The Arizona sentinel., 1898-04-23
FRUIT CULTURE.

Fruit production throughout Arizona is a sub jeet great interest at present, and will no i 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 arc 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
 winch cannot fail to convince, 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 l or the most rGmuneratve character
 The Commissioner of Immigration in his report published in !SS6, writes as follows of the rich valleys Of the Gila, Colorado and Calt rivers
 'Ihe 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 tn. streams it
 is dark ailuvial 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 fruits cereals and vegetables that the labor Githe cultivat0r 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 cottonwood saping before his door, and within the year he has shade tree twenty-five feet hirh, 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 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 bloom, fruit trees are blossomiDg, and She grain fields are sea Of green, when the fields of the Eastern farmers are covered with snow and ice.
 Every variety grains grasses, fruits and vcgc- tables grown i'll the temperate and semi -tropic 1 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 i'll the United States can be grown in Arizona, and | nowhere 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 yaton Of other staples; but it has been tenostTat ed that the soil and climate specially adapted to their successful growth. Cotton growing jS no experiment i'll 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 adaptaJty fer fruit culture that assures to these valley lands dense popuia- ton and prosperous future Almost every var ety known can be raised in their fruitful soils. The apple, pear plum, peach, apricot qulnee and nee tarine, are of delicious flavor, and give gen erous yield. The grape Of all varieties isa home n these sunny '1les. No place iH the Srape-grow- ing belt of the Pacific Coast can show so prolific yield. The quality is all that could De desired; and the vine, althouchits manufacture Is vet eX- is of ine fayor delicious bouquet, ''" ms 1rpGssed hy anv native product as atAoto