40 



BULLETIN 654, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



FRUIT. 



Out of the 627 farms studied 19 were devoted chiefly to fruit 

 raising, Obtaining an average of 74.2 per cent of their total receipts 

 from fruit, and the enterprise was prominent on about a dozen 

 diversified farms. The fruit farms are nearly all small, the average 

 size of the 19 studied being 25 acres. The varieties of fruit grown were 

 chiefly peaches, apricots, grapes, and citrus fruits. (See fig. 12.) 



Fruit farming pays a relatively high farm income, considering 

 the size of the farms, but the labor income is less satisfactory because 

 of the large interest charge due to the high value placed on developed 



Fig. 12. — An orange grove in Salt River Valley. 



orchards. The enterprise is somewhat more speculative than such 

 enterprises as dairying or hay farming, and there are a proportion- 

 ately larger number of fruit growers who fail to make current interest 

 rates on their investment. 



A thorough study of the cost of developing orchards and of mar- 

 ket facilities will be necessary before any safe predictions can be 

 made regarding the possibilities of expanding this enterprise. Re- 

 sults obtained on the farms studied are as follows: Average receipts, 

 $2,288; farm income, $1,498; labor income, $205. Eight out of the 

 19 farms failed to pay current interest rates on the investment. 



TRUCK FARMING, HOME GARDENING, AND CANTALOUPES. 



Truck farming is carried on largely by Chinese and Japanese 

 gardeners, who also import large quantities of vegetables from 

 California and peddle them from house to house both in the towns 

 and in the country. The farms are all small and their number is 



