Arizona weekly enterprise., 1890-12-13
Our Fruit Culture.
Phenix Herald

John West, an Australian who was ap- pointed by the Government of the colony of Victoria to investigate fruit culture in the United States, publishes report In a New York journal which is very tiatter- ing to California. The report Is not an expression of opinion, but statement of facts and of the conditions which exist Ill California and other Western States.
 Speaking of the States which employ irrigation on large scale. and partlcu- larly California, Mir. West says that though ultimate results have been great and far-reaching in their effects, there are not wanting evidences that these re- suits have been attained only by great hardships and sufferings in the early stages of the enterprises which have final ly made the deserts to become produc- tive
 All through the report runs thread of astOnishment at what has been accom- plished on the Pacific slope during the last few years ill converting barren lands into productive ranches and orchards, making that valuable property which at one time was looked upon as worthless.
 But with all that has been accomplish Mr. West or any careful observer would be forced to admit that we have only just made beginning in fruit culture in Cal ifornia. The San Joaquin valley has gained much reputation during the past few years for its raisins, but there IS still abundant room in that magnificent valley for acres on acres of ralsin vineyards. Riverside ships great quantities of oranges to the East every winter, but the southern citrus belt is by no means covered with orange groves, and there Is another citrus belt elsewhere which IS demanding rec ognition.
 All over California there are opportul- mites for fruit culture of one kind or an other. Remoteness from a market will for time prevent many fertile valleys and hillsides from being planted with fruit trees, but it will not be long before railroads will stretch out here and there with branches and arms and feeders, un- til the fruit grower can load a car almost at his very door. A narrow gauge rail road can be operated ou any grade up which a loaded wagon can be hauled, and it will not be many years before our farm CTS and fruit-growers will build their own railroads to connect with the great main lines and to put their fruits on the market almost as soon as 1t Is picked. $. F. Chronicle.
 If MT. West had visited Arizona and carefully inspected the fruit industry of the central region, he would have experi- enced surprse not only at the success of fruit here but at the great ease with which the irrigation problem is solved in this region of country where nature, cen turies ago, prepared the way so that the settlers by the slightest exertion can cause the desert to put forth its great riches, and nowhere else under any con- ditions can it be made to yield better l He would have found, too, that Arizona is merely ill the initial condition of her great industy of fruit raising, and if a man of discernment he would have discov. cred that ere long that would overshadow even our mines of gold and silver and our hills covered with cattle, and that one day Arizona will lead the world ir fruit culture.