The Arizona sentinel., 1898-07-23
FRUIT CULTURE.

Fruit production throughout Arizona is a sub ject great interest at present, and will no
 deubt 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
 tracing 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, of tbs wonderful superiority of Yuma County
 over Southern California in fruit growing, and
 which must lead to large and varied production,
 of the most remuneratve character.
 The Commissioner of Immigration in his report.
 published Ill lSS6, writes as follows of the rich valley sof 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 iourney to the
 sea- By constant overflows and change of channel
 the deposit of this rich vegetable matter has form
 ed soil of extreme fertility, Near tn. streams ii is dark alluvial mold, we'll 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 ot the fruts cereals and vegetables that the labor 1.-the cultvator is reduced to the minimum. In nearly all of them two crops a year can be growth, and vegetation is one month ahead of California The farmers plants a cottonwood sapng 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 an actual fact the grapecuttings have produced within eigh- teen months! What State or Territory can make such 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 lis harvest is ready. Roses 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 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 arc 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 cult vation of other staples; but it has been demonstrat 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 l made of cotton grown in the Gila valley.
 But it is their adaPtabilIty for fruit culture hat assures to these valley lands dense popula- ion and aprosperous future Almost every var ety known be raised in their fruitful soils. The ppie, pear, plum, peach, apricot, quince and nee Irine, are of delicious flavor, and give gen 'rcTs yield. The grape of all varieties iss home n these sunny wales. No place in the grape-grow- rg belt Of the Pacific Coast can show so prolific 'leld, The quality is all that could be desired; nd the wine, although it's manufacture Is yet ex- is of fine flavor, delicious bouquet, nd uns lrpSssed by any native product as atable-l