6o Bulletin 85 



While it is not entirely accurate to state that the local or State market is 

 the principal one for products from this area, it is true nevertheless that 

 the local market plays a much more important part than in many other 

 irrigated districts. 



Of late years, however, there have been certain exceptions to 

 these generalizations. During the past two years approximately 20 per 

 cent of the commercial hay crop of the Valley, which was marketed in 

 carlots, moved to points in Texas and over the international border 

 into Mexico. The growth of the cotton industry has caused a corre- 

 sponding decrease in the production of crops which normally are mar- 

 keted in Arizona and New Mexico. The cantaloupe crop also fur- 

 nishes relatively large quantities of a product more than 85 per cent 

 of which is marketed at points from 1,500 to 3,000 miles from origin. 

 Probably 75 per cent of the lettuce and potato crops annually find a 

 market beyond State borders. In the future there doubtless will be a 

 reasonable expansion of trade with markets more distant than those to 

 which Valley farmers have become accustomed. The increase in the 

 cotton industry, exemplified by the large acreage planted in 1917, will 

 doubtless be responsible for an important increase in the value of 

 products which move to distant markets. 



The local and State markets for products from the Salt River 

 Valley never have been fully appreciated by producers. These mar- 

 kets are at present among the most important outlets for Valley 

 products and in future years will continue to be profitable consuming 

 centers of an increasing quantity of farm products from the irrigated 

 districts of the State. These markets at present use all of the grain 

 products produced in the Salt River Valley and in addition import 

 large quantities of feed and mill products from points outside the 

 State. Most of the hay crop in the Valley which is baled for market 

 is sold in mining towns throughout the State. Similar towns in New 

 Mexico offer the next best outlet for hay. More than 90 per cent of 

 the dairy products in the Valley are consumed within the States of 

 Arizona and New Mexico, the mining towns of Arizona taking the 

 greater portion of the surplus from the Valley. While the deciduous 

 fruit output is very limited most of the commercial crop which is not 

 used within the Valley itself is shipped in express lots to the mining 

 towns of the State, where in the past it has been disposed of at prices 

 satisfactory to the growers. Large quantities of meat products are 

 also consumed by these towns. In contrast to the cantaloupe crop, 

 practically all of the watermelons produced in the Valley are sold 



