FOREST CONDITIONS AND PRIMITIVE FOREST PRAC- 

 TICE IN WEST PERSIA 



By Edward C. M. Richards 



By West Persia is meant that portion of the kingdom of Persia 

 lying just south of the Caucasus, bounded on the west by Turkey, 

 on the east by the Caspian Sea, and running about 200 miles directly 

 south. This area of country is known as the Province of Azerbaijan, 

 and is perhaps the most fertile part of all Persia. 



All of the interior of Persia is composed of a high plateau with 

 sharp declivities running down to the Caspian, the Persian Gulf, and 

 the valley of the Araxes River, which separates West Persia from 

 the Caucasus. West Persia is in itself more or less the top of the 

 plateau, although there are some mountains and ranges of mountains 

 which stand up above the general country. In general the elevation 

 of the lower portion of the country is about 4,000 feet above the sea, 

 while some of the highest mountains run up to 12,000 or 13,000, 

 making the most beautiful scenery and holding snow for months after 

 the rest of the country has been laid bare by the hot sun of spring. 

 A little west of the center of the provence lies the basin in which the 

 great salt lake. Lake Urumia, extends some 90 miles north and south 

 and 30 east and west. From the upper slopes of the mountains on all 

 sides this big lake received a large flow of water each year, principally 

 in the spring when each stream becomes a torrent. Back from the 

 lake, and in other parts of the provence also, the level ground is care- 

 fully irrigated — the most primitive methods being used — and where 

 there is enough water the people can usually be very successful in 

 cultivating their wheat, millet, and barley fields, their apricot, almond, 

 walnut, and peach orchards, and their vineyards. There is little or 

 no forest growth on the bills or mountains and only very rarely a 

 scattered tree, the entire country being used for grazing wherever 

 possible and where not used for agricultural crops, the pasturage of 

 sheep, goats, water buffalo, cattle, and beasts of burden entering in 

 no small way' into the agriculture of the region. 



The climate of West Persia is delightful. In winter the tempera- 

 ture rarely goes below 10° F. above zero, and although there is some- 



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