Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1879-03-20
ARIZONA AGRICULTURE.
Some of tho Difficulties which Beset Profit.
able Farming.

Some of tho Difficulties which Beset Profit
able Farming.
From the st Joe Mo- Gasette
Mr.. Abe Davis, residing in North st,
Joseph, has permitted IL GdseHe reporter
to take a few rambling notes from an in
tcresting Arizona letter, addressed to Mrs.
Davis. The letter was written by Mr..
DAVIS younger brother, Richard S. Davis,
formerly of this city, and was post marked
at Camp Verde, January s. The writer
says he has been very busy putting in Il
crop Of barley, Of about forty acres. 1t re-
quircs great deal more work to farm in
that country than it does in this, as moth
ing can be raised without irrigation; but
when this is done crop is almost certain.
They tirst have to lrl1gatn the plowed
ground before sowing, which packs it SO
hard that Il harrow will not cover the
grain, and it has to be turned i'll with
shovel. .plOws. This makes il slow work.
Then they bush it down smooth, and after.
wards throw up borders about ten inches
high, and about thirty feet apart, across
ttbH h''llOU' Nl''l 10 duput lOu NdluS'
This is done to insure more rapid and sue
cesstul irrigation.
"About four miles from Camp Verde, "
the writer says, there are about fifty cliff
or cave dwellings, rooms hewn out in Il
solid cliff of rock. One has to use II ladder
in order to penetrate some Of them. The
rooms are plastcred inside, and have side
rooms leading from the main room. Many
of these side rooms seem to have been
used for granarics, for in them have been
small cells, wherein have been placed ears
OF corn, cotton and other seed, and then
ccmented over and made air-tight. When
these places are picked into, you find the
ears of corn at first apparently natural,
but when the air strikes them, or the fin
gers touch them the grain falls to ashes,
leaving nothing but the cob, which seems
TO he little affected. In one of these cell,
found IL bunch Of wcll-twisted cotton
thread, and another kind of thread, which
was beyond my comprehension as to what
it was made Of. They also contain water
tanks or ciStcm, neatly hCw out. in the
solid rock floor. There are also, in the open
valleys, extensive ruins of great cities
Judging from the debris, many of the
buildings have been -four or FIVE stories
high, built of stone neatly dressed,
showing considerable mechanical skill in
their construction. The parts of WALL
that are still standing bear traces of an.
clcnt writings and sculpture, with crosses
and notchcs cut deep INTO the solid rock at
regular intervals. There are also traces
Of canals and reservoirs of vast dimon-
Sions, from which 1t is inferred that the
country at one time was fertile and well
watered. But the once beautiful and fer.
tile valleys are now covered with boulders
and hOat.rOck from the mountains. They
are also detaced by great yawning chasms
of a thousand feet in depth. cnt down by
the winter torrents Of perhaps 1000 years
since the inhabitants have He'd from their
homes o" perished amid wars and pesti-
lence Several Of the largest cities must
have contained several hundred thousand
inhabitants.
"With the exception of broken pottery
but few relies are found, These pieces Of
pottery are remarkable from the fact that
they have been finely glazed and bear
paintings OF flowers and ornamental fig
ures, the cOloring matter Of high miner
al substance Of some kind, which can not
or has not been deiaced, and appears 10
be perfectly indelible. These relics have
been exposed to the storms, which have
worn away the solid masonry of the walls,
and show the colors as fresh and bright,
to all Appearances, as when new. The
pottery itself has been found to be perfect.
" fire proof, upon severe trail in cruel
bIcs, while the heat OF furnaces do not at-
feet it. If the secret of its manufacture
could be discovered, it would be worth
millions Of dollars to the pOssessor. will
not further attempt a description Of these
ruins just now, but IN my next letter, if it
will interest YOU, will refer to them more
at length cannot furnish you with
specimens at present, but will have to
wait until spring to secure them.
Mr. Davis adds that his brother John
at Prescott, serving his term Of forty days
in tine Legislature. The ruins to which
the letter refers are undoubtedly those of
the cities built by the Aztecs, who popu-
lated the Southwest centuries ago, and
had their capital on the present site ofthc
City of Mexico when the Spaniards took
possession of hhc country,