The Arizona sentinel., 1897-10-02
picked from the open garden at Christmas

pIChSu lIODl JlC open SdTuSu &G OuIlSSuldS
 IsITA LAwLEss COUNTRY?
 The man who goes to any considerable Arizona town with the idea of the South west derived from novels, or from ''The Arizona Kicker, will be greatly mystilied. He will ind as many churches as in towns of corresponding size in Pennsylvania or Ohio; and probably more schoolhouses. He will find plenty of liquor-snops. too, and gambling houses, and dancehouses, and yet l he will see little disorder unless he hunts | late at night for it, and he will be apt to l 6nd-as at PhOenix--a community of ten thousand people requiring in the daytime only one policeman, and hardly requiring him. During my winter there 1 did not see a single disturbance in the streets, or half dozen drunken men, all told. Min ing men and an occasional cowboy certainly had quarrels, sometimes, in the disorderly quarters at night; aud there were stories of the use of the knife among Mexicans; but the visitor who went about his own business had as little trouble as on Board way or Chestnut street. The Pima and Maricopa Indians, who are encountered everywhere. have been friendly with the whites for generations, and there isn't an Apache within some hundreds of miles.
 WHICH TOWN IS Tile BEST?
 Primarily that is question for the phy- sician, if there is physician in the case if not, try them all. If mountain region, considerable altitude and a comparatively low temperature is desired, Prescott is in a picturesque region, near a great mining districts, and has the social advantage of an army post, whipple Barracks. Flag
 staff Is still higher, is in a region of dense pine forests, and is within g. hard day $ journey of one of the wonders of the world, the Colorado Canyon. Oracle Is a pretty mountain nook, embowered in splendid live oaks, like those of California, and is also near an important mining district. If lower altitude and distinctly semi. tropical climate are desired, the three places | , Tucson and Phoenix. The first is near the . sea level; is the warmest and probably the driest of the three, has the least population
 and the smallest provision for visitors Tucson is the oldest town in the Territory and, after Santa Fe, perhaps the oldest il the Southwest. Its adobe houses give it 5 Mexican look, and are thoroughly comfort able. Its newer houses are of a handsome building stone, found in the vicinity. The Territorial University is here, and it was formerly the capital. Its elevation being moro than double that of Phoenix, it i, somewhat cooler, and as there is next to nc irrigation near 1t, the air Is little drier
 Phoenix is the centre of the greatest irriga-
 tion in the Territory. The country fol miles around smiles with green fields, cover ed with almost countless herds of cattle and it is everywhere shut in by low mount ains. It is the Territorial capital, has the Government Indian School, the Territoria Lunatc Asylum, and other institutions and is the general focus for the Territory Like Tucson, it has it's occasional wind anC sand storms-perhaps not quite so often
 At either place visitors who know how tt adapt themselves to circumstances can bt entirely comfortable, and in each they vii find an intelligent, orderly, enterprising ant most hospitable community. They vii
 find country full of mines, full of ricf agricultural lands, abounding in cattle anC
 beginnings of very successful orange grove "a country, in fact, as full of promise fo hardy and adventurous men now as Califor , nia was ill the:ffties. Above all, it ha , been their lot to search for health in ia countries, they will revel in the luxury O , being ill their own land, among their owr
 countrymen, within easy reach of thei , friends by telegraph or rail, and in a climat
 as good of its kind as any in the world.
 LANDS AND SOILS.
 The lands of Yuma County comprise the rive
 bottoms and valleys and the upands or mesas Tn
 bottom ands are moister and slightly mere fertil IT,
 where all wonderfully productive and prolifi The uplands or mesas are warmer and, perhaps
 lightly for better the cultivation ofthe citrus fruit
 Yuma contains variety of soil The valley Ian,
 of theI Gila and Colorado rivers have for the mos part deep sedimentary soil of brownish, gra [ sanfy loam, resting, in most places, upon a gra clay subSoil at depth of from ten to twenty fee S below the surface, The clay subsoil forms hard
 pan which is impervious to water. These soils hay
 been slowly formed by the decomposition of shales
 sandstones, marls limestones, etc, mixed with or [ ganic and vegetable matter, washed down by tn r mighty rivers and have been gradually deposite , turing the. course of centuries. The fertilizin
 brownish mud held in the wat Clof the Colorad and Gila rivers resembles that from the Nile, am its quantity varies from 0.1 to O5 per cent. though the water when considerably discolor
 ed by mud is good to drink, resembling in this
 pect the Missouri river water. A chemical analysi of the sediments of the Colorado and of the Nil ] parts of each. That of the Colorado exhibiting triie less potassa, most phosphoric acid and car 9 bonade of limestone beds through which the Colo
 rado pasSrs. In other respects the sediment of tn
 Colorado is almost identical with tbat of the Nile
 It will be noticed, therefore, that when this water
 used for irrigation it is superior to artesan water
 since it is constantly supplying the land with thu
 rchestfertilzinS elements. The soil of the valley , is extremely rich in dedomposed vegetable matte and uncombined carbon, readily absorbing tn aerial gases, such especially, oxygen, which en terng the soil, decomposes the organic matters that they can be taken'up and nourish the plants
 which may be considered leading feature in its