BRIEF NOTES ON MEXICAN FORESTS. 

 By Max Rothkugee. 



On a trip through Mexico and Central America the writer had 

 a chance to spend two weeks in the timbered section of the Sierra 

 Madre in the State of Durango. Along the Mexican Central Rail- 

 way between El Paso and Mexico City one passes through a 

 barren arid country without any tree growth. The timbered area 

 is confined to altitudes above 8,000 feet which, in the Sierra 

 Madre, lie between the Pacific Coast and the Mexican Central 

 Railway. 



The Sierra represents a mountainous high plateau. The first 

 tree growth commences in the foothills of the Sierra at an altitude 

 of about 6,000 feet, and consists of Huitzache, a small scrubby 

 tree with leaves like cypress, which gives these foothills the ap- 

 pearance of an old apple-tree orchard. Above this scrubby forest 

 commences the Pino-Longleaf pine type at an elevation of about 

 8,000 feet. It was rather surprising to find longleaf pine forming 

 a type with Pinon Pine. The Pihon pine reaches the size of one 

 and two logs per tree. At an elevation of about 9,000 feet com- 

 mences the commercial timber consisting mainly of Western Yel- 

 low Pine* and a white pine not identified. Interspersed are 

 Shortleaf, Western White Pine, and also, I believe, Loblolly 

 Pine.* Douglas fir occurs in canons. The ordinary pine stands 

 average about 3,000 feet B. M. but there are large areas of pine 

 where they cut up to 9,000 feet per acre. Such a locality of a 

 good pine stand is near Salto where a new railroad is under con- 

 struction from Durango to tap this rich timbered section. This 

 timber has been bought by Americans, probably for $1.00 gold 

 per acre (which is $2.00 Mexican money). The timber tracts for 

 sale in Mexico are usually very large, from 100,000 acres up, be- 

 longing to estates or Spanish land grants. The prices of tracts 

 already in the hands of American speculators are held at from $1 

 to $4 gold per acre. 



* These pines are undoubtedly improperly identified. The classification of 

 Mexican pines is still somewhat uncertain, but P. Montczumae and P. 

 Arizonica are probably the most common. — Editor. 



