FARM ORGANIZATION IN SOUTHERN ARTZONA. 41 



not large. Only a few records on such farms were taken. The re- 

 sults obtained on six truck farms averaging 14.5 acres and upon 

 which truck contributed 84.3 per cent of the total receipts were: 

 Average total receipts, $824; farm income, $478; labor income, $1 10. 



Even home gardening is unpopular, gardens being found upon 

 but 22.7 per cent of the farms studied. It is claimed by those who 

 do not have gardens and by many who do that gardening does not 

 pay. Gardens must be irrigated oftener than once per week and 

 after every irrigation they must be cultivated. It is not always 

 convenient to receive the water upon a farm at the time when the 

 garden needs watering, and garden irrigation is therefore neglected. 

 During the summer season the intense heat makes it difficult or 

 impossible for women and children to work in the garden, while 

 larger and more profitable farm enterprises require all the time of 

 man labor. Weeds grow rapidly and all soils but the more sandy 

 ones harden quickly after irrigation, even when cultivated, making 

 an uncongenial home for garden plants. Gardening may be carried 

 on during the winter months, but the number of plants growing 

 during this season is limited, their growth is slow, and they are often 

 injured by frosts. Plant lice multiply rapidly at all seasons of the 

 year and are a constant menace to garden plants. Chinese peddlers 

 import vegetables from California and visit the farmers two or three 

 times a week, extending their routes out as far as 14 miles from the 

 city, and sell vegetables at prices stated by the farmers to be lower 

 than it would cost them to produce them on their farms. Many 

 farmers had kept books on their gardening operations, and these 

 were very positive in their statements that the enterprise does not 

 pay. In the Gila Valley, where the climate is somewhat cooler, 

 gardening could be more successfuly carried on in spring and summer 

 than in either Salt River Valley or Yuma Valley; but here the water 

 runs are more irregular and less certain and therefore gardening is 

 but little more popular than in the other two valleys. 



Approximately 2,000 acres of cantaloupes are planted every year 

 in Salt River Valley, but the enterprise is not found to any extent 

 in either of the two other valleys. They are grown almost exclu- 

 sively on contracts with eastern commission firms, who furnish the 

 seed and send inspectors to the field to superintend cultivation, 

 picking, and packing. The firms contract to advance a stated amount 

 per crate when the cantaloupes are received for shipment, the amount 

 rarely exceeding the cost of production and more frequently not equal- 

 ing it. The cantaloupes are then shipped and sold on commission, 

 the charge by the firm usually being 15 per cent, the farmer paying 

 all expenses, including freight, icing, cartage, and cost of crates. 

 The returns received by the farmers fluctuate violently, being some- 

 times high enough to make the enterprise extremely profitable and 



