The Arizona sentinel., 1895-03-16
FRUIT CULTURE.


 Fruit production throughout Arizona is a sub ject of great interest at present, and will no doubt be the principal industry in Yuma County. The remarkable 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 tbe most Sfept- ical, ofthe wonderful superiority of Yuma County over Southern California in fruit growing, and which must lead to large and varied production, of the most remunerative character.
 The Commissioner of Immigration in his 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 sea. By constant overfows and change of channel, the deposit of this rich vegetable matter has form ed a soil of extreme fertility, Near the streams it is dark alluvial mold, well adapted to small grains and grasses. Farther back there is 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 fruts cereals and vegetables that the labor of the cultvator is reduced to the minimum. In nearly all of them two crops year can be growth, and vegetation is one month ahead of California. The farmers plants a cottonwood saplng before his door, and within the year he has shade tree twenty-five feet high. Alfalfa can be cut six times during the season, and it is actual fact the grape-cuttings 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 are blossoming, and the grain fields a sea 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 can 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 sugarcane but little attention is paid to the culti vaton of other staples; but it has been demonstrat ed that the soil and climate are specially adapted to their successful growth. Cotton-growing is no experiment in Arizona, for it is record that when the Europeans fist penetrated this region, they found the Pima Indians wearing fabrics made of cotton grown in the Gila valley.
 ''But it is their adaptabil1ty for fruit culture that assures to these valley lands dense popula- tion and aprosperous future. Almost every var iety known be raised in their fruitful soils. The apple, pear, plum, peach, apricot, quince and nee tarine, of delicious flavor, and give gen crous yield The grape of all varieties is at home in these sunny wales. No place in the grape-grow- ing belt of the Pacific Coast can show so prolific yield. The quality is all that could be desired; and the wine, although its manufacture is yet ex-
 
 and unsurpassed by any native product as a table beverage. Experiments with the raisin- grape have shown that this climate and soil possess every advantage for the production and curing of this staple article of commerce.
 ''Besides the fruits already mentioned, the or ange, lemon, lime, olive, fig, pomegranate, and others of the citrus family, be grown success fully in the valleys of Southern Arizona Orange trees are now in bearing in the Salt River valley and at Yuma; while the bananas is also being cul- tivated at the latter place. The Arizona orange in quality and flavor will compare favorably with the best California.
 "In the valleys Of the Colorado, the Salt and the Gila rivers, there is for thousands. It is not too much to say that nowhere within the limits of this broad Union can be found more desirable region for the making of a home. No laborious clearing of the land is required; it lies almost ready for the blow. Trees and shrubbery have so rapid a growth that within eighteen months the immigrant can surround his abode with attractions which would require years to mature in less favored climates. Fruits ripen and are ready for market a full month before the California product. The bright sunshine makes life luxury, and the pure, dry atmosphere brings health to all who inhale it. For the establishment of colonies, such have made of Southern California a arden, Arizona