Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-02-12

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did not suppose until / crossed the
Central Pacific last summer, that the
railroads are educators of the Indians
as we'll as the whites. was sur.
prised to see the Indians along the
line of the road in the vicinity ol
Humboldt river looking strong and
healthy and decently clad, indeed,
some OF the oung men were dudes
in their way. Draped in modern
citizens clothes, high-heeled calf
skin boots, a sombrero and fancy
Mexican blanket. / had not time to
inquire into their general intelligence,
neither did think to inquire into
their political proclivities, but judging
from the way they put on airs, con-
cluded they must be mugwumps.
had travelled through this same
territory many years ago, and could
not help drawing a comparison be-
tween the Indians as they were then
and as they are now. Although a
trife less than forty years had elapsed
yet the contrast was very striking
did not see them in any great num-
bers at that time, and we supposed
that the better part of them kept away
from the emigrant trail; but those
did see were cadaverous, half
starved looking lot, living on large
black crickets, kneaded into
powdered green vegetable matter
resembling wheat, just at the time it
is heading out. Their apparel, con-
sisted of a thick, matted head of hair
and cloth around. their loins; but
this was only when they were in full
dress, as there were some exceptions
when they seemed to have sent their
whole wardrobe to the laundry. AL
though l have not had the oppor-
tunity for studying tree growth on
this side OF the continent that l have
had on the other side, 1 have yet seen
some very encouraging signs. have
seen changes recently in parts of the
country went over in 1S49 that are
we'll worth noting, and give great
promise even on what were then
desert lands, pure and simple. On
the other hand, have carefully OBJ.
served, especially in one or two cases,
that among millions of trees covering
miles on the side of desert, 1 could
not find a single tree less than
30 to rs years old, although
these trees are covered with
seeds, and there are no indications of
fire ever having visited them. This
is proof to my mind that the climate
is drier, as seeds cannot germinate
now, when they produced seedlings
less than century ago. ANY one
who has studied these desert lands,
even on flying trip, will see enough
to convince them that if irrigation
could be secured there would be very
little desert land in this State. 1
firmly believe that on any desert land
where sage brush and other shrubs
are growing, even sparsely, forest
trees will grow, if the land is cleared,
and we'll plowed. which is very
simple affair, compared either with
clearing grub land, timber land or
breaking prairie in the Eastern States.
The forest trees must be planted dur
ing the rainy season and cultivated at
least during the succeeding season. It
is surprising to see how the land in
this State endures drouth when CON-
pared with land on the other side of
the continent. have seen our gray
ely land in Illinois without apparent
moisture at three feet in depth after q
drouth of only six weeks. l have
noticed men digging only two feet
deep for telephone poles in this State,
and the moisture was perceptible, al.
there had been no rain for nearly six
months. This is not a solitary case,
but is usual, as 1 have frequently
noticed in railroad cuts. In the
East a hardpan lies at q GER
tain depth below the surface,
through which the moisture can
not be brought up by capillary attrac-
ton. In this State the soil is gener-
ally loose and porous down to the bed
rock, however deep that may be,
consequently, all the deciduous fruits
may be grown without irrigation, but
they must be thoroughly cultivated to
get the best results. All through the
San Gabriel Valley and in other parts
of the State that I have visited, the
Indigenous trees thrive best on the
north side of the hills, indeed they are
generally destitute of the growth
on their southern sides, only shrubs,
perennial and annual plants and
scanty growth at that, yet I have
seen eucalyptus growing whern
planted on the very summils of some
of these hills. The soil is quite rich
enough for tree growth even to the
very summit, | can remember no
exception except where the rock pro-
truded. As to irrigation I touched
that subject very modestly for while
as / received quite rebuff the first
time l ventured an opinion. A gen.
tleman was irrigating a very fine
Aranicario; he had the earth scraped
away from the collar of the tree,
forming a basin about three feet in
diameter and six inches deep; he was
flooding this with cold water in the
heat of the day, and threw the water
with such force from the hose that the
crown of the roots was lain bare. l
told him th.t I thought he ought
not to disturb the surface 80 near to
the trunk of the tree, as the feeding
roots lay at some distance. He told
me the Mexicans had irrigated for a
hundred years and guessed they knew
more about it than new conner.
pocketed the affront and asked him
how long he had lived in the State
He said, over two years. Then l
wondered he had not called me a
tenderfoot. have always found the
old settlers very civil and kind, and
ready to answer all questions freely;
l never saw more obliging people any.
where. No doubt great deal has
been learned from the Mexicans. yet,
l think, our people can soon make
improvements on what they learn
from them. I had the curiosity to go
quite a distance from the road, near
Santa Fe, to see Mexican plowing
with a wooden plow. He was doing
it very we'll, considering the imple-
ment he was using, yet could not
help thinking that the work could be
done better by light steel plow and
much easier, both for the donkey at
Al