The Arizona sentinel., 1898-06-04
LANDS AND SOILS.

The lands of Yuma County comprise the river
 bottoms and valleys and the upiauds or rnesss The
 bottom ands are moister and slightly mere fertile
 if, indeed, it is possible to make Comparisons
 where all are So wonderfully productive and prolific
 The uplands or mesas are warmer and, perhaps,
 lightly for betterth cultivation Of the citrus fruits
 Yuma containsa vsrlety of Soil The valley land
 of thel Gila and Colorado rivers have for the most
 parta deep sedimentary soil of brovnish. gray
 sanfy loam, resting, in most places, upon a gray
 clay subsoil at depth Of from ten to twenty feet
 below the surface, The clay subsol forms hard
 pan which is iperyious to water These soils have
 been slowly formed by the decomposition of shales
 sandstones, marls imes5onos, etc, mixed with or game and vegetable matter, washed down bv the mighty rivers and have been gradually deposited curing the course of centuries. The fsrtiIizips
 brownish mud held in the wat tiof the Colorado and G1la 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. A chemical aral,ss of the sediments of the Colorado and of the Me exhibits wonderful similarity in the constituent parts of each. That of the Colorado exbIbi-f-e. o trife less potassa, most phosphoric acid and car bonade of limestone beds through which the Colo rado pesss. In other respects the sediment of the Colorado is almost identical with tlat of the Nile It will be noticed therefore that when this wa ter is used for irrigation it is superior to ar5esjan waters since it is constantly supplying the land with the richestfertilzng elements. The soil of the valers IS extremely rich in dedomposed vecetable matter and uncombined carbon, readily absorbing the aerial gases. such especially, as oxygen which en- terlng the soil, docompo5es the organic matters so that they can be taken up and nourish the plants "Aiih may 9e considered leading featuTs in 1t fertility. It also readily takes uD and retains moisture while the frnness of its particles affords every facility for percolatiou and the activity of capillary action h its mechanical composition it's particles are in state of very fine division which renders 1t more productive than coarser soils ] acqurics heat readily in the daytime and the loss of the heat at night is very gradual so that t s mains always warm and is not subject to sudden changes Of heat and coIJ Besides it's essential con- stituents of water, organic or vegetable matter sand and clay, chemical analysis shows that liue soda, nagnesa, iron, ammonia and available forms Of nitrogen, phosPhoric acid and potash enter into composition in the proportions best adapted to add to its fertility though Of course, as is always the case in soil analysis, it's composition varies ia different localities and is not always constant
 The soi O the uplouds, or uesas, Hebtcr and more gravelly and in some places of a .ree, Ioamv. 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 admirably in summer. It is of that character which will produce wine that will keep good for fifty or 9 hundred years, and improve annually, not being
 liable to sour, or on exposure to the air after one year old, to become turbid and change color in the bottle or glass