Arizona republican., 1901-02-14

The operation Of tha sO-Cllled prison
 farm as an agricultural experiment.
 station appeals to the AQUEOUS & nse oiappropTat neSs, AGRICUL- for tEa enterprise would TURAL. COL be purely an eXper- LEGE OF ment. It is true that ARIZONA. farming has proved
 failure there, but that
 was not the fault of the farm, whose soil is doubtless as rich as any in the world. The failure must be attributed 10 the negligence of the gentlemen in charge, wh3 sough, to apply the same methods to marine farming that are employed in land farming. That prison faIn, can be made extremely profitable if .he right kind of A superintendent is put in charge at Yuma. one who knows how tO overcome whas apo ar to be insruerablc difficulties and is not filled with 1nly enc set Of agricultural idcss <.
 We will suppo3c that a seaman wA1 had never heard 1f any other vehicle of transportation than the steamboat, should establish a steamship line be- tween Phoenix and Tucson. H. would almost certainly fail. It would be just as unreasonable =, him ;o say upon his disastrous experience that any transportation projer affecting these two Arizona polr,s would not be feas- ible, as il $ for those who have hith- cr;' tried t1 operate tho pris n farm. to pronounce farming there to be i'm prI' t!cable
 In all previous, iu-alvis,d experi- merts horses and mules have been cmp.oyc1 in blowing that rich a,luvlal soil. As well might the codnsa be sat to the task of catching mice. Tn cod ! fish is quick enough, hut he is out of his element when acting in the ca pacity of a cat; II is strange that Il 1! never occurred tC any of the prison . supsrintendents tha. horses shcull . have been harnesgei to the prison . farm plows.
 The men employed there, t-1 have not been cSosen with special reference . tc their adaptahllity to marine farm iIg Many Of the convicts could not swim at all and none of then. per hars, were adept swimmers. IL Is trre that in selecting men for tho pcn- i rs,tf f.,y. finn ton in the matter f natatorial qual- iflcatiOns go that great many of the convicts are not adapted to Arizona prison farming, but there is nothing to prevent them frcm becoming adapted. There are agricultural colleges in which young men arc introduced t1 the intricate mysteries of farming on land. There should be an agricultural college a: Yuma where the future con Vict farmers could be tsught the breast stroke. the side stroke and the dog method. Diving in its simplest form should also have a place in tha curriculum. W time need be wasted on fancy high diving or deep diving, for we understand that the water on the prison farm is seldom more than eight CT ten fset deep. Special atten- ton, however, should he given to long diving and the medication of an abil- ity to remain under water, say six hours, otherwise much time will be lost by convicts coming to the surface every half hour or so to breathe.
 The las; year of the course should bc devoted to tha cultivation of fins and web feet, On the C7mplctl n of his cducarlon the conflict, though an amphibiouS animal, would have an advantag, over both the fish arl the duck. The farmer. though moderately equipped with fins, has pnly rudimentary web feet. while the duck has no fins worth speaking of
 lt might bc well for the sup rintcnd- nnt of the prison and the foreman Of the farm to acquire dorsal fins so that they could inspect the progress of the work. They might cut out of the rou"sn that "ear spent in accumu- atIng web feet and learning to remain under water
 We hope that the legislature will amend the hill now before 1t for the Improvement of the prison by includ-