THE ALAMOGORDO DESERT 



The Response of Plants to Changes Terrestrial 



The Alamogordo desert of southern New Mexico lies im- 

 mediately west of the one hundred sixth meridian, west, 

 and approximately between thirty-two and thirty-four, 

 north. It is bounded on the north by the Oscuro range of 

 mountains, on the east by the Sacramentos, on the south 

 by the Jarillas and the Organ mountains, on the west by 

 the San Andreas. As here defined, therefore, the desert 

 is of comparatively limited area, one hundred or one hun- 

 dred and twenty-five miles from north to south, and 

 perhaps thirty-five to fifty from east to west ; a very con- 

 venient little desert, easily manageable, one might sup- 

 pose, for any naturalist, who, with inborn love of adven- 

 ture, starts out in search of the wilderness to find scenes 

 and pastures new. 



The desert of Alamogordo or Tularosa is a great plain, 

 not unmarked, however, by singular topographic inequal- 

 ities later on to be described. Only the most casual geo- 

 logic examination is sufficient to show that the plain floor 

 corresponds stratigraphically with the beds in some 

 places exposed at or near the tops of the surrounding 

 mountains, in any case far up their flanks. On the east 

 especially limestones of carboniferous age rise sheer some 

 one thousand feet or more straight up from the desert 

 floor, and are again capped by other strata only at length, 



