The Arizona sentinel., 1899-01-21
LANDS AND SOILS.

The lands of Yuma County comprise the river bottoms and valleys and the uplands or lnesas The bottom ands are moister and slightly mere fertile if, indeed, it is possible to mike comparisons where all wonderfully productive and prolific The uplands or mesas are warmer and, perhaps,
 lightly for bctterthe cultivation of the citrus fruits Yuma contains a variety of soil The valley land of thel Gila and Colorado rivers have for the most part deep sedimentary soil of brownish, gray sandy loam, resting, in most places, upon a gray clay subsoil at depth of from ten to twenty feet below the surface, The clay subsoil forms hard. pan which is impervious to water. These soils have been slowly formed by the decomposition of shales sandstones, marls. lmestones, etc, mixed with or ganic 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 tlof the Colorado and Gila rivers resembles that from the Nile and ! its quantity varies from 0.1 to 0.5 per cent, though the water when even considerably discolor- ed by mud Is good 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 | bonade of limestOma beds through which the Colo rado pass"s. In other respects the sediment of the Colorado is almost identical with that of the Nile It will be noticed, therefore, that when this water i. used for irrigation it is superior to artesian water. since it is constantly supplying the land with the rchestfertilzing elements The soil of the valleys is extremely rich in dedomposed vegetable matte, and uncombined carbon, readily absorbing tht aerial gases, such especially, as oxygen, which en tering the soil decompOses the organic matters SC that they can be taken up and nourish the plants which may be considered leading featurs in 1t fertility. It also readily takes up and retains moisture, while the rinness of it's particles asrd every facility for percolation and the activity O capillary action. In it's mechanical composition it particles are in state of very fine division whicI renders it more productive than coarser soils I acquiries heat readily in the daytime, and the los of the heat at night Is very gradual, that it re mains always warm and is not subject to sudder changes of heat and cold. Besides It's essential stituents of water, organic or vegetable matter sand and clay, chemical analysis shows that lime soda, magnesa, iron, ammonia and available form of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash enter int
 composition in the proportions best adapted t. add to it's fertility though of course, is alway
 the case ill soil analysis it's composition varies il
 different localities and is not always constant
 The soi the uplands, or mesas, lighter an, more gravelly and in some places of lree, loamy ealcareous character. The mesa lands are warm an
 generous. They seem especially adapted for tn
 grape, olive and citrus fruits generally. Their , contains more magnesia, lime CT chalk than tn bottom lands. It never cracks and retains moistur | admirablV m ia Of ak vrhi
 will producr wIne that will keep good for fifty o hundred years, and improve annually, not bein liable to sour, exposure to the air, after on
 year old, to become turbid and change color in tn 7 bottle or glass