The age-herald., 1901-11-17
EIGHT FEET IN SEVEN WEEKS.
Wonderful Growth of Sorghum Under
 Irrigation In California.
From the Los Angeles Herald.

From the Los Angeles Herald
 A record of amazing productiveness is presented in a field of sorghum, planted June 29, which attained a growth of stall. eight or nine feet high in seven weeks. That record shows a part of what has been accomplished in reclaim ing the Colorado desert in southeastern California.
 All previous records of plant growth in California, long famous for marvellous promotions, are vastly exceeded by this one, which equals any story in the an- nals of Egypt, showing the fertility of the delta of the Nile. This first crop of sorghum will yield From five to ten tons of cured hay to the acre, which is worth S5 ton on the ground, thus returning the growers not less than $25 per acre.
 Large fields of millet,7 planted under the same conditions, have made like astonishing growth, the yield being three and a half tons of hay to the acre. About 1400 acres have been seeded to sorghum and millet, most of it near the Mexican boundary line. It is estimated that at least 100000 acres will be seeded this fall and winter to alfalfa, wheat barley and other crops.
 These astounding results of the first ap-
 
 delta soil, made, too, in midsummer, and as an experiment, only indicate the pos abilities of this old desert when it has become moist thirty or forty feet deep by ample winter and summer irrigation for twenty years, with evaporation checked by the shade of two enormous yearly crops, and by orchards and other trees.
 Othera uthentic facts are at hand which show what has been done to reclaim sim liar desert land across the Colorado river south of Yuma, in Arizona, but with much less effective irrigation.
 On the Arizona side are many excellent fields of wheat and barley, also numer- ous fields of luxuriant alfalfa several healthy young orchards fig trees of re- markable growth and vigor set out long the irrigation ditches, and all this has been accomplished in a few seasons by people of moderate financial resources, but boundless courage and unyielding per severance.
 The reported yield of wheat and barley on this moderately irrigated delta land is from forty to sixty bushels per acre, and from eight to ten tons of alfalfa hay. At Yuma the growth and vigor of the fig, pomegranate and pepper trees attracts attention, for the conditions of growth are practically the same as on the Cali fornia side of the river.
 At Indio on the northwestern rim or this great Colorado desert, where an ann pie supply of artesian water for irriga- ton has been found quite near the sur face, the wonderful crops of alfalfa, mel ons and vegetables obtained from this forbidding land within the past year have made the place famous and added another demonstration of the fact that the desolation of the desert Is soon to give place to the joyousness and beauty of perennial vegetation and the delights of home where nature is bountiful and benignant, for during autumn, winter and spring the climate is very enjoyable, and the heat of summer causes no pros tration, illness or death, which cannot be said of the Mississippi and Missouri valleys, or the Middle, Southern and Eastern States comprising more than three-quarters of the United States and about nine-tenths of the population of the country.
 No malaria has been developed during the summer as the effect of flooding the growing crops for more than a month. and there are more than two hundred people in the valley, most of them with out adequate shelter, including many families and large number of children, for whom public school has already been provided, and yet there has been no sickness among them whatever. and no time has been lost by reason of ex- cessiye heat by the men at work on the canal or tiling and irrigating the land.
 The soil has been made during untold ages by alluvial deposits carried down by the waters of the Colorado river, and is or unknown depth. Moreover, the water of this river carries more fertilizers than are carried by the waters of any other river in the world not even executing rhf1 Of therefore, as fertile as soil can be, and when 1t is cultivated and irrigated by water rom this source of supply it must continue to remain fertile. About half million acres lie in California, and nearly as many more in lower California 1t is government land in California. sub 1ect to entry, at sI.25 an. acre. It has A remarkably even, surface, with a suffi- clent slope to be easily irrigated. About 100000 acres of this tract have been taken up by the settlers during the past year
 A big canal is carrying water from tha colorado river a distance of seventy miles into the country to be irrieate5 sufficient to irrigate 100000 acres. There are forty-eight miles of lateral canals already constructed, and water is being used to irrigate large areas of summer crops.
 Thus far in Southern. California irri- gat1on systems have been small, and have not covered a large area of terri tory. Riverside IS one of the largest, if not the largest, Irrigated settlement in Southern Califprhia, and 1t covers less than 25,oOO acres-equa1 to but little more than one township of land six miles square, and this little territory is sup piled with water, by two irrigation sys- tems. H6 {spI1 a,I5g Y T'rtez
 There is no other facility in. the United States where is such a large tract of good land, and an unlimited supply of water and water perpetually carrying a large supply of valuable fertilizer, and