The Arizona sentinel., 1899-10-21
FRUIT CULTURE.

Fruit production throughout Arizona is a 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 l County arc 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 convnce even tbe most skept- ical, oft6s ondorful superiority of Yuma County over Southern California in fruit growing. and which must lead to a large and varied production, of the most remuncrative 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 She richest on the continent. It is formed of the detrtus which the streams for ages have brought down from their mountain homes in their iourney to the sea- By constant overfows and change of channel, the deposit of this rich vegetable matter has form ed soil of extreme fertility, Near tn. streams is dark s1luvial mold, well 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 apacity 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. In nearly all of them two crops 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 Q shade tree twenty-five feet highi Alfalfa can be cut six times during the season. and it is an actual fact the grape-cuttings have produced within eig!i teen months What State or Territory can make such a showing? The climate, it must be remem- bered, is nearly perpetual summer. Snow never falls in these southern valleys. Tn" farmer begins to plant in November, and by the middle of May H'S harvest is ready. Roses are in bloom, frui' trees are blossomng, 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 s6mi-Uropit zones can be (prodnced in the valleys of Arizona Wheat, corn. barley, oats ard all the small grains give yield of from twenty-five to fifty bushels tc the acre. Alfalfa clover, timothy, Bermuda anC all the cultivated grasses grow luxuriantly, tht former giving from eight to ten tons to the acr each year, Every variety of vegetable raised il the United States can be grown in Arizona, anC nowhere are they found better quality. "Besides the products mentioned, these semi
 tropical valleys produce cotton, sugar-cane, to
 bacco, hemp and rice With the exception of tn
 sugarcane but little attention is paid to the culti
 vaton of other staples; but it has been demonstrat ed that the soil and climate are specially adapte to their successful growth. CottOn-growing is n experiment in Arizona, for it is on record tha when the Europeans first penetrated this region they found the Pima Indians wearing fabric l made of o1t tton grown in the Gila valley.
 ''But it is their adaptabilIty for fruit cpltur
 that assures to these valley lands dense pOpula
 tion and apyosperous future. Almost every var
 iety known be raised in their fruitful soils Tn apple, pear, plum, peach, apricot, quince and neC s tarine, are of delicious flavor, and give gen
 erous yield. The grape of all varieties isa hom
 in these sunny wales. No place in the grape-grow
 ing belt of the Pacific Coast can show so prolific yield. The quality is all that could be desired and the wine, although it's manufacture is yet eN r perimental, is of fine flavor, delicious bouquet
 and uns lrp2ssed by any native product as a tabl beverage. Experiments with the raisn-grap l have shown that this climate and soil posses every advantage for the production and curing this staple article of commerce.
 ''Besdes the fruits already mentioned, the oI ange, lemon, lime, olive, fig, pomegranate, an others of the citrus family, be grown success; fully in the valleys of Southern Arizona Orang trees are in bearing in the Salt River valle and at Yuma; while the bananas is also being cu tivated at the latter place. The Arizona orange i
 quality and flavor will compare favorably with tn
 best California.
 "In the valleys of the Colorado, the Salt and tn
 Gila rivers, there is room for thousands. It is no
 too much to say that nowhere within the limits c
 this broad Union be found a more dcsirabl
 region for the making of home No laboriou
 clearing of the land is required; it lies almos ? ready for the blow. Trees and shrubbery have s
 rapid growth that within eighteen months tn
 immigrant can surround his abode with attraction
 which would require years to mature in less iavore
 climates. Fruits ripen and are ready for marke full month before the California product Tn
 bright sunshine makes life a luxury, and the pure dry atmosphere brings health to all who inhale It For the establishment of colonies, such as we hav made of Southern California a arden, Arizon; presents unrivaled opportunities Thousands O acres, now profitless, can be made productive by he construction of irrigating ditches and there is no investment which assures larger or more permanent returns