76 OBSERVATIONS OF A RANCHWOMAN 



and is, moreover, enabled to follow a crop of 

 barley with a crop of corn, in the same 

 season, and without impoverishing his land. 

 Then, should the river give out, he pins his 

 faith to * the rainy season,' due to arrive in 

 July or August. 



The storage dam, now hoped for, is a 

 decidedly more reliable prospect than either 

 river or rainy season, and once built and in 

 working order it will transform this already 

 fertile valley into a veritable Garden of Eden. 

 Productive now to an extraordinary degree, 

 and far ahead of California in the quality of 

 all fruits, with the exception of the citrus 

 varieties, for which the climate is not suited, 

 the only hindrance to the success of the in- 

 telligent farmer will be removed. I say 

 intelligent farmer advisedly, for in these 

 days scarcely a profession on earth calls for 

 a greater show of intelligence, and the traits 

 that usually go with it, than does this profes- 

 sion of farming. Co-operation in all things, 

 and in particular for the securing of good 

 markets ; abstinence from petty, small-beer 

 politics ; the holding of farmers' institutes for 

 the frank and free discussion of all matters 



