Graham guardian., 1914-12-11

! 5000 box, and are the choicest
raised in the world today. Beside
the fruits named, there are dates
figs and olives and at the same time
we ave producing the hardier pro
duets.
Tempered by the influence Of the
snow-cappcd mountains and the cool
ing pine, though warm enough tc
| produce tropical fruits. the climate
Of Arizona is very hcnllhful and in.
vigOratinR, and there are nearly al.
ways three hundred and sixty sunny
ldays in the year.
While attending the TRANSMITS
sissippi Commercial Congress, i'll
St. Paul, a number of years ago. a
short time was allowed each dele
gate who wished to speak Of his own
state. | was telling of the wonder
full products Of the Gila valley, the
southeastern portion Of the State,
and particularly Of wonderfu
sweet potato which weighed 363
pounds, while It's mate in the same
hill, weighed 10 pounds. A big,
6rawny Missourian at the other
end Of the room got up, yawned,
lsretched, looked over to me and
walked out. OF course, | could not
produce the goods. Talk about
sunhowers-you KanSans are not in
it. We raised Il dom, $ ic sunhowcr
in our yard 50 'a"ge that we called
it the Big a 1t measured fou't g. n
feet high, was four inches at the
base and its blossom was fourteen
inches in diameter. 1t grew in my
front ward.
The manager of an implement
dealer in the North, with whom |
was dealing, came to explore this
wonderful lend Of ours He wanted,
first of all, to see the man who
raised the wonderful sweet potatoes.
The old Georgian understood his
business before he emigrated and
in answer to the question, the south
erner looked up innocentIy and said
We'll. that portion we got out of
the ground weighed 363 pounds.
Drive on" our visitor said. After
inspecting conditions on the south
side Of the river, we called on a
farmer on the shady side. the man
for whom the Hubbard squash was
named. Mr.. Hubbard said, in an
swer to what could be done in the
sunny south: On this land here. |
raised so bushels of wheat to the
acre and on the same land the same
season, | raised so bushels of corn
to the acre. At the same time
squash grew so thick we could hard |
Iy get through the patch, and the
same year my wife had twins. |
Drive on" said the merchant.
1t is no unusual occurance to raise
two crops on the same ground in the
same year. The Gila river is not |
unlike the Nile. 1t carries such |
large proportions Of silts, that when
this muddy water is spread over the
land there is sufficient organic mat
ter in it to produce two crops with
out impoverishing the land. After
we harvest our grain in May, we can
then soak up the land and plant
other crops, such as pink beans,
corn, milo maize, squash and other
crops for feed. Corn and potatoes
will mature. A farmer on the dark
side of the river produced two crops
of Irish potatoes on the same land
in the same year, and from the same
potatoes, that is, he cut the eyes
for planting from the matured first
crop and produced a fully matured
crop from them. | have seen apple
trees blossom the second time in a
year. Trees will put forth limbs
ten feet long in one year and strong
enough for young trees. One may
top their cottonwood trees, plant a
stick as large as fence post and it
will make tree as large as a good
sized umbrella in one season, in time
for shade that summer. The thing
we have most to contend with is too
great growth; keeps US busy cutting
back. We do not need much land.
A small farm, we'll titled, in this
country, will make a man rich, es-
pecially, if he will carry out the wise
council given at these congresses.
Now, as to dry farming in Ari-
zona. Prof. Forbes, Director of the
Experiment Station. who was to
have made a talk here, does not
think there is much doing in dry
farming in the State, but | hold |
different views and have great con-
hdence in the outcome.
In the northern part of the State,
along the timber belt. | saw fully |
corn and potatoes and all |
kinds of fodder plants raised with |
only the natural rainfall. In south
ern Arizona, all the way from the