The Arizona sentinel., 1895-06-15

o the Cila and Colorado rivers have for the most part deep sedimentary soil of brownish, gray sanIy loam, resting, in most places, upon gray cla, subsoi at a depth of from ten to twenty feet below the surface, The clay subsoil forms a hard pan which is imperyious to water These soils have been slowly formed by the decomposition of shales, sandstones, marls limestones etc, mixed with or ganic and vegetable matter, washed down by the mighty rivers and have been gradually deposited during the course of centuries. The fertiiizing brownish mud held in the wat tlof the Colorado and Cila rivers resembles that from the Nile, and its quantity varies from O1 to O.5 per cent, though the water when even considerably discolor- ed by mud is good to drink, resembling in this res pect the Missouri river water A chemical analysis of the sediments of the Colorado and of the Nile exhibits wonderful similarity in the constituent parts of each. That of the Colorado exhibiting a trihe less potassa, most phosphoric acid and car bonade of limestone beds through which the Cole rado psssns In other respects the sediment of the Colorado is almost identical with tbat of the Nile. It will be noticed therefore that when this water is used for irrigation it is superior to artesian waters since it is constantly supplying the land with the richest fertlzing elements, The soil of the valleys is extremely rich in dedOmposed vegetable matter and uncon bined carbon, readily absorbing the aerial gases, such especially, as oxygen, which en- tering the soil, dccomposes the organic matters that they can be taken up and nourish the plants which may 1e considered leading featur2 in its fertility It also readily takes up and retains moisture while the frmness of its particles affords every facility for percolation and the activity of capillary action. In ts mechanical composition it's 6pa ,,bic renders it more productive than coarser soils It acquires heat readily in the daytime, and the loss of the heat at night is very gradual so that it mains always warm and is not subject to sudden changes of heat and cold Besides its essential stituents of water, organic or vegetable matter, sand and clay, chemical aysis shows that lime, soda magnesia, iron, ammonia and available forms of nitrogen phosphorc acid and potash enter into composition in the proportions best adapted to add to it's fertility, though, of course, is always the in soil analysis, it's composition varies in different localities and is not always constant.
 The soil of the uplands, or mesas is lighter and more gravely and in some places of a free, loany, calcareOus character The mesa lands are warm and generous. They seem especially adapted for the grape olive and citrus fruits generally Their soil contains more magnesia, lime chalk than the bottom lands. It never cracks and retains moisture admirably in summer. It is of that character which will produce wine that will keep good for fifty or a hundred years, and improve annually, not being
 liable to sour, or on exposure to the air, after year old, to become turbd and change color in the bottle glass.
 We can safely say that the soil of Yuma County can nowhere be surpassed containing as it does all the essential elements of richness and fertility.