Weekly journal-miner., 1915-11-03
ORCHARO|NG IN VERDE DOES
 NOT PAY
SUCH IS THE STATEMENT MADE BY OFFICIALS OF THE U. V. F. & O. COM PANY ON STAND.
(From Tuesdays Daily.)

l That apple growing and orchardlng in the Upper Verde valley on com mercial basis cannot be made to pay seemed to be the unanimous opinion Of the officials of the Upper Verde Farm & Orchard Company, who were on the stand yesterday in the suit of the company versus the County of Yavapai to have the tax valuation on
 its land reduced Officials of the com pany declared that in 1914 the re- ceipts of the company showed net loss of $3,600 and for this year the less, it is estimated by them, will be around $4,OC0.
 What about ninety acres of the Upper Verde Farm & Orchard Com pany's orchard land across the Verde river from the town of Clarkdale should be valued at will probably be decided by Judge Smith in the Stu perior court today for Yavapai county will complete its defense this morning md the case is expected to be in the hands of the jurist this afternoon.
 The company filed suit, appealing from the assessment made by County Assessor C. F. Gentry on its prop
 ,rty not long ago, claiming that the ninety acres of orchard land of its property which was assessed at $275 per acre was worth but $1O0 per acre. County Attorney O'Sullivan filed an answer stating that the property is -cally worth $400 per acre and asked that it be given that value by the court.
 Among the witnesses who testified for the plaintiff were: General Man lger Will L. Clark of the United Yer 1e Copper Company, Manager Ray =. Lane of the Upper Farm & Orch lrd Company and Superintendent Fred Mickle of the last mentioned company The first two witnesses for the county were State Tax Com missioner Tom Campbell and County Assessor C. E. Gentry. Attorney Le- Roy Anderson examined the plaintiffs witnesses and cross-examined the
 wo witnesses for the defense while Deputy County Attorney Morgan ex- amined the county's witnesses and cross-examined those of the plaintiff.
 Lane testified as to the expenditures made by the company and its income. He said that most of the orchard land in the Verde valley in the past two years has sold for between $75 and SIPS per acre. The company, accord ;ng to his testimony, regardless of the iact that Clarkdale has increased the local market suffered net loss on its orchard property of $500 for the year 1914 He estimates that for this year the net loss will be about $4O00.
 Mickle declared that as a commer- cial proposition nobody in the Upper Verde valley could make any money. He said that where a man owns home on half acre of ground he may raise apples with little profit. That more money could be made out of alfalfa was one of his statements and another was that he would not give $l00 per acre for any of the land own ed by the company. He also said that land had been purchased in the Upper Verde of the same nature as that in dispute for the sum of $l00 per acre in the past two years.
 When recalled to the stand Lane testified that for the present year be- cause of the scarcity in crops on ac- count of the frost in the spring the company received $l.35 per box for it's apples. He said that this was an xceptionally high price for apples. O'Sullivan wanted to know why he has to pay ten cents per pound for his apples from the local merchants.
 Clark, who is president of the orchard company, declared on the stand that he did not think anybody l in the Verde country had made any thing on their property in the past two years. The company's tract of land opposite Clarkdale consists of about l,500 acres and Clark declared | the price paid for it was excep- | tionally high because at that time the United Verde Copper Company con- tcmplated locating its shelter on the property, but did not because the proper water rights could not be ob- tained He said that he thought un- occasionally that alfalfa was the pay ing proposition in the Upper Verde country.
 County Assessor Gentry told of making trip over to the company's land last Saturday and after thor ough examination was satisfied that the land is worth $400 per acre. He said that other people in the Upper Verde value their land at between $500 and $500 per acre. He bases his