The Arizona sentinel., 1894-06-02
FRUIT CULTURE.

] Fruit production throughout Arizona is a sub | jeet of great interest at present, and will no doubt, be the principal industry in Yuma County i The remark kable results that have sprung from very superficial and imperfect culture has de- mOnstrated that the soil and climate of Yuma County are peculiarly adapted for this branch of agricultural enterprise. The development of these resources is of the utmost importance and is at tracting careful attention. Experiments have been made with care and facts in regard to the culture of different kinds of fruits have been collected which cannot fail to convince even tbe most skept- ical, 1.-the wonderful superiority of Yuma County over Southern California in fruit growing, and which must lead to a large and varied production of the most rsmuneratve character.
 The Commissioner of Immigration in is report, published in 1886, writes as follows of the rich valleys of the Gila, Colorado and Salt rivers.
 ''The soil of these valleys is among the richest on the continent. It is formed of the detritus, which the streams for ages have brought down from their mountain homes in their journey to the By constant overiows and change of channel, the deposit of this rich vegetable matter has form ed soil of rXtreme fertility Near the streams it is dark alluvial mold, well adapted to small grains and grasses. Farther back there is a rich sandy loam, mellow and porous, and especially favorable for fruit culture. It has been already demonstrated that the productive capacity of these valleys is not surpassed by lands of equal area in any part of the United States So rapid and prolific is the growth of the fruits, cereals and vegetables that the labor of the cultivator is reduced to the minimum. In nearly all of them two crops a year can be growth, and vegetation is one month ahead
 
 saping before his door, and within the year he has a shade tree twenty-five feet high! Alfalfa can be cut six times during the season. and it is an actual fact the grapecuttngs have produced within eigh teen months! What State or Territory can make such a showing? The climate, it must be remem bered, is nearly perpetual summer. Snow never falls in these southern valleys. The farmer begins to plant in November, and by the middle of May his harvest is ready. Roses are in bloom, fruit trees blossoming, ard the grain fields are of green, when the fields of the Eastern farmers are covered with snow and ice.
 Every variety of grains, grasses, fruits and vege tables grown in the temperate and semi-tropic zones can be produced in the valleys Of Arizona. Wheat corn barley, oats and all the small grains give yield of from twenty-five to fifty bushels to the acre. Alfalfa, clover, timothy, Bermuda and all the cultivated grasses grow luxuriantly, the former giving from eight to ten tons to the acre each year, Every variety of vegetable raised in the United States be grown in Arizona, and nowhere are they found of better quality.
 "Besides the products mentioned, these semi tropical valleys produce cotton, sugar-cane, to- bacco, hemp and rice. With the exception of the sugar-cane but little attention is paid to the cuti vaton of other staples; but it has been denonstrat ed that the soil and climate specially adapted to their successful growth. Cotton growing is no experiment in Arizona, for it is on record that when the Europeans first penetrated this region, they found the Pima Indians wearing fabrics made of cotton grown in the Gila valley.
 'But it is their adaptabihty for fruit culture that assures to these valley lands a dense popua- tion and aprosperous future. Almost every var
 ety known be raised in their fruitful soils The apple, pear, plum, peach, apricot qunce and nee tarine, are of delicious flavor, and give gen erous yield The grape of all varieties is at home in these sunny yales No place in the grape grow ing belt of the Pacific Coast show so prolific a yield. The quality ia all that could be desired;