Bisbee daily review. [volume] (Bisbee, Ariz.) 1901-1971, 1915-10-17
ARIZONA is NATURAL
GARDEN FOR GROWING
DATES, SAYS EXPERT
Valleys of State Lend Them
selves to Raising Crops Which
Will Bring Greater Returns
Than Almost ANY Other.


PHOENIX, oct. oct 15-'In view /
of the great possibilities which Ari- |
iona affords for date culture, and the |
increasing number who are engaged
i'm IT, there should be date growers |
association formed in the state for
mutual advantage. as well as to pre-
vent the organization OF fraudulent
land schemes, to float stock In date
orchards, as has been done elsewhere, "I
said W r. Nutting. who is an enthu
siast on the subject OF date growing,
and who is making his periodical Wis
it to Arizona to study the question.
This is Nutting's third visit to Ari-
iona this year on the same mission.
He came here first in January, then
in March and again this month He
has sixty acres Of the very best land
he could purchase i'm Fresno county
California. which he has planted in
dates While dates will do fairly well
on alkali land, they will do better on
non-alkai land, and, taking into con
sideration the returns which they viii
give he considers the very best land
none too good for growing them.
He has planted $1,000 seedlings on
the 60 acres He has planted this
amount so that he can thin them out
and select only the best trees. and
when his final selections are made he
viii have only 5000 trees, or so to the
acre.
He has planted 81 900 seedlings for
the reason that the offshoots are too
difficult to obtain, and If obtainable
az all are too expensive TO plant, cost.
ing SO each, or $3.50 per acre for the
trees alone, besides the expense Of
transplanting
The average production per tree is
from 100 TO 200 pounds or from two
and one-half to five tons per acre. as
/ il requires only one male tree to the
100 female for fertilizing the bloom
Of the fruit producing kind He says
that there are fifty trees twenty miles
east of Fresno which We're planted
40 years ago
/ Occasionally trees win grow suffi-
GENTLY in four or five years to deter
mine the fruit bearing ones from the
non-productive, but it is safer TO
count on te nor twelve years before
expecting any fruit of any quantity
After commencing to bear they will
continue for 100 years or more. in fact
indefinitely, TO produce fruit The
sex of the tree is easily determined
by the bloom and the excess Of males
can be thinned out, leaving only one to
each two acres.
The fruit is very nutritious and
there is no more palatable fruit grown
than this and he says it will be many.
very many years before this country.
even with the increasing interest in
the subject, viii produce enough to
supply the local consumption.
Even at the modest price of from
/ 3 to 10 cents per pound and with a
reasonable average crop each year.
Mr. Nutting figures that there is moth
ing which can be grown on the land
which viii bring as great returns and
with greater certainty Of producing a
crop.
Nutting organized the Associated
Raisin Growers Association of FIRES.
no county, which has now a member
ship of 5000 growers. This organiza-
ton was effected three years ago.
From his observations and investi-
cation Of the business, he pronounces
Arizona, or more particularly the Salt
River valley and perhaps other val
leys, where similar conditions exist.
as the ideal place for this business. It
is proving very successful in Yuma
county, and he is only surprised that
greater interest is not taken here in
the industry.