58 OBSERVATIONS OF A RANCHWOMAN 



to shut his ears ; when his cabbage falls in 

 helpless heaps, his corn turns its leaves in- 

 side out and looks to him in vain for succour, 

 his young fruit-trees develop weak backbones 

 and cast their yellow leaves reproachfully in 

 his path, and his melons and cucumbers 

 shrivel into the invisible, he strives after 

 blindness. What better can he do? At 

 least, he is not on a cattle ranch, watching 

 dumb live things perish by inches ; his 

 creatures are not sentient, or he hopes that 

 they are not. Moreover, in the Arid Belt 

 the rainy season can at the worst be hoped 

 for, and complete destruction of crops is more 

 rare here than in certain States of the Middle 

 West or even of the South. 



As regards improved orchards, the Valley 

 is yet in its infancy. The first shipments of 

 ' improved ' fruit were not made until 1891, 

 and yet ' Mesilla Valley peaches ' are already 

 considered 'gilt-edged,' and are sold on the 

 trains as far East as Chicago. Last season, 

 shipped for the first time to Los Angeles, 

 they drove the Californian product out of the 

 market, for the peach and apple of Califor- 

 nia, though fine to look at, are, except when 



