The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1905-04-26

/ GnaG ne nau no use for a country
where one has to dig for wood and
climb for water; where they chain the
hogs and 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 set of laws formulated for
this especial locality.
In the lower part of the Colorado
desert nearly half million acres of
land have been reclaimed by large
irrigation system. Since water has
been turned on and abundant crops
are being raised a succession of sur
prises has been sprung upon the in
habitants of the district. One series
| is the unique pests, both insect 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? 1t is very serious pest in this
reclaimed desert region. This desert
region is peculiarly adapted to melon
raising, now that the water has come.
The watermelon was one of the first
crops, aside from the grains, to be
planted. The melons produced abund-
antly, and besides furnishing the
growers epicurean eating and profit
able commodity for shipment, thOus-
ands of melons were used for food for
cattle.
In this manner great quantities of
seed 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 dis
tributed, and the melon was beyond
control. 1t had escaped from its
bounds of cultivation, and it returned
to the wild state. The vines grew
rank and luxuriant, overriding and
pulling down the grain and other crops
of the Woodworking ranchers. While
the vines attained gigantic proper
tions the fruitreturned to its primitive
state, and is scarcely larger than an
apple. But all the sweetness contain
ed in the giant melon of cultivation
seems to have been boiled down by
the heat of the burning desert and
to be stored in the tiny melon OF the
wi 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 consider them boon, but ranch
ers look upon them otherwise.
Wild Hemp.
Another pest with an interesting his
tory is the wild hemp, which has made
it's appearance and is spreading with
alarming rapidity. There are two
very remarkable circumstances con-
nected with this pest. One is that
there is but one locality west OF the
Rocky Mountains where this plant IS
known to have existed previous to its
appearance in the desert, and that,
though existing there about a quarter
of a century, had taken root nowhere
else until the reclamation of this des-
ert region, though the seeds have been
carried down the waters of the Colo
RADIO all that time.
The hemp plant is somewhat sensible
as to soil, and it will not introduce
itself save underfavOrable conditions.
When the waters of the Colorado nv
er were brought out into the desert,
through the big canal, the floating
seeds found just the soil they craved,
and they Immediately pre-empted the
region. And here is the second re
markaDle circumstance. In Colorado
and elsewhere, where the wild plant IS
found, it attains a height OF two or
three feet. In the desert regions it
grows from twelve to fifteen feet.
Another pestiferous plant which has
developed remarkable peculiarltles IS
the Salsota kali, or Russian thistle,
as it is called. 1t is also known in
many localities as the "tumbleweed. y.
This is one of the worst wheat and
grain pests which the west has known.
1t first made its appearance in South
Dakota in 1879, and has since spread
to nearly every state in the union. 1t
was brought into this country from
Europe in seeds brought for sowing,
and it has cost the farmers OF the
country millions of dollars in dam
aged grains and in efforts to subdue
it and root it out.