THE DESERT AND THE ROSE 41 



to the trees' roots, and there is no possibitity of sun- 

 scald. One thorough plowing during the season is 

 sufficient, a harrow of any up-to-date make keeping 

 the land in fine tilth. Nevertheless some orchard- 

 ists have abandoned an apparently rational system 

 and have fallen back on ancient ways. For this 

 there must be some good reason; although it must 

 be repeated that peach orchards, with which I have 

 had the most intensive experience, are no longer 

 what they were in number or perfection, and pear 

 orchards have to a large extent taken their place. 



The necessity of breaking up the soil in some 

 manner after each irrigation and keeping the or- 

 chard land like a seed bed is still not universally ap- 

 preciated. When the time arrives for cultivating 

 the careless orchardist floods again. The funda- 

 mental cause of too much loose farming with us is — 

 or perhaps I may soon have to say was — the almost 

 unparalleled fertility of the soil in combination 

 with a beneficent climate. The newcomer's idea is — 

 or was — as often as not that lounging on his porch 

 and ordering his peon around comprises all that is 

 necessary to his farming salvation. He beholds 

 luxuriant crops and orchards laden with fruit, and 

 believes he can enjoy the like blessings minus 

 thought and toil. Just there he falls down hard, 

 to employ the vernacular. For centuries this kind 

 corner of the earth has rewarded man far beyond 

 his just deserts, but now he must awake from sloth. 

 And after all, and at its worst, ranching in Southern 

 New Mexico is not so arduous as in the east ; hours 

 are comparatively short, and climatic rigors prac- 



