2276 NORTH AMERICAN STATES 



NORTH AMERICAN STATES 



the mean minimum temperature is 48.9 F. and the 

 mean maximum 81.9. 



An average of fifteen to twenty-five clear days and 

 74 to 89 per cent of sunshine occurs each month during 

 the growing season. But intense radiation during the 

 night diminishes somewhat the effect of the warm days. 

 In northern Nevada, the growing season fluctuates 

 from 77 to 168 days; in central Nevada from 52 to 139; 

 and in southern Nevada from 130 to 240, the normal 

 in each case lying midway between the two extremes. 

 However, in the latter section the intense heat of the 

 summer retards rather than accelerates growth. 



The two great industries of the state are mining and 

 agriculture, with a gross income for the former of 

 approximately $35,000,000 and the latter of $15,000,- 

 000. 



Irrigation is practised on approximately 90 per cent 

 of the farms in Nevada, and little development of any 

 source of water-supply other than streams has yet been 

 made. Reservoirs still furnish only 5 per cent of the 

 water used. The era of wells is just beginning. Dry- 

 farming, which is necessarily limited to those parts of 

 the state possessing a precipitation in excess of 12 to 15 

 inches, now embraces at least 4,000 acres. 



Because of the preponderance of range land, forage 

 crops have been greatly in excess of intensive crops and 

 fruit, but seem now to have attained their highest 

 acreage until the range is made capable of supporting a 

 greater amount of live-stock, or until dairying and 

 intensive stock-raising are established. The present 

 (1915) value and relative importance of each is as 

 follows: 



Forage crops $5,488,250 



Cereals 1,838,400 



Intensive crops 1,125,000 



Fruit 200,000 



On the basis of the forage crops, the intensive and 

 fruit crops represent a value of 20 and 3.6 per cent 

 respectively. 



Except hi the matter of frost, Nevada is ideally 

 adapted for the growing of fruit; the clear skies and 

 cool climate aid materially in producing fruit of fine 

 external appearance and unusually delicate flavor. In 

 northern Nevada, apples, plums, pears, and the hardier 

 cherries are readily grown, while southern Nevada is 

 congenial to the growing of peaches, pears, apricots, 

 pomegranates, figs, olives, quinces, grapes, and almonds. 

 The growing of citrous fruits is effectually prevented by 

 the temperature of 20 F. that regularly occurs in the 

 winter and by an occasional drop in temperature to 

 10 or even 9 F. 



Seventy per cent of the orchard-fruits and grapes 

 grown in Nevada are produced in three counties: 

 Washoe, in 1910, producing 49.5 per cent; Nye, 12; Elko, 

 8.5. Lyon and Churchill counties are coming into prom- 

 inence as potential producers of fruit. All of the stand- 

 ard varieties of apples are found in Nevada. 



The frequency and duration of frost varies with 

 elevation. According to a temperature survey of Wa- 

 shoe and Churchill counties, the temperature has been 

 found to vary 8 in a rise of 13.5 feet and only 9.5 in 

 250 feet, the average variation being probably not more 

 than half of these amounts. It has been found that an 

 increase in elevation of 250 feet is accompanied by a 

 decrease in the number of occurrences of frost of fourteen 

 to five hi a season and a decrease in the duration of 

 freezing temperatures from at least forty to sixteen 

 hours. 



In the bottom lands of northern and western Nevada, 

 the fruit crop fluctuates approximately as follows: full 

 crop one year in five; total failure one year in five; and 

 three half crops. In the foothills, only one total failure 

 has been recorded in twenty-five seasons. At one 

 point, 1,000 feet above the valley, apricot and almond 

 trees, unknown to produce fruit elsewhere in northern 

 and western Nevada, grow secure from frost. On the 



average, two heatings a season should save the Nevada 

 crop, except in the coldest spots or in abnormal years. 



The bench lands along the Sierra Nevada and the 

 Ruby mountains compare closely in temperature with 

 Provo, Utah, but are inferior to Grand Junction, Colo- 

 rado. Furthermore, dry orcharding in these lands, as 

 based on a five years' test, with an average annual 

 precipitation of 13.61 inches, has proved successful, 

 Ben Davis apples from the Elko County Dry Farm 

 having received first prize at the State Fair in 1914. 



The type of apple best adapted economically to 

 Nevada is a late and long bloomer. Such is the so- 

 called Nevada Sheepnose which has never been known 

 to fail utterly. It is, moreover, a late keeper. 



Most of the orchards and orchard land in Nevada 

 are adjacent to railroads, but owing to the uncertainty 

 regarding the crop, little effort is made to keep the 

 orchards free from insect pests or to grade the fruit for 

 marketing. Consequently, even the local markets are 

 controlled largely by the California product. The 

 orchards are usually small. Orchards of 20 to 50 acres 

 are known, but these are very rare. The largest orchard 

 is said to have 160 acres. Pears, plums, and cherries 

 are grown only for family use. 



In southern Nevada, apricots find a congenial en- 

 vironment because of the rainless weather at the time 

 of ripening. Shipments of early fruit as well as the 

 evaporated product find a ready market. For the same 

 reason, and also because of a steadily increasing demand, 

 almonds should be an ideal crop. Furthermore, the 

 almond requires less moisture than most deciduous 

 fruits. 



The seedless grape industry is limited largely to acre 

 tracts on each farm. One 50-acre vineyard is known. 

 The grapes are shipped as raisins, but no attempt has 

 been made to market them in carlots. 



Of lesser fruits, the Mission and White Adriatic figs 

 have been produced for years without a failure, and other 

 varieties show especial promise. The Mission olives 

 also "have withstood all extremes of temperature, and 

 the few trees growing indicate possibilities of a new 

 industry." Pears and quinces thrive in this climate, 

 although the latter are not grown extensively. Peaches, 

 especially the Elbertas, being short-lived, are grown 

 only for home use. 



In northern and western Nevada, raspberries, being 

 late bloomers, are an unfailing crop. Currants and 

 gooseberries are usually successful. Strawberries do 

 well on the hill slopes. In southern Nevada, black- 

 berries and dewberries are the most adaptable of the 

 small-fruits; currants, gooseberries, raspberries, and 

 strawberries are grown only with great care. 



Owing to the scattered population and the control 

 of the wholesale fruit industry by California companies, 

 it will be difficult to increase the horticultural acreage, 

 unless concerted action is taken to develop the home as 

 well as the foreign market. However, the impending 

 increase in the dairy industry with resultant increase 

 in population should stimulate the fruit industry; and 

 since fruit requires, after the root system is developed, 

 from 25 to 50 per cent less water than farm crops, it 

 seems probable that fruit-culture on the higher slopes 

 may become an independent industry, particularly so if 

 combined with other intensive agriculture such as the 

 raising of bees and poultry. 



Of intensive crops, potatoes seem to be the coming 

 premier crop in Nevada. Of the 840,000 acres of land 

 now under actual cultivation, at least 150,000 acres 

 are said to be adapted to potato-culture. The Inter- 

 mountain States, because of their porous soils, moderate 

 summer temperature, and control of moisture through 

 irrigation, are well adapted to the raising of excellent 

 potatoes, and Nevada especially so because of its prox- 

 imity to the markets of California and the low shipping 

 rates via the Panama Canal to New York. Under fair 

 cultivation, five tons or 170 bushels of potatoes to the 



