The Arizona sentinel., 1896-12-26
ARIZOxA.
Its Attractions and Advantages as a
 Place of Residence in Winter.

It's Attractions and Advantages as a
 Place of Residence in Winter.
 Whitelaw Reid. owner and editor of the New York Tribune, ho has spent the last tW o wInt CTS in Al .zona for the benefit of his health. writes entertainingly and in structively concerning that part of the country. Mir. Reid says:
 So many questions are asked about Ari- zona as a place for inter residence, and there appears to be such q dearth of pre- else information among many who are vitally interested, that it seems almost a public duty, to set down, in the simplest form, few facts of personal observation.
 WEATHER.
 During five months residence in Southern Arizona in winter there was but one day when the eather made it actually unpleasant for me to take exercise in the uren air at some time ur other during the day. Of course there were good many days hich weather observer ould de- scribe as cloudy" and some that VI ere "sho-rer\; hut during these five months (from November. 1895, to May, lS9j,l there were only four days when we did not have brilliant sunshine at some time dur ing the ''ay. Even more than Egypt, any whc north rf Luxor, Arizona is the land of sunshine. As to details:
 TEMPFRATuRS.
 1 have seen the thermometer mlrk 92 degrees in the shade on my north piazza in | March. On the other hand, we had fTosts which killed young orange trees, and there were several nights when thin ice formed The gov >ernment reports show a mean | temperatu e for fourt cen years at the pres ent territorial capital of 57k degrees in | November, 53 degrees i'll December, 49 de- grees in January, 54 degrees in February, 6l degrees i'll March and 66 degrees in April. The same reports show the highest and lowest temperatures, averaged for eight years, at the same place, as follows: For November 7S1a degrees and 42 degrees. December 73H degrees and 361a degrees, January G5H degrees and B degrees, Feb ruary 7lH degrees and 35H degrees. March Sl 1a degrees and fl degrees and April S6H degrees and 46 degrees. The nights throughout the winter are apt to b, cool enough for open wood fires. and foI blankets. Half the time an overcoat is not needed during the day, but it is never prIdent for d stranger to be without one at hand.
 The atmosphere is sngularly clear, to lie and dry. have never seen 1t cleare. anyw here in the world. It seems to have about the same bracing and exhilaratiug qualities as the air of the Great Sahara ill Northern Africa, or of the deserts about Mount Sinai. in Arabia Petraea. It is much drier than Tn the parts of Morocco, AIgiels or Tunis usually ,isited, and drier than any part of the Valley of the Niie
 
 mc about the same in quality as the air on the Nile between Assouan and Wady- | italfa, but somewhat cooler.
 ACTUAL HUMIDITY. This is extremely slight, everywhere in Arizona, as compared with any eastern climate in the United States. The air is 1rin fho ,fo from, suowclad mountains or forests, and in the | desert valleys, where no considerable irri- ! gation has been begun. Wherever irrIga- tion is carried on on large scale, the | percentage of humidity iu the atmosphere must be somewhat increased, although to an eastern visitor it is scarcely perceptible. ready cited show relative humidity, at Phoenix or Tucson, averaged for weeks, f. oln morning and evening readings, at less than half the usual humidity on dry days in NeA York General Greely, in d pub llca tiun from the Weather Bureau, gave the normal eight of aqueous vapor i'll the Arizona ar at from l1s to 1 grains per cubic foot.
 Showers, and indeed heavy rains are liable to occur in every month of the ye 1T; bat the actual numb4r uf rains seems to an eastern visitor strangely small. The average rainfall ill Southern ArlZOna, as shown by the Govern neuI obse vations, Is bul 1 inches per year.
 ATTITUDES
 It IS striking advantage offered by Arizona that, N lJn the Same general con dItlons as to temperature and dryness ot air, the physician Is able to select nearly any altitude he may desire. Thus, aSth- mdtIC sufferers cau lind almost the Sea level at Yuma, or an attitude of only d thousand feet at PaoenIX, or of only ,, 400 at tucson UCners, who find no objection to greater elevations, can choose betw cen Prescott or Fort Whppe, 5,400; Flag staff, 6 S00,; tie Sulphur Spring Valley, or Fort Grant, 4,20O; Fort Huacnuca. 4, S03, or Oracle, about 4,O00.
 IsITAPLACE FIT TO LIVE IN? This depends on what one expects in l,uoo cattIad of ,,,o,nt ,