Arizona weekly citizen., 1886-02-20

4AL Dcleuli1c AmerlcEn argues thai
 the average rainfall of the world is di.
 minishing very gradually, but quite per
 cephbly, and that future ages will wit
 ness such dimi4 ution of that element
 that human life will become extinct. II
 Is perhaps g waste of time and thought
 to argue upoE-~a subject that requires
 the evOluiiOns Of mg3y centuries to
 demonstrate, but, taking the very prem.
 ises upon which our very learned and
 scientific contemporary makes its deduc-
 tIons, We must dissent from its conciu-
 sIOns. It calls to mind the great desert
 wastes that now exist upon the once
 rich plains of Moab, east of the Dead
 Sea; the desOlate wilderness that has
 replaced the gardens of the Chaldees at
 iiesopotamia; the dead land of Aiidian grandeur. and the mesas and bsrrgncRs Of New Mexico and our own Arizona, aud 1t attributes their present bar Ten condition to the cessation Of
 the precipitation of moisture that once supported the numerous people who inhabited the several localities. We incline to the belief that no one cause is responsible for this great change, but that the very nature of existence that manIiests its wonderful phenomenonsof restlessness by constant growth and decay, brings about these things as part of the great plan of creation. The careful husbBndman well understands that the exhaustion of the elements composing his fertile soil through con stant cultivation must be artiicially re- placed, If he would prevent it becoming a worthless waste, and be ocCasion- ally resorts to the rest afforded by the fallow. tha: tt may regain strength to nourish the crop. Excessive produc- tions will speedily exhaust the qualities of the soil that produce vegetation, and the many centuries of cultivation of the lands above quoted show sufficient cause for their relapse into desolstion. Upon such lands, It IS well known that the rainfall is not copiOus. Their denuded permits the suns rays to parch the surface of the earth and destroy such chance seeds as may fall, and the atmosphere repels the storm clouds. We have evidence lt this in those sections of our own country where the heavy growth Df timber has been devastated. The oc- ,asiOnal fall of rain iu those bare sec lions passes quickly into the streams and .he land itself becomes no better than lesert. IL IS flood and drought, year after year, with lessening inducements 10 cultivation. The quantity of the l -ainfall is not diminished. but 1t is crowded out, so to speak. to other places | where it receives a better welcome. We | 'an see DO argument in the desOlation of | yornout lands that the average rainfall | s diminishing, but wee can in their sleep the rest from oil that nature has kindly bestowed | or a season of recupera;ion. The wants Z man have wrecked the soil. and na- ure drlves the foe to other lands while Is restoration slowly goes on. It is but he illustration of all existence, as We Iave said; & season of life and season f desth-the day and the night; the ummer and the winter. At some fu- ure day these lands will awaken with ew life and will again blossom even as be holy writ hath said, snd others now eeming with activity will sink to sleep 1 desolste oblivion, to excite the won- CT of generations far in the coming of me.