The Arizona sentinel., 1900-01-20
ARIZ0NA'S AGRICULTURAL PRO.
 DUCTS.

ianu are under cultivation in Ari- zona, the agricultural development of the Territory has only begun. Hundreds of thousands of sss.s of the most fertile soil on the con- tlnsnt, in land of perpetual sun- shine and in climate cendue;vs 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- gatlon Of vegetable life; next year these same sands will feel the .hrsb of the irrigation vein, and vbor. only the desert shrubs ones grew there will spring up luxurisnt vine. yards orchards heavy with dsliei- ons fruits, beautiful gardens and broad fields of grain and eras.., A prosperous population will find homes in the valleys of Ari.on.'s rivers, attracted no. enly by tbs luxury of life in land of etsrn., sunshine: wbero every breez. carries with It message of health and vlgor; where the scourges of othsr locailtles-blizzards, snow storms. floods and cyclones-are unknown, but also by the fertile soil whoss wonderful fecundity will enabl. man to reap the fruits of hi. labor, within an almost incredibly short space of time.
 The soil of the A.izona valleys is as inexhaustibls as it is fertile. For ages the streams have carried down from the mountain districts the detritus which forms this soil. Ere. quent inundations and shifting of channels have caused the deposit ofthe 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 black, alluyial mold near the water to rich, mellow, porous loam further back from the streams. The former is especially adapted to to the growth of grain and grasses, while the sandy loam fulfills all the conditions for successful fruit cul- tare. 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.
 Thereis scarcely locality on the globe that can successfully grow as great a variety of grains, grasses, fruits end 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, mill.t and all tEe grasses have luxuriant growth; cotton, sugar-cane, sugar beets, hemp, rice and tobacco thriys in the soil, while there is scarcely fruit under the sun-apples, pears, plams, peaches, apr,cots, quinces, nectarinea, dates, grapes, oranges, lemons, figs, Times, 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 consequences 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 remarkable feature ot Arizona soil. A cottonwood sapling becomes a 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 focks eff stock: but in later years 1t will be found that the era Of social and ;oI.llo.