Douglas daily dispatch., 1927-09-25


leading citizens of the whole of CO.
chise county feel that it. is fitting
that each year many thousands OF
dollars should be devoted to the prep
arationS for the annual Cochise
county fair the only conclusion that
one can draw is that there is some
good reason for holding the fair and
that this reason must be apparent to
those who attend the event.
Probably the one single department.
which holds the largest number OF
reasons why this fair is held every
year is the agricultural department.
The fair is held chiefly for the pur-
pose of displaying to the world the
products or the symbols of the
wealth of this county and it is in
the agricultural department that this
wealth is displayed to the best ad-
vantage.
Men boast that on the soil of the
fertile plains and on the sloping
sides of the mountains of this county
any known fruit or vegetable that
may be produced in any temperate
climate and many that are consid-
cred as products of semi-tropical
COuA1OIlCO, l1ldy Nc PAOAONOA" AAANJ
boast further that given the proper
attention and care all of these things
will grow better, larger and more
beautiful in this county than they
will anywhere else on earth.
It is one of the hopes of the men
and women who work and who give
freely of their money for this fair
every year that sooner or later the
world may come to see, through this
fair that these boasts are true, for
these people know that just as soon
as great many people all over the
United States know about the fer
tility and prOductiyEless of the soil
of this county, then they will flock
here in great numbers to till the soil
and Cocllise county will be marked
on. the maps as the center or one OF
the most productive agricultural belts
on earth. That means great wealth,
great cities, and the realization OF
the dreams and ideals that these
people have fought for and worked
for since the first white men trekked
across the sulphur Springs valley and
called it barren desert.
Everyone has heard the question,
"What have they got out at the fair
grounds that Is worth Seeing? That
is a natural question. 1t is peculiar
thing that one might drive up and
down the highways of this county
for years and never see much OF
anything growing anywhere except
the grass, mesquite and careless
weeds that God soWed a million years
ago. That is the reason that SO
many people cannot realize that
within the boundaries of this county
there are raised every year the finest
fruits and vegetables ever produced
anywhere in the world.
For instance, this year in the great
agricultural building at the fair, the
visitor will be given chance to see
an Egyptian squash as large as
vinegar barrel and weighing more
than 100 pounds. The visitor will be
given chance to prove to his own
satisfaction that this squash was
raised within 10 miles of Douglas, in
Cochise county, that its entire 100
pounds of rich, yellow meat is just as
fine textured and will make as fine
a pie as any pumpkin ever grown
anywhere. If the. visitor investigates
lie Will 1lIlQ b1ldI gA14S Ley pG4cI44 SAcSAAo
was brought here from Egypt a few
years ago in a package of little
seeds, that the foreigner took a lik-
ing to Cochise county soil at once
and that in the garden where he pro-
duced his vines and fruit have
created riot of greenery and great
mounds. The mounds are the
squashes and the greenery is the
vines which grow to mammoth pro-
portions and produce SO many of the
giant squashes that so far no Sui
phur Springs valley farmer has
planted more than dozen seeds
each year for fear that the growing
plants would over-run his entire
holdings.
One of the men who raises some
of the purple ribbon Egyptian
squashes has told The Dispatch that
for all of one extremely dry summer
he sat on his porch and watched the
great hardy plant rising up, pushing
everything else aside. He watched
the plant carefully and dreaded the