searched by a quarantine officer. He explained politely that California 
welcomes tourists, but that she must make sure their baggage harbors no 
plant or animal pests. I asked him what pests. He recited a long list 
of prospective garden and orchard afflictions, but he did not mention the

yellow blanket of cheat which already extended from his feet to the far 
hills in every direction. 
As is true of the carp, the starling, and the Rxssian thistle, the 
cheat-afflicted regions make a virtue of necessity and find the invader 
useful. Newly-sprouted cheat is good forage while it lasts; like as not 
the lamb-chbp you ate for lunch was nurtured on cheat during the tender 
days of spring. Cheat olefer   reduces the erosion which would otherwise

follow the overgrazing which admitted cheat. (This ecological ring-around-

the-rosy merits long thoughts). 
I listened carefully for clues on whether the West has accepted cheat 
as a necessary evil, to be lived with until kingdom come, or whether it 
regards cheat as a challenge to rectify its past errors in land-use. 
I found the hopeless attitude almost universal. There is) no sense of 
pride in  44 husbandry of wild plants and animals& no sense of shame

in the proprietorship of a sick landscape. We tilt windmills in behalf 
of conservation in convention halls and editorial offices, but on the 
back forty we disclaim even owning a lance.