TO COACHELLA VALLEY 123 



crops in this once despised soil is truly miraculous. 

 I saw figs of ten or twelve years, monarchical in 

 trunk and houselike in spread of branch; while vines 

 at one year from planting were bearing promising 

 clusters. 



At the Government Agricultural Station I found 

 some novelties which are still in the experiment 

 stage; for instance, jujubes, pistachios, even cocoa- 

 nuts. Both official and private enterprise are en- 

 gaged on these problems, and from all sorts of out- 

 of-the-way places strangers are constantly arriving 

 who will be encouraged to become "good Amer- 

 ican citizens." Not only plant strangers either, for 

 other questions arise, such as that of the Blastophaga 

 wasp, an insignificant-looking insect who possessed 

 the secret of why that best of figs, the Smyrna, re- 

 fused to mature its fruit in this country, and who 

 for many a year played hide-and-seek all over the 

 Levant with our agricultural experts. It is the ro- 

 mance of agriculture that one sees here, in process 

 of becoming the commonplace of the future. 



The devices to which the white population resort 

 for comfort in the hot months are various and amus- 

 ing. Beds lurk in unexpected places. Wherever shade, 

 or coolness, or protection from wind is to be had, 

 there a cot, with mattress and sheets (seldom more), 

 may be looked for. In a garden at Indio I noted 

 what looked like a rather roomy rabbit-hutch but 

 proved to be the six-foot-six sleeping-room of the 

 owner of the place. At a near-by farm there was a 

 more elaborate arrangement, a large, well-furnished 

 room, electric-lighted and fitted with telephone, the 



