The Arizona sentinel., 1898-09-17
FRUIT CULTURE.

Fruit production throughout Arizona is sub
 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
 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, tbe most skept-
 ical, oftbe 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 l888 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 overiows and change of channel, the deposit of this rich vegetable matter has form ed a soil of extreme fertility Near ths 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 in any part of the United States. So rapid and prolific is the growth of the ruits cereals and vegetables that the labor Of the cultivator is reduced to the In nearly all of them two crops year can be growth, and vegetation is one month ahead Of California. The farmers plants a cottonwood saping before his door, and within the year he has a 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 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 is harvest is ready. Roses are in bloom, fruit trees are blossoming, and the grain fields sea of green, when the fields of the Eastern farmers Ire covered with snow and ice.
 Every variety grains, grasses, fruits and vege- 5ables grown in the temperate and semi -tropic cones can be produced in the valleys of Arizona. Wheat, corn barley, oats and all the small grains ] rive yield of from twenty-five to fifty bushels to he acre. Alfalfa, clover, timothy, Bermuda and | Ill the cultivated grasses grow luxuriantly, the | ormer giving from eight to ten tons to the acre ] ,ach year, Every variety of vegetable raised in he United States can be grown in Arizona, and | nowhere are they found of better quality.
 ''Besdes the products mentioned, these semi tropical valleys produce cotton, sugar-cane, to- ,acco hemp and rice With the exception of the | cane but little attention is paid to the culti ,ation of other staples but it has been demOnstrat d that the soil and climate are specially adapted o 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 ill the Gila valley.
 "But it is their adaptabiIty for fruit culture hat 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, beach, apricot, quince and nee arine, are of delicious flavor, and give gen rous yield. The grape of all varieties isa home n these sunny wales. No place in the grspe-grow- ng belt of the Pacific Coast can show so prolific ield, Tine quality is all that could be desired; nd the wine, although its manufacture is vet eX is of a fine flavor, delicious bouquet, nd uns lrpassed by any native product as table