The Arizona sentinel., 1898-04-16
LANDS AND SOILS.

The lands Of Yuma County comprise the river bottoms and valleys and the upl-nds or mesas The bottom auds are Iaoister and slightly mere fertile if, indeed, it is possible to make comparisons where all are so wonderfully productive and prolific The uplands or racsas are warmer and, perhaps, lightly for better the cultivation ofhe citrus fruits Yuma contains e variety of soil Tie valley land of tbeI Gia and Colorado rivers have for the most part a deep sedimentary soil of brownish, gray sandy Ioam resting, in most places, upon gray clay subson at a depth Of from ten to twenty feet below the surface, The clay subsoil forms a hard pan ahch is inperviOus to water. These soils have been slowly formed by the decomposition of shales sandstones mars. limestones, ete., mixed with or glnic and vegetable matter, washed down by the mighty rivers and have been gradually deposited during the course of centuries. The fertilizing brownish mud held in the wat ,lof the Colorado and GiIa rivers resembles that from the Nile, and its quantity varies from O.I 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. 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 trife less potassa, most phosphoric acid and car bonade of limestone beds through which the Colo rado pass S. Tn other respects the sediment Of the Colorado is almost identical with Jbat of the Nile
 It will Je noticed. therefore, that when this water is used for irrigation it is superior artesan waters since it is constantly supplying the iand with the richest fertiizjng clements The soil of the valleys is extremely rich in dedomposed vegetable matter and uncombined carbon, readily abso. biug the aerial gases, such especially as oxygen, which tering the soil, docomposes the organic matters 50 that they can be taken up and n0Ir.sh the plants which may De considered leading icatur3 in It fertility. It also readily takes up and retains moisture, while the frmness of its particles affords every facility for Percoiation and the activity of capillary action. nits mechanical co1nposiiouits particles arc in state of very fine d-v.sion which renders 1t more productive than coarser soils a"Iuir!cs heat readily in the day lime, and the loss of the heat at night is very gradual that it re- mains always warm and is not subject to sudden changes of heat and cold. Besides it's essential con- stitucnts Of water, organic or vegetable matter. sand and clay, chemical analysis shows that lime soda, magUesia. iroI, ammonia auI available forms of nitrogen, phosqh.ria acj and potash enter into composition in the proportions best adapted to aid to it's fertility, though, oi course as is evoys the case in soil analysis its compos, ion varies in different localities and is not always constant.
 The soi O the uplands CT mesas, lighter and more gravelly and in some places of tree, Ioamv, calcareous character. The mesa lands are warm and generous. They seem especially adapted for the grape, oive and citrus fruits generally Their soil contains more magresia, lime CT chalk than the bottom lands It never cracks and retains moisture admirably in summer. It is fthat character which will produce wine that will keep good for fifty or @ hundred years, and improve annually, not being liable to sour, or on exposure to the air. after year old, to become turbid and change color in the bottle or glass.