out some definite plans and occupation. As soon as practicable, it is advisable for such a one to take up some pursuit, either of business or of study, which will give such occupation as is consistent with his physical condition. The geology, mineralogy, fauna and flora of this State, so rich in themselves and so different from those in the East, furnish, to one so disposed, ample fields of study and inquiry, the pursuit of which will be a help rather than a hindrance to recovery. The collecting of a cabinet, requiring as it would something of an out-of-door life, or the getting together of an herbarium of all the choice and unusual flowers and plants of this State, would furnish occupation of an instructive and diverting kind. If one undertakes to study even the birds, he will be surprised to find how many species there are, and will be equally astonished to discover among them his old friends the bobolink, wren, oriole, and the indigo-bird, of the Eastern States.
It may be a good thing for the person affected with phthisis to go into ranching, after he has been in the State long enough to know what he is about in doing so; but we enter a protest against the idea, which is somewhat prevalent in the East, that in order to recover his health the invalid should go on to a ranch and herd sheep. The reasons for making this protest are that such advice is frequently given, and, as we are led to judge, by physicians who have but the vaguest ideas of the nature of the course they are prescribing. The invalid, on coming to Colorado, needs to have life made as easy and pleasant for him as possible. As a rule, the sacrifices he has to make, in consequence of his sickness, render him for the time being peculiarly dependent upon sympathy. He should be so situated that he can have the benefit of pleasant society and diverting companionship. Now, ranch-life is necessarily somewhat rough and usually monotonous, and, when it comes to herding sheep, even a vigorous man, new at the business, finds it most irksome and fatiguing. We think it is a great mistake to increase the trials of an invalid by imposing upon him, in addition to a separation from his friends, an almost entire absence of companionship, a life that is rough in the extreme, and a dietary that is innutritions, uninviting, and monotonous. The average ranch-house is a miserable shanty, out on the plains, away from neighbors, where the usual diet is bacon floating in grease; hot flapjacks, made fresh with water and baking-powder; molasses, and coffee without milk.
If it be possible for the invalid to go to some nice ranch, near a village, where he can have good, wholesome diet, pleasant associates, out-of-door occupation, and where his hours will necessarily be regular, then the conditions for recovery are excellent. Such ranches are to be found. But the average ranch, on the plains, is much inferior to the average farm-house in the East, and the surroundings and diet are such as, at first, to try very severely the strongest man.
The matter of diet is one to which, as it seems to the writer, sufficient attention is not usually paid by the invalid. He should be so
