7.14 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



few farmers own any large area of land. To help the farmers, there- 

 fore, is difficult, because what is done for him goes, in great part, into 

 the pockets of the rich owners of the land. 



As in all Moslem countries, deceit and theft are very common — 

 much more so than here in America. People who are well off if they 

 own half an acre of land, a buffalo, and a few chickens are more apt 

 to be tempted to covetousness than an American can usually appreci- 

 ate. Add to this the corruption of Mahometanism which winks at 

 almost anything that we consider moral, and openly advocates much 

 that we vigorously condemn, and it is easy to see that stealing and 

 lawlessness would tend to become common features of the daily life 

 of the people. 



To sum up, then, West Persia is an agricultural country v^here much 

 grazing is done, where security of property is precarious, where pro- 

 found ignorance is modified only by very scant knowledge, where 

 the land is largely owned by a few rich men who oppress the poor 

 bitterly, the whole resulting in a universal lack of honesty and integrity 

 among the people of all classes. Such is a brief summary of some 

 of the more important influences bearing upon forestry in West Persia. 

 The practically universal corruption of government officials completes 

 the picture, and when the natural obstacles of drought and intense sun 

 are considered, the future of Persian forestry seems black indeed. 



So much for the dark side, however. Now let us look at the silver 

 lining, for there is a silver lining. 



First of all, there is considerable proof of there once having been 

 forest growth of some sort in the country : 



1. At an elevation of perhaps 1,500 feet above the level of Lake 

 Urumia (a total elevation of about 5,500 feet above sea level) the 

 author found scrubby junipers growing widely scattered on the dryest 

 kind of rocky slope, facing the hot southern sun, and entirely unshel- 

 tered or unwatered. Rough hacking off of the branches and stems of 

 these trees — done by fuel gatherers probably — led to the thought that 

 if these trees were left alone by men they would produce stands. The 

 largest of these trees was about eight inches in diameter at the stump 

 and was bearing a heavy crop of seed, a proof of the tree's ability to 

 establish itself well and grow vigorously. 



2. In two places at least the author saw trees judged to be a variety 

 of haw growing on unirrigated mountain land. One had attained a 

 d.b.h. of.,perhaps 10 inches and a total height of about 30 feet. One 



