GANNETT.] CONSIDEEATIONS CONCEENING ARABLE LAND. 319 



GrENEEAL CONSIDERATIONS. 



For successful agriculture there are necessary : a fertile soil, level 

 surface, a sufficiently mild temperature,and the proper amount of moist- 

 ure. 



In Colorado, the first two of these conditions are fulfilled over a great 

 area, probably two-thirds of the State. The third of these conditions 

 diminishes this amount very considerably, as many fine mountain val- 

 leys are from their great altitude too cold to be useful as agricultural 

 land, while the introduction of the last condition limits the arable land 

 to a comparatively small amount. 



The aridity of the atmosphere is so great and the rain-fall so light, so 

 variable, and so sudden in its character, that, practically, irrigation is 

 universally depended on, and is almost as much a matter of course as the 

 sowingof the seed. There are small areas, as in the Wet Mountain Val- 

 ley, where, from purely local causes, the rain-fall is sufficient to obviate 

 the necessity for irrigation, but these are of small importance. 



Another premise which holds good in nearly all cases, is that all irri- 

 gable land is cultivable, if not too high. The native products of the 

 soil afford little indication of its barrenness or fertility. Because a soil 

 naturally produces only sage and cacti, it by no means follows that only 

 sage and cacti can be produced. To condemn the country because, 

 under the natural conditions, it does not produce useful grasses, timber, 

 &c,, or even because it has all the appearance of a desert waste, is as 

 unreasonable as to expect a tract of high land to j)roduce cranberries. 



Numberless proofs of the fact that the soil of what has been called 

 desert is rich in the elements of fertility may be adduced. Salt Lake 

 Valley was as unpromising as the " Great American Desert," Green Eiver 

 Basin, before the Mormons attacked it, but the application of water has 

 made it one of the most fertile regions in the country. At Saint George, 

 in Southern Utah, the victory over Dame Nature has been even more 

 signal. Exception to this must be made in the case of land which is 

 strongly alkaline. Unless this alkali be washed out, the laud is valueless, 

 and at present, and for many years to come, when good land may be 

 had almost for the asking, there is no necessity for reclaiming this land. 

 But the area of land in Colorado which is too strongly alkaline for use 

 in agriculture is very small. 



In the plains and the San Luis Valley, the only limit to the amount 

 of arable land is set by the supply of water. All the water supplied to 

 them by the South JPlatte, the Arkansas, tlae Eio Grande, and their 

 numerous branches, can be used, and still there will be great areas 

 waiting the magic touch of water to be covered with verdure. By hus- 

 banding in reservoirs the enormous supplies of this liquid which run to 

 waste at the time of the June floods, which can be done in most cases at 

 no very great expense, the amount of arable land can be immensely in- 

 creased. At present, however, there is no need of undertaking such 

 works as these. 



In the mountains, the areas of level land so situated as to be irrigable 

 are not in general sufficient to require all the water which is directly 

 available, and in the plateau region the amount of irrigable land is, if 

 anything, still less in proportion to the amount of water available. 



An important factor to be considered in connection with the question 

 of arable lands is the elevation. This sets immovable barriers to the 

 growth of certain crops. A few facts regarding the upper limits of cer- 

 tain grains and vegetables have been collected. Mr. Byers, of Denver, 

 editor Eocky Mountain News, says : " Wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, 



