174 American Horticultural Society, 



face so near to the trunk of the tree, as the feeding roots lay at some distance. 

 He told me that the Mexicans had irrigated for a hundred years, and he 

 guessed they knew more about it than a newcomer. I pocketed the atlront, 

 and asked him how long he had lived in the sUitc. He said over two years; 

 then I wontlercd he had not called me a tender-foot. I have always found 

 the old settlers very civil and kind, and ready to answer all questions freely. 

 I never saw more obliging people anywhere. No doubt a great deal has 

 been learned from the Mexicans, yet I think our people can soon make im- 

 provements on what they learn from tliem. I had the curiosity to go quite 

 a distance from the road near Santa F^ to see a Mexican plowing with a 

 wooden plow. He was doing it very well considering the implement he 

 was using, yet I could not help thinking that the work could be done better 

 with a light steel plow, and much easier, lioth for the donkey at the beam 

 and the one at the handles. 



The more I observe and study this desert question the more I become 

 convinced that progress will be made in this direction much more rapidly 

 than the most sanguine can imagine. Scientists may attempt to prove to 

 you that according to natural laws the thing is impossible. Less than fifty 

 years ago scientists said and wrote that valuable trees could not be grown 

 on the Illinois prairies until many generations of willows and poplars were 

 grown to tit the land for the more valuable kinds, and at that time it was the 

 general belief of prairie farmers that trees and the tame grasses would never 

 succeed on prairie lands. Now we know, and have long known, that our 

 prairies grow every kind of tree and grass that will bear the severity of our 

 climate. You will make much more rapid advances than we made in the 

 Mississippi valley. Our settlers came in covered wagons: yours come on ex- 

 press trains. You have improved labor-saving machinery, which was not 

 then invented, and last, but not least, you have a staple currency, and are 

 not left to the mercy of wild-cat banks. 



Reservoirs will be built to husband the waters that are now running 

 down the rivers into the ocean ; artesian wells will be used in many places; 

 thousands of acres of forests will be planted, that will not grow as rapidly as 

 if irrigated, but after they are planted and cultivated the earth will absorb a 

 great quantity of water that formerly ran ofl"; the trees will shade the ground, 

 which will gain both in moisture and fertility, as they will draw nutriment 

 from an immense dei)th, while our forests draw their nutriment from nearer 

 the surface. The eastern farmer and horticulturist has at best only seven 

 or eight months in the year, apd from this must provide enough to support 

 his family, secure fuel, and feed for his stock. Aside from this, his land is 

 decreasing in fertility, or kept fertile at great expense and labor, while yours 

 will for a long time be increasing in fertility if kept well cultivated and 

 worked deep. 



It will require more experience than any of us have had to decide which 

 will be the most suitable trees for forest planting. Many of the most prolit- 

 able for eastern planting would not succeed well here. The soft foliage of 



