Cultivated Plants in the Arid Southwest. 



19 



luxuriant growth. It apparently revels in the intense heat and 

 full glare of the sun, as long as its roots are well supplied with 

 water, and the low humidity of the air appears not to affect it 

 in the least adversely. Here is a plant of the deep forests of 

 eastern America, introduced long ago into the damp, cool climate 

 of England and central Europe, where it grows, if possible, even 

 better than in its own home, but which also thrives perfectly 

 in the arid climate of the Southwest. At present its relative, 

 the Japanese Ampelopsis, is only occasionally cultivated here, 

 and that chiefly on the shady side of brick houses, but the success 

 thus far attending its introduction promises well for its more 

 extensive use. The English ivy, which is about the last plant 

 one would expect to thrive in an atmosphere in which at times 

 less than ten per cent of saturation is recorded, is nevertheless 

 doing finely in different parts of the city, and in some places 

 covers the trunks of trees much as it does in its old home in the 

 British Isles. Morning glories and gourds are to be added to the 

 list of climbers that cover fences and lattice with a growth that 

 if equalled, is at least hardly to be surpassed elsewhere. Gardens 

 and flower beds exhibit a very considerable and hopeful variety 

 of both annuals and perennials. Roses bloom freely the greater 

 part of the year; chrysanthemums, and sunflowers and sweet 

 peas produce a perfect wealth of flowers; the lawns are soft with 

 a thick growth of Dutch clover; and a goodly list of other plants 

 are contributing their share to soften the harshness of the desert 

 and make it seem like home. Market gardeners have contributed 

 much to the interesting and important experiments now in pro- 

 gress. Thev have succeeded in bringing to perfection and offer- 

 ing in anv quantity lettuce as fine as has ever been grown, celery, 

 oyster plant, beets, peas, onions, etc. of excellent quality, the 

 finest watermelons and canteloupes, and even strawberries, 

 pears, and peaches. 



From what has been stated there seems, at first sight, to be 

 sufficient justification for the constantly repeated assertion that 

 anything will grow here if you only give it water enough, but 

 closer attention to the actual facts of the case makes it evident 

 that this statement is true only in part, and that there are many 

 plants that will grow only indifferently or not at all under the 

 atmospheric conditions which prevail here, especially in the 

 summer time. To give a few examples, geraniums, the universal 



