68 



EVERGREENS OF COLORADO 



plant our native red cedars in close proximity to orchards of pear and 

 quince. This disease has been known to appear in orchards some distance 

 from the wild cedars in the nearby foothills. The apple, however, is 

 seldom attacked by the fungus from the cedar apple disease which oc- 

 curs upon the cedars native to this state. 



FORESTS AND IRRIGATION. 



The influence of our forests in Colorado upon the flow of the streams 

 which furnish water for irrigation, while still a matter frequently brought 

 under discussion, is generally conceded to be of the greatest importance. 



Fig". 54. 



Wind-beaten, distorted, grotesque, pitiable 

 James Peak. 



'wind timber," on 



In spring these streams are fed largely from the melting of the snows 

 at the lower levels. Wherever the snow is exposed to the direct rays of 

 the sun and to the milder winds, it is more rapidly melted than where 

 it is protected in ravines and by living trees. For this reason, a wooded 

 mountain side will furnish a slower but more prolonged flow of water 

 into the streams, early in the season, than one which is bare or denuded 

 of forest growth. 



Careful studies in the conservation of snow by forests in mountain 

 regions have been made upon the Sierra Nevada range in Nevada during 

 the past four years. The results of extensive measurements show a very 

 positive retarding influence upon the melting of the snows that have ac- 



