The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-08-13
LIFE IN THE DESERT
REGIONS IN THE WEST WHERE
 THINGS GO BY CONTRARIES.
Some Results Of Irrigation-Waterme ons Become A Pest And Butterflies
 Destroy Alfalfa Crop.-Mistie- toe Nuisance.

Things appear to go by opposites in the desert region of the great west Ine customs. manners and the usage or the outside world are reversed. Even Nature works differently here than she does in other part of the country
 Before irrigation concerns started the work of retaining the region by turn- ing water into the desert through gi- xantic canals says the San Francisco Chronicle, such settlers as made thls regions their home had to practice all sort of schemes to procure that neces- sary fluid. The usual way was to haui the water down in barrels, thirty or Iorty miles as the case might De. from the nearest mountain spring or canyon pools. These barrels of precious stuff were then covered with sand to prevent evapora- ton through the pores.
 Fuel was nearly as scarce as water and quite as dtfhcnlt to get. .Tne only growing shrub in a large portion of the desert country which offers substantial fuel is the mesquite.
 Blown by vagrant winds. which con- stantly sweep across the plains, the mesquite beans find lodgment in the sand or soil at various places. Being one of the so-called weather plants. it needs little encouragement in the way of moisture to set 1t growing. It taxes root and sends up some scraggy shoots. As soon as they attain enough size ana substance to offer a barrier to the wind they are buried beneath the drifting sand and seemingly anpihilated. Not so, however. They continue to grow, and here and there from the sides and top of the sand mound the shoots peep through and soon are growing courage ously, giving the sand heap the ap- pearance of bearing leaves. Then the twigs offer another mark to the sands and they are again covered.
 Thus the process is oft repeated, the sand mounts growing broader and taller; and the hidden shrub broadens and reaches up till mounds are formed ten, twenty feet high and even taller. Here is the desert dweller's fuel, but he has to dig for it.
 Out in Gods country" as the in habitants of that region terms the furtile portion of this land, the rancher turns his cattle and hogs into fenced-in lots. and the watchdog is chained to his ken mel In the desert the matter is revers- ed. They have no timber with which to build fences or pens, so the family pig is chained or "roped" and the dogs run wild.
 This reversal of custom led one visitor to the region to pointedly remark that he had mo use for country where one has to dig for wood and climb for WHcfo tilCS ShoAA e'sS "SSS ~-~ let the dogs run"
 As has been remarked, Nature is as foreign to her usual customs here as are the inhabitants, and she seems to work by a set of laws formulated for this es- pecial locality.
 watermeIOns Run Wild.
 In the lower part of the Colorado de- sert nearly a half million acres of land have been reclaimed by large irriga- tion system. Since water has been turned on and abundant crops are being raised, succession of surprises has been sprung upon the inhabitants of the district. One series is the unique pests, both insects and vegetable, which have developed there. .:: .:..
 Who would not be surprised. for in- stance, to find that luscious garden fruit, the watermelon becoming a pest? It Is a very serious pest in this reclaimed desert region. The desert country is peculiarly adapted to melon raising. now that the water has come. The watermelon was one of the first crops, aside from the grain, to be planted. The melons produced abundantly. and besides furnishing the growers epi- curean eating and a profitable com modity for shipment, thousand of mel ons were used for food for cattle.
 In this manner great quantities of seeds were scattered over the ground, and when the flooding of the land took place in course of irrigation. these seeds were carried by the water to all parts of the cultivated area. The seeds took root, grew. again bore fruit furnishing more seed to be distributed and the melon was beyond control It had escaped from its bound of culti- vation and it returned to the wild state The vines grew rank and luxuriant overriding and pulling down the grain and other crops of the hard-workine ranchers While the vines attain gi- gantic proportions, the fruit returned to its primitive state and 1t Is scarcely larger than a large apple; but all tho sweetness contained in the giant melon of cultivation seems to have beer boiled down by the heat of the burn ing desert and to be stored in the tiny melon of the wild vine.
 Two or three hundred desert Indians have migrated to this particular local ity and pitched their tents, that they may feast upon the luscious fruit. They considered them a boon. but the ran chers look upon them otherwise
 PestIferous Plants.
 Another pest with an Interesting history Is the wild hemp (cannibi' sativa,) which has made its appearance and Is spreading with alarming rapid