HORTICULTURAL METHODS IN NEW MEXICO. 22/ 



Much of the fruit grown by the Mexicans and Indians is grown 

 on seedUngs. The most of the orchards where grafted varieties 

 are grown were planted at one time or another by men from the 

 states. Some of these orchards have been well tended and bear great 

 crops of fruit. Here on the watershed of the Rio Grande and in 

 the middle and lower Pecos valley they have no such problems to 

 solve as you have. All apples, peaches, plums, prunes, apricots, 

 pears, quinces, etc., are hardy in top and root. I have seen fruit 

 trees growing here that were propagated in the nurseries of Spain, 

 France, England and Germany. The trees seem to do well no mat- 

 ter where the variety originated. They have to guard against sun 

 scald, as it is very hot from noon to three o'clock. 



The worst foe to fruit growing that they have to contend with 

 is late frosts and violent hail storms, the latter being more com- 

 mon in some parts of the territory than in others. But, remember, 

 you can grow no tree or plant unless you have water. In many 

 parts of the country all the available water supply is used up by 

 ditches already constructed, and there are many places where 

 there is not enough water to supply the ranches already under 

 ditch, so that there are many hundred acres that have been aban- 

 doned that once grew heavy crops. The reason for this apparent 

 decrease in the water supply is not that there is less precipitation 

 annually but because the watersheds have been denuded of their 

 trees and other plants by forest fires, extensive lumbering, mainly 

 the cutting of timber for railroad construction and cribbing mines, 

 and to this may be added the damage done by countless herds of 

 goats and sheep, horses and burros, which destroy everything in 

 their path and defeat all efforts of nature to restore the watersheds 

 to their former condition. 



The ground being bare and hard and at a steep incline, when 

 it rains the water flows away so rapidly that it becomes a raging 

 torrent and carries so much debris, mostly sand and stone, that 

 any dam built to impound this water is quickly filled to the brim 

 with this debris and becomes useless as a reservoir. When at an 

 ordinary stage, the water is easily stored in reservoirs built along 

 the ranches to be irrigated, but the great volume of water goes by 

 in the flood and is lost. 



This is a paradise, almost, for persons afflicted with lung 

 troubles. The humidity generally being very low, the air is not 

 only dry but pure, and its density varies with the altitude. Here 

 (Santa Fe) the altitude is seven thousand feet. Just northeast of 

 the city, a few miles away, the mountains run up to 13.000 feet. 



The most of the large ranches along the Pecos and the Rio 

 Grande use modern tools and employ modern methods, and in con- 

 sequence grow good crops. We find plenty of good people who 

 are not only intelligent but kind. 



FivORAL Life. — This mid-monthly publication, fills a hitherto un-occupied 

 field in garden literature. Its typographical work is of the very highest class, 

 and the editorial work is of equal character and on a level where everybodj- 

 can meet. A success is predicted for this magazine. 



Published mid-monthly by the Floral Life Publishing Co., 812 Wal- 

 nut St., Philada. 



