The Arizona sentinel., 1898-07-09
FRUIT CULTURE.

Fruit production throughout Arizona is q sub ject 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 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- l teal, oft5s wonderful superiority of Yuma County over Southern California in fruit growing, and which must lead to a large and varied production, of the most remuneratve character
 The Commissioner of Immigration in his report, published in 1886, writes as follows of the rich valley 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 overaows and change of channel, the deposit of this rich vegetable matter has form cd a soil Of extreme fertility, Near ths streams it is @ dark aluval 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 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 Cf Cf-1 Tho sapling 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 grape cuttings have produced within eigh teen months! What State or Territory can make such showing? The climate, it must be remem- beTcd. 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 blossoming, and the grain fields are of green, when the fields of the Eastern farmers are covered with snow and ice. Every variety grains grasses, fruits and veGe l tables grown in the temperate and semi tropic | zones can be produced in the valleys of Alizona | Wheat, 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.
 'Bosdes the products mentioned, these semi tropical valleys produce cotton, sugar-cane, to- bacco hemp and rice With the exception of the but little attention is paid to the culti- v"-;-~ 1T staples; but it has been demonstrat-
 ,il and climate are specially adapted
 sstul growth. Cotton-growing is no T Arzoua for it is on record that ... opcans first penetrated this region,
 .. the Pima Indians wearing fabrics
 grown in the Gila valley.
 lcir adaptabhty for fruit culture lo these valley lands dense popula
 Dspcrous future. Almost every var
 ..... .I be raised in their fruitful soils. The
 un, peach, apricot quince and nee
 delicious flavor, and give gen
 The grape Of all varieties isa home
 wales. No place in the Grape-grow-
 Pacific Coast can show so prolific a
 a!c, is all that could be desired;
 dthou-h it's manufacture Is yet eN-
 ot fine favor delicious bouquet,
 d by any native product as D table