The Arizona sentinel., 1899-02-11
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 tha the soil and climate of Yuma County are peculiarly adapted for this branch of agricultural enterp~is-. 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, eft ondcrful superiority of Yuma County over southern California in fruit growing, and which must lead to large and varied production, of the most rerunerative character.
 The 70 missioner of Immigration in his report, published in S86, writes 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 journeg to the sea. By consta, overfows and change of channel, the depo it of this rich vegetable matter has form ed soil of ,xtreme fertility, Near th3 streams it is a dark alluval mold we'll adapted to small
 
 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 his 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. ln nearly all of them two crops a year can be growth and vegetation is month ahead of California. The farmers plants cottonwood saplng before his door, and within the he has e shade tree twenty-five feet high! Alfalfa can be cut six times during the season, and it is an actual fact the grapo-cuttings have produced within egh- 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. The farmer begins to plant in November, and by the middle of Nay lis harvest is ready. Roses are in bloom, fruit trees are bossoming, and the grair fields are 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 semi-tropic zones can be produced in the valleys of Al zona. 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 ill the United States can be grown iD Arizona, and nowhere are they found of better quality.
 "Besides the products mentioned, these semi tropical valleys produce cotton, sugar-eane, to- bacco, hemp and rice. With the exception of the sugar-cane but little attention is paid to the cult Vation of other staples but it has been demonstrat ed that the soil and climate are specially adapted to their successful growth. Cotton-growng is 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 c, ,tton grown in the Gila valley.
 "BUS it is their adaptabhty for fruit culture that assures to these valley lands dense popula- tion and aprosperous future. Almost every var ety known can be raised in their fruitful soils. The apple, pear, plum, peach, apricot, quince and nec- tarjne, are of delicious flavor, and give gen erOus yield. The grape of all varieties isa home in these sunny vales. No place in the GrSpe-grow- ing belt Of the Pacific Coast show so prolific yield. The quality is all that could be desiredi and the wine, although it's manufacture iS yet ex- perimeDtai, is of fine flavor, delicious bouquet: .hd uls lrpSsze1 by any Eativa product as atahSs