The Arizona sentinel., 1898-04-23
LANDS AND SOILS.

I The lands of Yuma County comprise the liver
 bottoms and valleys and the uplands or 1aesas The bottom ands moister and slightly mere fertile
 if, indeed, it is possible to m.ke comparisons
 where all so wonderfully productive and prolific | The uplands or uesas are warmer and, perhaps,
 lightly for better he cultivation of the citrus fruits
 Yuma contaiasa Ysriety of soil Tine valley land
 of the Gila and Colorado rivers have for the most part deep sedimenta1y soil of brownish, gray sandy loam, resting, in most places, upon gray clay subsoil at depth of from ten to twenty feet below the surface, The clay subsoil forms hard- pan which is imperToUs to water. These soils have
 been slowly formed by the decomposition of shales, sandstones, marls. Imestcnes e5c, mixed with or ganic and vegetable matter, washed down by the mighty rivers and have been gradually deposited during the course of centuries. The fsrtilizinz
 brownish mud held in the wat tIof the Colorado
 and Gila rivers resembles that from the Nile, and
 it's quantity varies from O.1 to O5 per cent.
 though the water when even considerably discolor-
 ed by mud s good to drink, resembling in this res
 pect the Missouri river water. A chemical analysis of the sediments Of the Colorado and oi the Nile exhibits wonderful similarity in the constituent parts of each That Of the Colorado exhibiting a trife less potassa, most phosphoric acid and car bonade of limestone beds through which the Colo rado pess~s. In other respects the sediment of the Colorado is almost identical with that of the NiIe 1t will be noticed therefore that when this water is used for irrigation it superior to artosian waters since it is constantly supplying the land with the rchestfertilzipg elements. The soil of the valleys is extremely rich in dedOmposed vegetable matter and uncombined carbon, readily absorbing the aerial gases, such especially, as oxygen, which en- tering the soil, decomposes the organic matters so that they can be taken ID and rourish the plants which may be considered Q leading featurs in It fertility. It also readily takes up and retains moisture while the irnness Of it's particles affords every facility for Percolaton and the activity Of capillary action In ts mechanical composition its particles gre in a state of very fine division which renders it more productive than coarser soils I a-qairies heat readily in the daytime and the loss of hc heat at night is very graGuaI, so that it re mains always warm and is not subject to sudden changes of heat and cold Besides it's essential cor stituents of water, organic or vegetable matter. sand and clay, chemical anal s:s shows that lime soda, magnesia ror. ammonia and available forms of nitrogen, phosphoric acid ana po..l orter into composition in the proportiors best adapted to add to it's fertility, though, Of course as is aIways the case in soil analysis, its composition varies in different localities and i5 not always constant
 The soi o the upIands, or rloscs, lighter and more gravelly and in some places of tree, loamy. 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 or chalk than the bottom lands. It never cracks and retains moisture III summer. It is oft that character which will produce wine that will keep good for fifty or a hundred years, and improve annually, not being liable to sour, exposure to the air, after one ear old, to become turbid and change color in the bottle or glass