38 



BULLETIN 654, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The table shows very little in favor of either system over the other. 

 Considering the larger size of the farms the farm income in the 

 group of farms upon which double cropping is practiced is ahout 

 as much larger than that of the other group as could be expected 

 from the influence of the factor of size alone. The labor income is 

 proportionally larger, but this is due largely to the cheaper lands 

 upon which double cropping was practiced. None of the farmers 

 whose farms are listed in the double-cropped group treated as much 

 as 100 per cent of their grain lands in this manner, and some did not 

 double crop more than 20 per cent of them. For a single season the 

 income from grain farming is much greater when double cropping 

 is practiced than where only a single crop is grown, and there is no 

 evidence that the grain sorghum interferes with the growth of the 

 succeeding alfalfa crop. It appears, then, that when the object of 

 grain farming is primarily for the purpose of rotating an alfalfa 

 field double cropping may be profitably practiced. 



Of 627 farms studied, there were 42 upon which the greater portion 

 of the receipts was obtained from grain and 22 upon which grain 

 farming was combined with some other enterprise. The results 

 obtained are shown in Table XVI. 



Table XVI. — Results obtained with grain farming in the irrigated valleys of southern 



Arizona, 1913-1915. 



Type of farming and percentage of receipts 

 from principal enterprises. 



Grain, 62.8.. 

 Grain, 36.4.. 

 Hay, 43.7... 

 Grain, 44.8.. 

 Poultry, 23.4 



Number 

 of farms. 



Average 

 area. 



Acres. 

 203 



97 

 30 



Number 

 failing to 

 make 8 

 per cent. 



Average 

 receipts. 



85, 187 

 3,212 



1,170 



Average 



farm 

 income. 



82,807 

 1,803 



835 



Average 



labor 

 income. 



8541 

 143 



COTTON FARMING. 



Cotton farming is a new enterprise in iVrizona, making its first 

 appearance ' in Salt River Valley in 1912, when several hundred 

 acres were grown. In 1913 the enterprise expanded to over 4,000 

 acres, and in 1914 it had expanded to 11,501 acres in Salt River 

 Valley and 2,260 acres in Yuma Valley, according to the crop report 

 of the United States Reclamation Service for that year." The low 

 price obtained for the crop of 1914 set the acreage in Salt River 

 Valley back to less than 2,000 in 1915 and almost eliminated the 

 crop from Yuma Valley. The price paid for Egyptian cotton lint 

 averaged about 15 cents a pound in 1914, while in previous years 



1 About 100 acres of cotton were grown at Arlington in 1908 and a gin was built to take care of the crop, 

 but the venture was not a commercial success at this time and so the real beginning of the enterprise was 

 in 1912, since which date more or less cotton has been grown every season. 



