The Arizona sentinel., 1898-03-12
FRUIT CULTURE.

l Fruit production throughout Arizona is a sub 1 ject 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, even tbe most skept-
 ical, of the 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 I8S6, 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 soil of ,xtreme fertility Near ths streams it is dark alluvial mold, we'll 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 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. Tn nearly all of them two crops year can be growth, and vegetation is one month ahead of California. The farmers plants a cottonwood sapling before his door, and within the year he has a shade tree twenty ty-five feet high! Alfalfa can be cut six times during the season. and it is an actual fact the grape-cuttings 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 are in booRl, fruit trees blossomng, and the grain fields are q sea of green, when the fields of the Eastern farmers are covered with snow and ice.
 Every variety grains grasses, fruits and veee- 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- 0acco, hemp and rice. With the exception of the | 'ugarcane, but little attention is paid to the cult 7ation of other staples but it has been demonstrat ed that the soil and climate specially adapted 70 their successful growth. Cotton growing is no experiment. in Arizona, for it is on record that when the Europeans first penetrated this region, hey found the Pima Indians wearing fabrics made of cotton grown in the Gila valley.
 But 1t is their adaptabihty for fruit culture nat assures to these valley lands dense popula- ion and aprosperous future. Almost every var ety known can be raised in their fruitful soils The pple, pear plum, peach, apricot, quince and nee arlne, are of delicious flavor, and give gen rous yield. The grape of all varieties isa home these sunny wales. No place in the grape-grow ng belt of the Pacific Coast can show so prolific leId. The quality is all that could be desired nd the wine, although it's manufacture is yet ex- erlmental, is of a fine flavor, delicious bouquet, hd unsurpassed ny any native product as 3 table