THE IRRIGA TION A GE. 247 



to the expense. The eastern counties, largely settled by Mormons from 

 Utah, partake much of the methods peculiar to those people, and canals 

 are constructed by a union of labor without any great amount of money. 

 Western and southern counties have larger and more strictly corpora- 

 tion investments but the average cost to the farmer is practically the 

 same, location and proximity to market considered. 



Southern Idaho is one of the best fruit growing sections of the north- 

 west. Several prizes awarded at the World's Fair and other places for 

 general exhibits, prove the superiority of apples, prunes and apricots^ 

 while other fruits of a temperate climate are equally as good. In the 

 vicinity of Boise fruit growers report an average of 250 pounds of 

 prunes and plums, 500 pounds of apples, 00 pounds of peaches and 

 pears per tree after the bearing season begins, which varies from three 

 to six years from planting, according to variety. In some instances these 

 yields are doubled. One man who is not alone by any means, says he 

 marketed 400 pounds of early peaches from one tree, at six cents a pound 

 or $24 in cash as the product from that tree, with others correspondingly 

 valuable. Again, a man picked the fruit of an ordinary apple tree, 

 ground the apples into cider, 18 pounds making one gallon, which was 

 sold at 50 cents a gallon, giving $38 as the actual product of the tree, 

 after expenses had been deducted. 



The entire Snake River valley in which are several towns, as Nampa, 

 Weiser, Payette and Mountain Home, is included in the fruit growing 

 district, and yield excellent crops of peanuts, sweet potatoes, onions and 

 vegetables in addition to the regular farm crops. A general farmer at 

 Nampa reports growing 200 to 600 bushels OL potatoes, 200 to 500 bush- 

 els of onions and 17 to 33 tons of beets per acre. Watermelons grow lux- 

 uriously, one man marketing $117 worth and giving away eight wagon 

 loads from a half acre patch. Wheat averages 40 bushels, oats 45, bar- 

 ley 50 and other cereals proportionately to the acre. Some eastern 

 Idaho farmers get over 75 bushels of oats from an acre and instances of 

 much higher yields are recorded by truthful parlies whose words cannot 

 be doubted. Hops is one of the important and growing farm industries 

 of the Snake valley and those engaged in the business have good re- 

 turns for the investment. 



Local markets consume much of theldahofarm and garden products, 

 and, as is always the case in western mining districts, the home market 

 is better than^ where the farmer comes in competition with the general 

 producers of the world. The northern counties have numerous valuable 

 ore producing mines and mining towns demanding everything produced. 

 The outside markets are reached by the Oregon Short Line railway, 

 which has a trackage of over 1,000 miles, extending through the state 

 north and south, east and west, connecting all the important shipping 

 points with the Pacific Coast and inland market cities. In 1895, accord- 

 ing to the report of the department of agriculture the Idaho production 

 of hay was 459,598 tons, valued at $2,872,488, and the potato crop aggre- 



