494 



eight hours at a time iu winter; aud winter- wheat, rye, and such grasses 

 as can be grown in itf> hot summer, grow the year round. The elevatiou, 

 4,000 feet above the sea-level, and the great distance from the oceans, 

 produce an arid and clear atmosphere, highly charged with electricity, 

 which invigorates and nerves the human system, iutlates and heals the 

 lungs, and is free from miasms. The region only needs facilities of 

 access to make it celebrated as a resort for the asthmatic and the con- 

 sumptive. 



Fruit. — Extraordinary crops of apples, peaches, aud grapes have been 

 produced. Trees iu mauy instances have been so overloaded that they 

 have been crushed beneath their burdens. Grape-vines have nearly 

 recovered from the frost of April, 1873, which killed the new growth 

 aud destroyed some entirely, as it fell on them while in bloom. The 

 yiehi the past season was 80 per cent, of a full average crop. The eight 

 grape-vines sent me from the Department in February last have all lived 

 and nmde fine growth, none less than 3 feet and some 6 feet in length. 

 The growth ot our El Paso vines has been enormously large this year 

 in all the vineyards which have been cared for, aud the grapes have 

 met with no mishap. Mildew, {oidium,) owing probablj' to our arid 

 atmosphere, never affects the fruit or vines, and the root-louse is un- 

 known ; perhaps our alkaline soils will not allow it to live. This valley 

 has been proved to be one of the best in the (Jniou for the production 

 of apples, i^ears, quinces, and grapes, except that the winter-apples of 

 the Northern States ripen here in the fall, and we have as yet but few of 

 the longest keepers. 



Insects. — The codling moth, curculio, and other destructive insects 

 are unknown in this region ; the fruit is, consequently, fair and free 

 from insect injuries. A large green beetle eats the ripe apples and 

 l^eaches on the trees; but as they are not abundant and remain but a 

 few days, they do but little damage. Corn has three enemies: a green 

 worm which enters the ear by the silk, or through the husk, and eats 

 the-youug grain ; a worm which enters the stalk near the ground and 

 weakens it till it falls, often before the grains are perfected; and a small 

 black bug, (about the size of the chinch-bug of the Northwestern States, 

 but not fetid, and, if I mistake not, in the larva state it is a white grub, 

 about three lines in length,) which also feeds on the young grain, 

 entering the ear by way of the silk, if no other opening presents itself. 

 The grasshopper tribe never do any damage here — in fact, few are 

 seen west of the Pecos River and south ot the thirty-fourth parallel, 

 though more made their appearance in the latter part of October than 

 had been seen before. The system of irrigation in this valley would 

 meet aud prevent their advance if they should attempt to come among us. 

 The large brown squash-bug, {Coreustristes, Harris,) is likely to render 

 precarious the protluction of tine squashes and pumpkins iu this valley. 

 Beans are attacked aud greatly injured b^' what is evidently a doyy- 

 phora, the larva of which is yellow, considerably smaller than the decern- 

 Uneata. The perfect insect greatly resembles the lady-bird in color, 

 though not so bright. and much larger. They feed on the leaves of the 

 beans. Potato beetles are here, but as potatoes are only raised iu 

 limited quantities, they are doing no damage. A slate colored bug, six 

 lines long, attacked the grape leaves in June, but did no damage be- 

 sides eating them, and thus thinning the foliage. They staid three 

 weeks, aud left no eggs or young on the vines. The plant lice, [Aphides.,) 

 in the spring destroy "all the cabbage tribe, so that seed cannot be. raised 

 here; but later the lady-birds increase and destroy mauy of them, 

 allowing cabbage to make fair heads. The wheat midge is injurious to 

 old wheat iu the bin, so that little or no old wheat is kept over. 



