AGRICULTURE. 221 



County, and is a prominent feature of the scenery near the 

 towns. The fence is made with cuttings, the larger the better ; 

 the largest are three inches in diameter and eight feet long. 

 These are planted perpendicularly three feet deep and nine 

 inches apart, and then irrigated freely, when nearly all will 

 grow and make a good fence in the second year. If larger 

 cuttings cannot be had, small ones, half an inch thick and two 

 feet long, are taken : only an inch or two is left above ground, 

 and four or five years may be required to make a tight fence. 

 Twigs and poles are woven horizontally through the hedge. 

 In the course of eight or ten years, the willows grow to be 

 trees, with trunks five or six inches in diameter, and with 

 dense tops from fifteen to thirty feet high. They thus not 

 only shut out trespassing animals, but furnish a large amount 

 of firewood an item of no small importance in the woodless 

 plains of the south and throw a pleasant shade over the roads 

 which they line. The willow-fence requires frequent irriga- 

 tion, for its growth will usually depend upon the amount of 

 water supplied to it. 



The cactus was used extensively for fences at the old mis- 

 sions, and some fields are still enclosed with it. The plant is 

 merely thrown upon the ground, where it takes root, no mat- 

 ter how dry or barren the soil, and grows up in a dense 

 mass of thick leaves, six feet high and from five to ten feet 

 wide. It is covered with thorns, and is feared by all large 

 animals, but spermophiles and gophers are fond of burrowing 

 under it, for it protects them against their enemies, and its 

 leaves furnish them with food. 



Several machines have been made to cut ditches through 

 swamps, and throw the dirt up as an embankment on one side, 

 but none of them have been very successful ; and the spade is 

 still considered the best instrument for making fences in the 

 tules. 



158. Varieties of Wheat. Many kinds of wheat are 

 cultivated here, of which the main are Club, Chile, Australian, 



