396 ANNUAL EEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1912. 



lar terraces occur on a gravel slope east of the ruins and* far above 

 any available sup,ply of water, so that here, too, dry farming appears 

 to have been attempted. 



Prof. Forbes of the Ai-izona Experiment Station, as has already been 

 stated, says that dry farming is not now practicable in Arizona except 

 by most careful and expensive methods of plowing and harrowing 

 continued for two years in order to get a smgle crop. The terraced 

 slope in the upper Rincon Valley, because of its proximity to the 

 mountains, undoubtedly receives more rain than do many parts of 

 the country. Over on the east side of the neighbormg Santa Rita 

 Mountains at an elevation considerably greater than that of our 

 terraces, potatoes have been reported as growm without irrigation, 

 but inquiry shows that they are watered naturally by springs seeping 

 out above them. In the same region, at the mouth of Gardener's 

 Canyon at an elevation of 5,000 feet, four or five settlers took up 

 land and attempted real dry farming in 1909. The elevation is 

 sufficient to insure moderately cool weather, and hence less evapora- 

 tion than in the parching plains. The rainfall during the summer 

 season of 1909, as measured at the Empire ranch, not far away, 

 amounted to 9.39 inches as against an average of 7.93 for the preced- 

 ing 15 years. Nevertheless, the corn of the settlers failed utterly; 

 and the beans, the most reliable of all crops, gave so scanty a return 

 that the farmers were completely discouraged. In the absence of 

 records we can not say categorically that crops might not be raised 

 on the terraces at Rincon. We can merely say that nothing of the 

 kind has succeeded in this part of Arizona hitherto, and that in April, 

 1910, we found the terraces with no more sign of fresh vegetation 

 than was apparent on the surrounding dry plains. 



Apart from the immediate question of the possible climatic signifi- 

 cance of the terraces, they are important in another aspect. Man- 

 kind rarely labors except under the compulsion of some strong force 

 such as hunger, fear, or ambition. The ancient Hohokam would 

 scarcely have gone to the labor of maldng the terraces without some 

 good motive. The obvious agi'icultural character of the terraces 

 precludes the possibility of any religious significance, as does the 

 fact that elsewhere such terraces are found closely associated with 

 religious structures from which they are clearly differentiated. 

 Defense apparently had nothing to do with the matter, for there 

 seems to be no fortress near at hand, the terraces are in a decidedly 

 undefensiblc location, and they are not protected by walls. The 

 only adequate explanation would seem to be the need of more abun- 

 dant areas of cultivation. Probably the Ilohokam of the Rincon 

 Valley found that the limited amount of land in the bottom of their 

 narrow valley was not sufficient for their needs. Therefore, having 

 somehow learned the art of maldng terraces as practiced in other 



