FARM ORGANIZATION TN SOUTHERN ARIZONA. 3 



The sale of pasture is an important side line to hay farming, but 

 when made a major enterprise is not as profitable as hay farming. 



Fattening beef cattle for the market is a popular and profitable 

 enterprise on the larger farms. 



The enterprises that do not depend upon alfalfa for their exist- 

 ence are cotton farming, grain farming, fruit farming, poultry farm- 

 ing, and trucking and gardening. 



Cotton farming is a new enterprise, based on an acclimatized variety 

 of Egyptian cotton which promises to be a profitable rotation crop 

 with alfalfa. 



Grain farming is relatively profitable-only on the cheaper lands. 

 Poultry raising is a profitable enterprise, especially on the small 

 farms, and is an important side line on farms of all sizes. 



Fruit farming is relatively profitable on the small farms, though 

 fruit lands are so highly valued that they often fail to pay current 

 interest rates on their valuation. They furnish a relatively high 

 standard of living and a relatively low standard of wages to the 

 farmer. 



Trucking and gardening are unpopular, and are believed by most 

 of the farmers in the districts to be unprofitable. Cantaloupes are 

 highly speculative, sometimes returning high profits and sometimes 

 failing to pay freight bills on shipments. 



Diversified farming when based on dairying or poultry is relatively 

 more profitable than hay farming, but not as profitable as dairying. 

 It has made its best development on farms of medium size where 

 dairying and poultry are strongly emphasized among the diversified 

 enterprises. 



Some adaptation of type to size of farm is necessary; poultry raising, 

 dairying, and fruit farming being required on small farms, dairying 

 being adapted to the farms of medium size, and the beef-cattle enter- 

 prise giving the best returns on the larger farms. 



The amount of capital required varies with the size of the farm 

 and the enterprises to be selected. The farm mcome and labor 

 income rise almost directly with increase in capital invested. 



Farmers with little means find it more profitable to rent than to 

 buy land, and the renter makes relatively much more for his labor, 

 which is his chief asset, than the owner farmer. This is due to a low- 

 renting value of land compared with its commercial value, landlords 

 making an average of 4.87 per cent net on the valuation of their 

 lands. 



Here, as in most other farming regions, the size of the farm has a 

 direct bearing upon the standard of living afforded the operator, and 

 also upon the wages he receives for his labor. There is a constant 

 and steady rise in both labor income and farm income as the average 

 size of the farms rises from 11 acres in the smallest-size group to 530 



