1905 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



179 



no instance less than 90 miles away, very limited. However close their 



that a system of irrigation would hard- proximity to streams, the different 



ly-pay for itself. species of cottonwood, walnut, ash. 



Grazing, the most important of the alder, box elder, and sycamore repro- 

 industries of this region, requires care- duce themselves to a limited extent 

 ful attention and supervision to pre- only, mostly in shady places along 

 vent the total destruction of the grass deep, rugged canyons. All of these 

 roots by overstocking. The mining varieties are indigenous to the soil, and 

 industries in the reserve are confined grow freely wherever there is sufficient 

 to the Mogollon Mountains and prac- moisture. The depth of humus is 

 tically to the Cooney mining district, slight, the lowlands being entirely de- 

 although a few prospects are found on void of it. The litter and the under- 

 South Fork of Whitewater Creek. 

 "The advent of railroad facilities would 

 undoubtedly bring the district to the 

 front, but there is little prospect of 

 that in the near future, as the terri- 

 tory is practically unproductive agri- 

 culturally and the only freight avail- ed region. The total area examined is 

 able would be the ore from Cooney about 3,640 square miles. Of this, 2,- 

 district. 593 square miles, or Ji l /4 per cent., are 



Logging operations have been car- covered with merchantable timber of 



tied on in a desultory manner for extra quality ; 2 square miles have 



some years in different parts of the been burned; go square miles, or 2.^/2 



reserve. Wherever the yellow pine per cent., have been logged; and 955 



"has been logged clean, the young square miles, or 26*4 per cent., are 



growth on the lower lands is inevi- na turallv timberless. The timber of 



brush among the alpine timber are 

 very heavy. This reserve has suffered 

 very little from fires. 



If the totally barren area is not 

 taken into consideration, the Gila 

 River Forest Reserve is a well-timber- 



tably yellow pine, which is growing 

 very rapidly in places. The young 

 growth throughout the alpine and 

 mountainous regions is white fir, red 

 fir, limber pine, spruce, and balsam, 



the reserve amounts to a total of 

 5,867,169,750 feet B. M., giving an 

 average stand of 3,532 feet B. M. per 

 acre over the entire timbered belt. Yel- 



and the proportion of reproduction is low pine constitutes 57.75 per cent. 

 in the order named. At the lower and red fir 28.37 per cent, of the mer- 

 altitudes the second-growth timber is chantable species in the reserve. 



RAILROAD TIES OF LOBLOLLY PINE 



The Bureau of Forestry Finds Out How 

 to Economize in Their Production 



A GOOD example of what is being 

 ^*" done along the most practical 

 lines by the Bureau of Forestry is 

 furnished by the results of a study of 

 loblolly pine in east Texas which it 

 has recently made. Vast quantities of 

 loblolly pine exist in the Southern 

 States, some of which is sold on the 

 market as shortleaf yellow pine. The 

 wood of loblolly pine is inferior to that 



of longleaf and of shortleaf pine, part- 

 ly because of the rapidity with which 

 it decays when exposed to the weather 

 or in contact with the soil, but for 

 many purposes it answers just as well 

 as the more valuable species. It is 

 certain to increase greatly in commer- 

 cial value and its use is now extending 

 rapidly. As the longleaf and shortleaf 

 pines become scarcer and higher in 



