The Arizona sentinel., 1900-02-07
AGRICULTURAL PRO.
 DUCTS.

land are under cultivation in Ari- .ona, the agricultural development of the Territory has enly begun. Hundreds of thousands of acreAef the most fertile soil on the con- tinent, in land of perpetual sun- shine and in 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 prepa- gatlon of vegetable life; next year these same sands will feel the shrob Of the irrigation veln, and where only the desert shrubs once grew there will spring up Iuxuriant 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 enly by the luxury of life in land of eterna! sunshine. whero every breeze carries with It a message of health and Vl2or; where the scourges of otcer i"calities-blizzards, snow storms floods and cyclones-are unknown but also by the fertile soil whose wonderful fecundity will enable man tn 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 the 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, Gila and Colorado rivers, SO wonderfully fertile. The soil ranges from a black, alluvial mold near the water to a 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 fulills all the conditions for successful fruit cuI- tqre. 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 gl be that can successfully grow as great variety of grains, grasses. fruits end vegetab bles as Arizona. Wheat, oats, barley, corn and all the smaller cereals yleld enormous crops; every variety of vegetablr. known in the country is grown in Arizona, and every variety reaches the acme of perfection. Alfalfa. clover, timothy, Kaffir corn, millet and all tce grasses have luxariant growth; cotton, sugar-cane. sugar beets. hemp, rice and tobacco thrive in the soil while there is scarcely fruit under the sun-apples, pears, plums, peaches, aprlcots, euinces, 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 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 soii. A cottonwood saplir g 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 mber, nur her herds and fiocks of stock; but in later years It will De found