The Arizona sentinel., 1888-02-25

attracting careful attention. Ex- periments have been made, with care, and facts in regard to the culture of different kinds of fruits have been collected which cannot fail to convince, even the most skeptical, of the wonderful superl- ority of Yuma County over South ern California in fruit-growing, and which must lead to large and varied production of the most re- munerative character.
 The Commissioner of hnmigra- tion in his report, published in 1886, writes as follows of the rich valleys of the Gila, Colorado and Salt rivers:
 "The soil of these valleys is among the richest on the continent. It is formed of the detritus, which the streams for ages have brought down from their mountain homes in their journey to the sea. By constant overfows and change of channel, the deposit of this rich vegetable matter has formed a soil of extreme fertility. Near the streams it is a dark alluvial mold, we'll adapted to small grains and grasses. Farther back there is a rich sandy loam, mellow and porous, and especially favorable for fruit culture. It has been already demonstrated that the productive capacity of these valleys is not surpassed by lands of equal area in any part of the United States. So rapid and prolific is the growth of fruits, cereals and vegetables that the labor of the cuftivator is reduced to the mini mum. In nearly all of them two crops year can be grown, and vegetation is one month ahead of California. The farmer plants a cottonwood sapling before his door, and within the year he has a shade tree twenty five feet high! Alfalfa can be cut six times during the season, and it is an actual fact that the grape cuttings have produced within eighteen months! What State or Territory can make such a showing? The climate, it must be remember ed, is nearly perpetual summer. Snow never falls in these southern valleys. The farmer begins to plant in November, and by the middle of May his harvest is ready. Roses are in bloom, fruit trees are blossoming, and the grain fields are sea of green, when the fields of the Eastern farmer are covered with snow and ice.
 Every variety of vegetable raised in the United States can be grown in Arizona, and nowhere are they found of better quality.
 Besides the products mentioned, these semi-tropical valleys produce cotton, sugar-cane, tobacco, hemp and rice. With the exception of the sugar-cane, but little attention is paid to the cultivation of the other staples; but it has been demonstrated that the soil and climate are specially adapted to their successful growth. Cotton growing is no experiment in Arizona, for 1t is on record that when the Europeans first penetrated this region, they found the Pima Indians wearing fabrics made of cotton grown in the Gila valley.
 The foregoing statements are not exaggerated; in fact, they fall short of doing justice to this wonderful land. Pineapples, dates, almonds and walnuts will do we'll. Straw berries, raspberries, blackberries, entrants, gooseberries, and all vari- cites of small fruits can be success fully cultivated. Indeed, Yuma County is not only the natural home of the citrus and semi tropical fruits, as almost every fruit, nut, plant, grain, grass or vegetable which can be produced in either tropic or temperate zone, will thrive in its rich and fertile soils