The weekly Arizona miner., 1871-02-25
Flow Deep,

Just now. when our farmers are tuning up l tho soil, preparatory to sowing grain and veg etables, is 6 very good time for us to "ch'p ! i'm few words in favor of deep blowing, wherever the soil is deep enough to admit oi it. To retain moisture well, land should be l plowed to q depth of at least twelve inches, but as it is impossible for many Arizona far mers tn go so far into the ''subiect,' with the implements used by them, wo only wish to impress upon the minds of all such, the ini- portancc, aye, the necessity, of blowing as deep as circumstances will admit. Heretofore, the rule has been to turu up from three to six inches of the soil, plant 1t to corn, barley, etc, and trust Co luck and the clouds for crop. The plan was successful in lSGG-7 land 8, because, in those years, we had heavy snows in the winters, and soaking rains in the months of July, August ard September of each year. But, how was it in 1869 and ls70l But little snow fell in the winters of those years, and not much rain in the summers, so that the warm sun sent its rays down 10 the roots of the plants and sucked out what little moisture remained there, on the surface ot the hard, unbroken soil, upon which they
 rested, leaving the delicate plants to dry up
 and expire. The consequence of this was, as all know, short crops, hard times, and gem
 ersl disgust with the country.
 Now, to avoid a recurrence of these un-
 plesant, unproftable failures, our farmers
 have but to blow deep, and, thereafter, keep
 the surface of the ground we'll stirred, while
 crops are growing. This plan has proved sue
 cessiul in the dry valleys of Southern Cali
 fornia, where not drop of rain falls during
 the entire summer season, and must, of
 course, prove more successful here, where,
 from past experience, we are certain of some
 rain every summer.
 When it becomes generally known that
 heat from the suns rays penetrates loose soil
 to the depth of about three inches that be-
 low that depth loose ground retains moisture
 better than hard ground that said moisture
 rises in the day time, giving nounsbment to ' the roots of the plants growing in it, and that the same soil attracts more moisture al night and on cloudy days, than hard, baked soil, our farmers cannot fail to see the gooo results of little extra labor laid out in thil u way.
 An intelligent California farmer, writing ii , recent number of the Anaheim Gazette, sayi ;" that by blowing his land to depth of be !, tween l2 and 24 inches, be has succeeded il raising excellent crops, in the dryest season. ' ever known in his section, and, as we hay , before said, the growing season in Souther' T. California is generally dryer than that 0 ' Central Arizona.
 Another thing our farmers should atten T. to, is to blow their fields in different direc ? tions, every year. That is, land that, las e year, was plowed from cast to west, should J this year, be furrowed from north to soutt u Or uice rersd. This makes the surface leye
 and lightens the labor of cultivating it. l. To conclude, we see no reason why goo 'e crops should not be produced here, ever year, if these necessary matters be attended t