The Arizona sentinel., 1899-12-02
ARIZOXA'S AGRICULTURAL PRO.
 DUCTS.

zona, the agricultural development I of the Territory has only begun. Hundreds of thousands of acres of the most fertile soil on the con- tinent, in land of perpetual sun shine and in a climate conducive to the growth of all the products of temperate and semi-tropic zones, await only the life-giving touch of water to convert them from desert tracts into luxurious gardens. This year the hot sands defy the propa- gation of vegetable life; next year these same sands will feel the throb of the irrigation vein, and where only the desert shrubs once grew there will spring up luxuriant vine yards, orchards heavy with delici- ons fruits, beautiful gardens and broad fields of grain and grasses. A prosperous population will find homes in the valleys of Arizona's rivers, attracted not only by the luxury of life in land of eternal sunshine. whero every breeze carries with 1t a message of health and vigor; where the scourges of other localities-blizzards, snow storms, floods and cyclones-are unknown, but also by the fertile soil whose wonderful fecundity will enable man to reap the fruits of bis labors within an almost incredibly short space of time.
 The soil of the A,izona valleys is as inexhaustible as it is fertile. For ages the streams have carried down from the mountain districts the detritus which forms this soil. Fre- quent inundations and shifting of channels have caused the deposit of the rich vegetable matters which have made the valleys of the Terri tory, and especially those of the Salt, Gila and Colorado rivers, so wonderfully fertile. The soil ranges from a black, alluvial mold near the water to a rich, mellow, porous loam further back from the streams. The former is especially adapted to to the growthOf grain and grassseess, while the sandy loam fulflIs all the conditions for successful fruit cul- ture. The growth of all products fruits, cereals and vegetables-is rapid and prolific. In many in- stances two crops are grown in a single year, while as many as SIX crops of alfalfa have been harvested within that period.
 There is scarcely locality on the globe that can successfully grow as great a variety of grains, grasses, fruits and vegetables as Arizona. Wheat, oats, barley, corn and all the smaller cereals yield enormous crops; every variety of vegetable known in the country is grown in Arizona, and every variety reaches the acme of perfection. Alfalfa, clover, timothy, Kafir corn, millet and all the grasses have luxuriant growth; cotton, sugar-cane, sugar beets, hemp, rice and tobacco thrive in the soil, while there is scarcely a fruit under the sun-apples, pears, plums, peaches, aprlcots, quinces, nectarines, dates, grapes, oranges, lemons, figs, Hines, olives, pome- granates and others of the citrus genus, all of delicious flavor that cannot be raised in the rich, sandy loam. Fruits ripen a month earlier in the Territory than in California, and in consequence of their being placed on the early market bring better price than the fruit products of the coast.
 The prolific and rapid growth of vegetation is a remarkable feature ot Arizona soil. A cottonwood saplirg becomes shadetree twenty five feet high within two years; grape cuttings often produce within eighteen to twenty months; the farmer plants Tn November and by May his crop is ready to be harvest ed. Alfalfa yields from eight to ten tons per acre each year, and the cereals from twenty-five to fifty bushels per acre.
 A review of the agricultural con- ditions that prevail in Arizona shows that the future of the Terri tory depends not upon her mining industries alone, nor on her timber, nor her herds and foc@ of stock; but in later years It viii .be found that the era of social and intellec- tual development which she is even