New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1916-08-16
MAJOR NELSON'S LETTER

MAJOR NELSON'S LETTER
You, being an out doors girl, would
be interested in the vegetation here
There are hardly any trees except the
mesquite. These grow everywhere
They do not cover the land very thickly
none of them are over Is to 20 feet high
and they are awfully crooked and the
wood is very wormy. The wood is
dark, like black walnut, burns with great
heat and is what we use for fuel in all our
kitchen ranges and incinerators.
The cactus grows everywhere. 1t
gets to be about as high as man. Some
of it shows large, yellow blossoms now.
They are quite pretty. The cactus has
all been cleared away from the several
hundred acres occupied by this camp.
Thousands of wagon loads have been
hauled to dump half mile from camp.
1t is all carted away for it is so heavy
with water that it will not burn until it
has dried for several weeks.
In clearing the camp site enough trees
are left to afford some shade. The
foliage of the mesquite is not dense but
their shadows beat no shade at all. These
trees are full of worms and other vermin.
The trees in the camp site are white
washed which tends to discourage the
creeping and crawling things.
About Texas Flowers.
There are a good many interesting
flowers growing wild. The watered
places, which are not numerous except
along and adjacent to the Rio Grande,
have a great many water lilies. They
are small and lavender in color and have
the most delightful fragrance. There
is wild portulaca that grows everywhere.
The flowers are all pink and much
smaller than the cultivated sorts we
know. Then there are many varieties the
names of which I do not know. The
colors are gorgeous. The oleander grows
wild, both the pink and white varieties.
The banana plants (cultivated) are very
interesting. They do not produce much
fruit here but they seem to vie with
palms as the favorites for ornamental
planting.
5000, 900 Gallons Much Water.
Since starting this letter several
hours have elapsed and I have been on
another auto jaunt to the Mexican
border. Five miles straight south of the
town of Mercedes on the Rio Grande, is
located the big pumping plant of the
irrigation system that furnishes water
to all this section. We visited that
place. The plant is very large one with
capacity for lifting 100000 gallons
Of water from the Rio Grande every day
and pouring into the irrigation bitches
that spread out for miles and miles. The
country over that way is we'll developed
and has many pretty homes. All the
houses are of the bungalow type.
Mexico Looks Deserted.
The pumping station plant on the
banks of the Rio Grande has very
prettily parked grounds, with grass and
plants, and also flowers of many kinds.
There are houses there where the en-
ployes and their families live. The
Mexican side of the river seems to be
entirely deserted. One can climb to
the tops of the buildings or the big
smoke stacks and get quite a view over
into Mexico. There appear to have
been fields cleared at one time but they
have grown up to brush and weeds.
Occasionally one sees mounted Mexican
soldier or group of them patrolling the
border.
Good Word For The Greasers.
There is really good deal of good
to be seen in the average Mexican, as we
see him on this side of the line. Best
of all, he works. He is industrious and
the whites here, be it said to their credit
(?), seem perfectly satisfied to let the
dark skinned fellows do all the 'laboring
work." as Uncle Andy calls it. AS near
as can figure it out all the Mex wants is
a chance. He wants to live in peace,
raise his numerous family, and be
useful worker.
The humble Mexican homes that
one sees, many of them devoid of floors,
windows or doors frequently constructed
of sticks, mud and grass, have home
like appearance. There is usually