• FARM ORGANIZATION IN SOUTHERN ARIZONA. 15 



woolly aphis have interfered with the development of apple orchards, 

 while lack of dependable markets has prevented any great develop- 

 ment of the stone fruits. On the whole, considerably less fruit is 

 produced in the valley now than formerly. 



Until very recently the excellent market for alfalfa hay has prevented 

 any great development of dairying and beef production. One cream- 

 ery is operated at Safford, but it is not sufficiently well patronized to 

 enable it to operate at its full capacity. A few men feed steers for 

 the market, and a few hogs are raised, but the production and sale 

 of alfalfa hay is by far the most important enterprise carried on. 

 Poultry is an important side line to other enterprises here, as in both 

 the other valleys described. 



Transportation is furnished by the Gila Valley, Globe & North- 

 western Railroad, which leaves the main line of the Southern Pacific 

 at Bowie and extends to Globe, traversing the entire length of the 



valley. 



METHOD OF INVESTIGATION. 



The farmers were visited personally by the investigator, and a 

 complete record of a year's business obtained. To take into account 

 the effect of economic or climatic differences in seasons the investiga- 

 tion was extended over a period of three years, beginning with the 

 year 1913. Complete records were obtained of the business trans- 

 acted on. 162 farms during the year 1913, and similar records were 

 obtained on 378 farms for 1914 and on 185 farms for 1915, making a 

 total of 725 farms studied during the three years. Ninety-eight of 

 these records were either inaccurate or the farms were not considered 

 typical of the districts studied and were eliminated from the general 

 tabulations presented in this bulletin. 



The area studied in Salt River Valley extends in a belt 40 miles 

 long from Peoria in the northwest part of the valley to Gilbert in the 

 southwest. At Peoria the belt has a width of 14 miles. It narrows 

 to a width of 2 miles at Tempe, and widens again to 11 miles at Mesa 

 and Gilbert. With few exceptions, every farm in this belt was 

 visited, and studies were made on all typical farms that had been in 

 operation long enough to have established a definite system of farm- 

 ing. The total area of the farms studied in this valley is 59,676 acres, 

 or nearly one-third of the total area cultivated. 



In Yuma Valley, studies were made on the farms in the upper end 

 of the valley near Yuma and those in the lower end of the valley sur- 

 rounding Somerton. In addition to these, all farms within 2 miles of 

 the road connecting these two localities were visited. In this way 

 farms on practically all the soil types of the valley were studied, the 

 majority of them being on the two more common types, the Imperial 

 loam and the Imperial sandy loam. The total area of the farms 

 studied in this valley is 6,486 acres, or a little more than one-fourth 

 of the area under cultivation in 1915. 

 32657°— 18— Bull. 654 -3 



