The Arizona sentinel., 1900-01-31
ARIZONA'S AGRICULTURAL PRO.
 DUCTS.

Although thousands of acres If land are under cultivation in Ari- zona, the agricultural developmeu% ot the Territory has only begun. Hundreds of thousands of acres of the most fertile soil on the con- tlnent' in a land of perpetual sum- 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- gatlon of vegetable life; next year these same sands will feel the .brob of the irrigation veIn, and where only the desert shrubs once grew there will spring up luxuriant vine. yards, orchards heavy with del;ci- 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 enIy by the luxury of life in land of eternal sunshine: whero every breeze carries with It a message of health and vIgor; where the scourges of otrer
 localliles-blizzards, snow storms
 floods and cyclones-are unknown
 but also by the fertile soil whose wonderful feeundity will enable man to reap the fruits of his 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 tbs detritus which forms this soil. Ere , quent inundations and shifting of channels have caused the deposit
 ot the rich vegetable matters which have made the valleys of the Terri tory, and especially those of the ? Salt, Glla and Colorado rivers, SO wonderfully fertile. The soil ranges
 from black, alluvial mold near the water to rich, mellow, porous
 foam further back from the streams. The former is especially adapted to ' to the growth of grain and grasses while the sandy loam fulfIls all the
 conditions for successful fruit cul- tHre The growth of all products fruits, cereals and vegetables-is
 rapid and prolific. In many in- stances two crops are grown in s single year, while as many as SIX
 crops of alfalfa have been harvested 1 "ltHIH tIldG period.
 There Is scarcely locality on the globe that can successfully grow as great 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 tee grasses have luxuriant growth; cotton, sugar-cane, sugar beets, hemp, rice and tobacco thrive Tn the soil, while there is scarcely a fruit under the sun-apples, pears, plums, peaches, aprlcots, quinces, nectarines, 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 CalIfcrnia, 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 bv 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 timben nor her herds and focks of etcoL!