arizona would look wise and
 mystified when the question of orange
 production in the Salt River valley was
 mentioned We can distinctly remember
 when to intimate that Southern Cali
 fornia was a citrus belt. that oranges and
 lemons could be successfully cultivated
 in that section, would have brought down
 scorn upon the luckless man who so in
 sinuated, yet the seeds planted in that
 thrifty soil by those intelligent people
 have grown and developed Southern Cali
 fornia's grandest and most profitable in
 dustry.
 It IS useless to assert and speculate as to what can be produced and what cs.n not. The only way of determining these
 questions Is to make the effort, and this ~A Is just what the industrious, far-seeing ! men of this valley have. ILey have ! proven that nearly all of the production of the tropics will grow and flul5 here
 with remarkable success.
 The orange orchard of the Improvement company, adjacent to the Arizona Falls fine sheet of water which affords ad- mirable water power of several thousand horse power-is thing of beauty and less than two years old, and was in fact 3 the first systematical attempt at orange ! culture in the Salt River valley. The orchard consists of about 1900 trees. There are three varieties of the orange !, Il 300 Navel, that king of orange trees: 300 Center and POO Seedless, all of the
 finest varieties These trees have been
 set out with care and precision. the
 ground admirably prepared and ordinary 5 good care has been exercised by the gen
 tlemen in charge, and the verdict is un-
 animous by every California and Florida
 orange grower that thus far have visited 1t 3 that 1t is the finest showing ever presented for the age; in fact it Is complete sur : prise to every stranger that visits the Salt River valley. The trees this season T frtlited well, but the owners of the prop l erty very properly refused to allow such young trees to perform too much labor,
 and only few were permitted to ripen n on each tree The Navels were ripe and a ready for shipment on the Doth day of 3 November, thus not only making a rapid growth, producing fine orange, but get 3 ting to market two weeks in advance of ' California's early products
 t The company, not satisfied with
 
 enclosure every species of fruit, flowers and trees known to the most favored g climates of the earth Sacred pine from ). the Himalayas, the northern ash, beech, 7 orange, lemon, apple, nut, fig and pear , grow and thrive Ill close proximity to the
 cyprus, palm and magnolia. Speculation e ceases and curiosity takes it's place when q one observes the wonderful fertility of y the soil, as apparent in the marvellous T growth of this heterogeneous gathering ; of fruit, shrubs and flowers.
 g The orchard Is surrounded by cyplns ,I hedge, between which and the orange l. grove is an avenue or driveway, in fact e the grounds are laid out with great care | as to beauty. and it is today one of tkt E, most beautiful of all the many charming Il places in the Salt River valley. Beside: 3; this orange grove there are dozen ad a ditional, all planted after the success Il, of this venture had been assured. le Riverside has 5000 acres planted tt y, orange trees, and these trees are in par
 tial bearing, some of them in pretty ful IS bearing. The 5000 acres will yield 800 car u loads oranges or 270,G00 box, an ayerag, Ill of 90 boxes to the acre. that will net til, D. owner an average of S2 box on th, K trees, as the seedlings sell for from S15' 't to S1.75 on the tree. and the Navels sel A at SS3 a box on the tree. Inns SlVeS al
 average annual income of $1S0 an aer
 while the trees are not yet in full bearin;
 and the crop is still increasing every yeal
 The income of S540,000 will pay interes ,x at the rate of 10 per cent on a capital 0 re of s, 100000 the actual value of 800 ,e acres of land at an average valuation 0 ,d of S1, 800 an acre with growing orchard Is that make the place more valuable eael 1e year.
 n. The facts of the case are that the orang "a orchards in San Bernardino sell to-da in for more money per acre than they di 10 two years ago in the middle of the grea TO boom. The recent depression in bushes f. has affected more or less all kinds ( 1v property except bearing orchards an ,f- vineyards and this property has eithe n- held its own in price or advanced, an fo the rule has been to advance. The lan6 to of this valley are equal in every particula or and superior of the lands in and afoun
 Riverside, and now that it has bee
 thoroughly demonstrated that ol
 lands are well adapted 10 the productc
 of the Navel and Malta orange, 1t wi
 take a rapid raise in the land markets