WORMWOOD 



as its name implies, anthelmintic properties, although 

 now, for no apparent reason other than caprice of prac- 

 tice, they are less popular with the profession than for- 

 merly. In domestic medicine they are employed as men- 

 tioned and as a diuretic; locally as a fomentation or as a 

 decoction with vinegar to ulcers, sprains and bruises. 

 In the dry state they are occasionally placed among 

 clothing as a moth repellant. Formerly Wormwood w;is 

 used by brewers to embitter and preserve liquors, but 

 at the present time it finds its most extensive use as 

 the principal ingredient in absinthe, in the manufacture 

 of which peppermint, angelica, anise, cloves and cinna- 

 mon are also ingredients. According to Blythe, the 

 green color of this liquor is due not to Wormwood but 

 to the chlorophyll of spinach, parsley or nettles. The 

 plant may be grown without trouble in light, dry, rather 



WYOMING 



1991 



titude. This includes the high mountain ranges, which 

 as a rule are covered with forests that catch and hold 

 the winter snow, the melting of which supplies the nu- 

 merous perennial streams flowing in every direction 

 from the mountain summits. In the north are culti- 

 vated areas at less than 3,500 feet altitude, and farming 

 is practiced on high plateaus or in mountain valleys up 

 to 8,000 feet. Wyoming embraces an area 355 miles 

 from east to west and 270 miles from north to south, in 

 the very heart of the Rocky Mountain region. As would 

 be expected, there is great diversity of soil, climate and 

 exposure. There are wind-swept plains, rolling up- 

 lands, protected mountain valleys and bottom-lands 

 along streams, with corresponding lengths of the grow- 

 ing season, free from frost, of from eighty davs or less 

 to more than one hundred and fifty days. The mean 



2751. Map of Wyoming, showing horticultural possibilities. 

 The areas marked by semi-circles are deserts. The areas sliaded by diagonal lines have an altitude 



)f less than 6.000 feet. 



poor garden soil from seed which, owing to its small 

 size, should be started where it may not be washed out 

 or packed down by rain. When large enough to set out 

 the few specimens necessary to furnish a family supply 

 should be placed not closer than 15 in. each way the 

 first year. If alternate plants be removed with a good 

 ball of earth early in the following spring and planted 

 30 in. apart, they will be sufficiently close together and 

 the transplanted ones should suffer from no check. 

 Ripened cuttings taken in March or October may be 

 used for propagation. Clean cultivation and slight an- 

 nual dressings of manure are the only other requisites. 

 In the middle western states there are several localities 

 where Wormwood is grown for export, jj q Kains. 



WREATH, PURPLE. See Petrea volubilis. St. 

 Peter's W. See Spircea. 



WYCH ELM. Ulmus scabra. 



WYOMING, HORTICULTURE IN. Fig. 2751. The 

 agricultural land in Wyoming is at a higher average 

 altitude than that in any other state, being about 0, nun 

 feet above the -"'a. As shown in the accompanying map 

 more than one-half the total area is above 0,000 feet al- 



annual temperature varies from less than 40° F. to- 

 about 50° F. 



The rainfall is as little as 4 or fl inches per annum in 

 the Red Desert and reaches a maximum of 30 inches or 

 more on the high mountains. The average for the agri- 

 cultural regions is about. 12 inches. With the exception 

 of a very small area in the northeastern part of the 

 state, and small valleys at high altitudes in the moun- 

 tains, where some quickly growing plants will mature 

 without being artificially watered, no crops can be 

 raised without irrigation. It has been estimated that 

 there is sufficient water supply to reclaim about 12,000,- 

 000 acres of agricultural land, and about 2,000,000 acres 

 are already covered by irrigation canals. 



The natural conditions make live-stock husbandry of 

 paramount importance. The soil is cultivated princi- 

 pally to increase the amount of stock food and little 

 intensive farming has been Inaugurated. Some ranches 

 extend 10-15 miles along the streams, and some of them 

 have not yet known the use of a plow except in the 

 construction of the ditches to irrigate the native 

 meadows. The state is yet in the transition period be- 

 tween the time of the nomadic stockman, or the large 

 stock ranch and range business, and the time of perma- 

 nent home building and a stable agriculture. In the 



