XV 
NEW MEXICO 
The mountainous States of the West, from Montana 
to New Mexico, from Colorado almost to the Pacific, have 
a climate of their own, varying naturally according to 
latitude. A resident of Las Cruces, New Mexico, writes: 
“The first killing frost is usually to be expected from the 
7th to the 25th of October, very often it is much later, 
and we have had tomatoes till December with the slight- 
est possible protection. Many flowers in a sheltered 
position bloom in winter, such as Calendula, Violets, 
Wallflowers, and Pansies. The highest ordinary summer 
thermometer is ninety-two to ninety-eight degrees. The 
lowest usually in winter is fifteen degrees — occasionally it 
has gone down to fifteen or twenty degrees below zero, 
but that is most exceptional. The climate is extremely 
dry. Most of New Mexico is at a high altitude — we are 
about three thousand eight hundred feet above sea-level 
here. 
“As some plants blossom through the winter, it is 
hard to say when the garden begins to bloom. But about 
the middle of March we have Crocuses, followed the 1st 
of April by Jonquils, Narcissus, Tulips, and other bulbs, 
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