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 irvd 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 investi<ra- 
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 
