The Arizona sentinel., 1898-10-15
ARIZONA.

NuS 4NlAC DCSh CIl HASSOuc-ii anu W Gtj | Halfa, but somewhat cooler.
 ARIZONA.
 Arizona stands at the threshold of ar era of wonderful social and industrial de velopment. There can't be doubt about the fact. The dawn for which she has waited so long is breaking at last. There Is every promise of a day of great pros
 perity and permanent upbuilding just be. fore her. The impulse of a new and ener' gizing hope is visible everywhere among her people. while the cumulative effect oi many things, which made but small i'm pression as they transpired singly, Is now commanding for her full share of atten- ton and interest abroad among home seekers and capitalists.
 4 lively competition has sprung up for the possession of things which have hereto fore gone a-begging for ownership. There is @ scramble for franchises Nothing more surely indicates a great industrial awaken ing than this. The rates of interest arc falling to moderate figures. Nothing more surely indicates confidence and competition among the money lend IS than this.
 Arizona has reachei that climacticel period which every western state has ex- perienced sometime in its history when, after long aud weary struggle and doubt, with each side of the balance first up and then down. the clouds of despondency have suddenly rolled away, and a sunhurst of energiziug hope has thrilled the droop- ing spirits of the people to greater and braver endeavor than before.
 For the last twelve years the subsistence of the great Tombstone boom and the com | pletion of two transcontinental lines of railroad across her territory has rather dropped out of public attention, ] but in that time she has been quietly ac- cumulatiBg fund of substantial wealth and force of moral character which qualify her now to rise up and take her destiny in her own hands.
 The population of Arizona is Mexican i This is a mistake of great importance fro,l 1 the moral point of view. There is but one considerable center of Mexican population in the territory, the city of Tucson, and even there it is not by any means at pres ent the predominating element. It think ! it is certain that Arizona has not to-day nearly so large Mexican population as ! Colorado and not above One-tenth as much as New Mexico. -"Fitz- Mac," in Denver News.
 FRUIT CULTURE.
 i Fruit production throughout Arizona is a sub ject great interest at present, and will TO doubt, be the principal industry in Yuma County. The remarkable results that have sprung from very superficial and imperfect culture has de- monstrated that the soil and climate of Yuma ] County are peculiarly adapted for this branch of agricultural enterprise. The development of these | resources is of the utmost importance and is at tracting careful attention. Experiments 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 tbe most skept- ical, of t3s wonderful superiority of Yuma County over Southern California in fruit growing, and which must lead to large and varied production, of the most remuneratiye character.
 The Commissioner of Immigration in his report, published in l8S6, writes as follows of the rich valley 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 journeg to the sea. By constant overfows and change of channel the deposit of this rich vegetable matter has form ed soil of extreme fertility, Near ths streams it is a dark olluVio1 on ,foJ to al 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 in any part of the United States So rapid and prolific is the growth of the fruits cereals and vegetables that the labor of the cutivator is reduced to the minimum. In nearly all of them two crops year can be growth, and vegetation is one month ahead of California. The farmers plants a cottonwood sapling before his door, and within the year he has shade tree twenty-five feet high! Alfalfa be cut six times during the season, and it is an actual fact the grape cuttings have produced within eigh teen months! What State or Territory make such showing? The climate, it must be remem bered, is nearly perpetual summer. Snow never falls in these southern valleys. The farmer begins to plant in November and by the middle of May lis harvest is ready. Roses are in bloom, fruit trees are blossoming, and the grain fields a sea of green, when the fields of the Eastern farmers are covered with snow and ice.
 Every variety grains, grasses, fruits and vegc tables grown in the temperate and semi-tropic zones can be produced in the valleys of Alizona Wheat, corn barley oats and all the small grains ift,rh hr,cl a1- the acre. Alfalfa, clover, timothy, Bermuda and all the cultivated grasses grow luxuriantly, the former giving from eight to ten tons to the acre each year, Every variety of vegetable raised in the United States can be grown in Arizona, and nowhere are they found of better quality.
 ''Besdes the products mentioned, these semi tropical valleys produce cotton, sugarcane to- | bacco hemp and rice With the exception of the sugarcane but little attention is paid to the cuti vaton of other staples; but it has been demonstrat ed that the soil and climate specially adapted to their successful growth. Cotton growing is no experiment in Arizona, for it is on record that | when the Europeans first penetrated this region, | they found the Pima Indians wearing fabrics 1 made of cotton grown in the Gila valley. ''But it is their adaptabillty for fruit culture that assures to these valley lands dense popula- | tion and aprosperous future. Almost every var ety known can be raised ill their fruitful soils The apple, pear plum, peach, apricot, quince and nee tarine, are of delicious flavor, and give gen erous yield. The grape of all varieties isa home in these sunny wales. No plece in the grape-grow- ing belt of the Pacific Coast can show so prolific yield. Tine quality is all that could be desired md the wine, althoughit it's manufacture is yet ex-