II. 



IN THE COTTONWOODS. 



A COTTONWOOD grove is the nearest approach 

 to our Eastern rural districts to be found in 

 Colorado, and a cotton storm, looking exactly 

 like a snowstorm, is a common sight in these 

 groves. The white, fluffy material grows in 

 long bunches, loosely attached to stems, and 

 the fibre is very short. At the lightest breeze 

 that stirs the branches, tiny bits of it take to 

 flight, and one tree will shed cotton for weeks. 

 It clings to one's garments ; it gets into the 

 houses, and sticks to the carpets, often showing 

 a trail of white footprints where a person has 

 come in ; it clogs the wire-gauze screens till 

 they keep out the air as well as the flies; it 

 fills the noses and the eyes of men and beasts. 

 But its most curious effect is on the plants and 

 flowers, to which it adheres, being a little gummy. 

 Some flowers look as if they were encased in 

 ice, and others seem wrapped in the gauziest of 

 veils, which, flimsy as it looks, cannot be com- 

 pletely cleared from the leaves. 



It covers the ground like snow, and strangely 



