12 TREES AND SHRUBS 



which might be ours if our land laws were so constructed as 

 to give a stockman control of enough land to make a living on. 

 But the lawmakers had other conditions in view when these 

 laws were made, and as yet nothing has been suggested which 

 will overcome the evil resulting to arid grazing lands. 



The author also appreciates how this lack o E control, the 

 uncertainty of the returns for labor, the rough character of 

 the work itself, the exposure it entails and irregularity of 

 habits which it engenders, all tend to render the ranch house 

 a mere "permanent camp,"' where one expects :onveniences 

 only a grade better than when on the "round u 



Again comes the question : Are these conditions neces- 

 sary? The author thinks they are not, and fully believes that 

 the day is not very distant when some of them will be materi- 

 ally improved by legislation favorable to the stockmen, which 

 will give them a more assured "grip" on their ranges, and at 

 • the same time render labor less arduous, rough, and irregular, 

 and make the ranch house still more "permanent" in character 

 and less like a camp. Many ranches now possess sufficient 

 permanence to make greater comfort a desideratum, but until 

 the necessity for greater comfort is felt, no attempt to gain it 

 will be made. 



Some of the comforts which may be added to the ranch 

 house (depending somewhat upon its location) are coolness 

 and shade, protection from wind and dust, increased privacy, 

 and added beauty, thus raising the mental standards and 

 appreciation of its inmates. They may all of them be had at 

 the cost of a little time and labor expended in the judicious 

 transplanting of native plants which grow, in every case, not 

 far from the ranch house. 



The ranch on the mesa may be protected from dust and 

 have its privacy and beauty materially increased by the use of 

 the Yuccas, sotols, ocotillo, and other shrubs of the mesa; 

 while if a little water can be had, cottonwoods, ash. and soar> 

 berry may be induced to add their shade, and cacti and many 

 low plants will grow and bloom in such surroundings. 



