The Arizona sentinel., 1899-11-18
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 County are 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 convince, even tbe most sbept
 ical, oftb3 onderful superiority of Yuma County over Southern California in fruit growing, and which must lead to q large and varied production, of the most remuneratye 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 iourneg to the sea. By constant overiows and change of channel the deposit of this rich vegetable matter has form
 ed soil of ,xtreme fertility, Near ths streams it is a dark Glluvial 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 the growth of the fruits cereals and vegetables that the labor of the cutivator 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 a cottonwood 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 grapecuttings have produced within eigh- teen months What State or Territory can 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 blossoming, and the grain fields 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-rropic zones can be produced in the valleys of Arizona. Wheat corn. barley, oats ard 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 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 the sugarcane but little attention is paid to the cult vatlon of other staples but it has been demonstrat ed that the soil and climate are specially adapted to their successful growth. Cotton growing is no experiment in Arizona, for it is on record that when the Europeans first penetrated this region. they found the Pima Indians wearing fabrics made of eaton grown in the Gila valley
 "But it is their adaptabihty for fruit culture that assures to these valley lands dense popula- tlon and aprosperous future. Almost every var ety known can be raised in their fruitful soils The apple, pear, plum peach, apricot, quince and nee tarine, are of delicious flavor, and give a gen. erous yield. The grape of all varieties isa home in these sunny wales. No place in the grape-grow- ing belt of the Pacific Coast can show so prolific l., and the wine, although it's manufacture is vet ex perimental, is of fine flavor, delicious bouquet, and uns Irpassed by any native product as table beverage Experiments with the raisin-grape have shown that this climate and soil possess every advantage for the production and curing of this staple article of commerce.
 'Besides the fruits already mentioned the or ange, lemon, lime, olive, fig, pomegranate. and others of the citrus family, can be grown success fully in the valleys of Southern Arizona. Orange trees are now in bearing in the Salt River valley and at Yuma; while the bananas is also being cul lVated at the latter place. The Arizona orange in quality and flavor will compare favorably with the best California
 Tn the valleys of the Colorado the Salt and the | illa rivers, there is for thousands It is not eo much to say that nowhere within the limits of | 'hlS broad Union be found a more desirable | 'egion for the making of home. No Iaborious ,learing of the land is required; it lies almost eady for the blow. Trees and shrubbery have so apid growth that within eighteen months the hilhgrant can surround his abode with attractions 'nlch would require years to mature in less favored inmates. Fruits ripen and are ready for market
 1ull month before the California product The right sunshine makes life luxury, and the pure. ry atmosphere brings health to all who inhale It. or the establishment of colonies, such as we have lade Of Southern California a arden, Arizona resents unrivaled opportunities Thousands of cres, now profitless, can be made productive he construction of irrigating ditches, and there no investment which assures larger or more ; returns"