The Arizona sentinel., 1909-12-09
RICHES OF SOIL WONDERFUL

IQb 6iC OOJCCG Oi bhAS SbOiS fS SO SstlA dbNCll- tion once more, and for perhaps the thou sandth time, to the riches of the soil along the Colorado on both sides, incident to the depositidg of this mass of debris during all the past ages. Going through the country on the Arizona side of the river, for several miles below Yuma, one encounters the same type of country and soil that is found in the Imperial Valley country around Brawley, Calexico and other point west of the river The fertility of the black prairie soils of Illi- Hois has astonished people engaged in agri- culture for nearly one hundred years. The fertility of the valleys Of the Nile has been a matter Of history for at least COCO years. Those who are famiIinr with Illinois prairie soil, and those who know wh2t the valley of the Nile is for agriculture. khow that this lower Colorado River region surpasses both of them.
 If you ask farmer along this stretch of country if the soil is six feet, his eyes will open with astOnishment ali your ignorance. He will tell you no one knows whether it is 60 feet COG or 6,oOO feet deep. It is practically without bottom. It is so thoroughly we'll mixed with sand, disintegrated granite and ether rocks that it never breaks. It Is as easily worked as a heap of ashes, and re- spends to cultivation in a way that is mar yclous.
 CUT SEVEN CROPS YEARLY.
 Arizona has established an experiment station in the heart of this big valley, which is sonIe twenty-four miles long. and in spots ten to twelve miles wide, down on the lower level. The results are wonderful. Last week they were cutting a crop of alfalfa on thls ex- perimebtal farm and for seven consecutive months they will cut succeeding crops. The only months when the crop IS not out here are December and January.
 Cotton and tobacco grow with the greatest luxuriance, and this rich aluvial soil will be noted in a very few years as the ideal spot in the whole country for dairying, hog raising, tAe production of poultry and vegetables, which one hesitates to call early or late, they will be perennial New potatoes will be produced in the middle Of January, tomatoes will be ripe by the first of March. ripe grapes will bs gathered in the early days of May, and apri. cots by the middle of the same month. Chic kens and turkeys flourish there in the winter time beyond all experience anywhere else.
 The rainfall is exceedingly light and comes only three or four times in whole winter. With an abundance Of green alfalfa and veget- able the dry and not overhcated climate prevailing in the winter months, chickens are free from the disease that make their raising diflcut elsewhere. There is no spot in South ern Illinois or Missouri so adapted to the pro. duction of corn this valley along the Cobra do River. With alfalfa and corn, the butter, cheese, eggs, poultry and pork to be raised on a twenty-acre farm will amaze those who have the experience in American agricultural affairs
 The winter climate around Yuma is 8 thing so intoxicatingly salubrous lhat no words can describe it. Those deserts of America, as we have regarded them heretofore, seem to def the ills that human nature elsewhere is SC prone to contract and suffer from. The atmOS phere is as dry as punk, the skies cloudlcSSly clear the air mild as possible, and every breath seems to be an inspiration Of new life