Arizona Agricultural Experiment Station 401 



and occasional flood waters from overlying watersheds may be 

 diverted for irrigation during the summer rainy season. Rainfall 

 conditions are on the whole less favorable than at the higher alti- 

 tude of the Prescott dry-farm, and conditions are accordingly more 

 severe for experimental work. Nevertheless in most years fair 

 crops of kafir, club head sorghum, milo maize, feterita, and some- 

 times Indian corn may be grown for silage, and such crops as Sudan 

 grass and tepar}- beans for forage and for human consumption. 

 Vegetable crops and fruit trees must at this altitude be irrigated for 

 assurance of success. 



The solution of the more difficult problem of making a living 

 from the land at this altitude probably resides in a combination of 

 dry-farming methods of culture, of supplemental irrigation by 

 means of pumped water to start or to save a crop, silos and live- 

 stock with which to make most effective use of the forages pro- 

 duced, and adjacent grazing ranges with their occasional burdens 

 of cheap feed. Upon such a combination it is possible to demon- 

 strate that careful farmers can make a living from the land ; and 

 the best usefulness of the Sulphur Spring Valley farm for several 

 years to come will probably consist in handling it in such a way as 

 to demonstrate whether or not locations of this character can be 

 made to support those living upon them. 



THL SALT river VALLKY FARM 



This farm, consisting of 162 acres of the Maricopa sandy loam, 

 soil of Salt River Valley, is described as the north ^^ of the south 

 y2 of Section 20, Township 1 N., Range 5 E., G. & S. R. B. & M. 

 The tract is situated upon and between the Arizona State Highway 

 and the Arizona Eastern Railroad, about one mile west of Mesa, 

 Arizona. As to its irrigating water supply it is Class A land ; and 

 groundwater for pumping and domestic purposes is obtainable at 

 30 feet. Climatic conditions are intermediate between those of the 

 more distinctively citrus growing sections of the Valley and the 

 frostier levels, and can probably be used for the more frost resist- 

 ant citrus varieties. This property was acquired in 1914 and has, 

 accessible to it at this time telephone service, electricity for light 

 aind power, gas, and sewerage. The shape of the tract, which is one 

 mile long and one-quarter of a mile wide, together with its location 

 on the Arizona Eastern Railroad and the State Highway, make of 

 it a very public piece of property and one therefore capable of con- 

 veying a maximum amount of information to the observing public 



