GENERAL REPORT. 21 
feet we meet the heavily timbered ridges of the Zuni Mountain Plateau. 
Here the flora presents a marked change, Pinus ponderosa, Pseudotsuga Dou- 
glasii, and Abies concolor, with here and there a straggling Oak-tree, make up 
the tree flora of the higher parts, whilst at lower levels the Pifion Pine and 
the Western form of our Eastern Juniper appears. Damp ravines, swamps, 
and running brooks give chance for the growth of grasses, Junci, and Carices. 
Beautiful Pentstemons confer an unusual charm to the scenery, all the 
ereater because of the desert country we have passed through to reach 
this range. 
The main trend of this chain is from the present Fort Wingate toward 
the southeast to a point to the west of and some thirty miles from Limita 
on the Rio Grande at Ojo de la Rosa, where the outlying spurs join with 
those of the Sierra del Datil coming in from the southwest. The triangle 
of land thus enclosed is dry, but not always level. Mountain-chains of 
short length run here and there; water is only moderately -plenty, and the 
timberless character of even the more elevated parts is in strong contrast 
with the description given by Lieut. C. C. Morrison of the Zuni Mountains: 
“Following the axial line was a wide valley running nearly the entire 
length of the range, abounding in the most beautiful glades with bunch- 
grass 18 inches high, standing as thick as it could grow, here and there 
rooted out in the damper places by red and white clover. The Zuni 
Mountains are a low range, reaching in no place much over 9,000 feet.” 
From these mountains south we again enter a region more or less desert in 
its character, the only timber being the Pinon Pine and Juniperus. Here 
and there water may be found as at Zuni and Deer Spring and Cave 
Spring. In the damper areas, luxuriant growths of sedges and the common 
Mimulus luteus showed what the capacity of the soil was. In this area, an 
occasional basin may be found in which corn, etc, can be raised without 
irrigation. Such a one was observed just south of Zuni. The probable 
explanation is that a sub-soil of clay retains the moisture which is drained 
in from the higher grounds around, and the dry, sandy soil allows the seed 
to be planted a foot deep to meet the ascending moisture without being 
rotted in its somewhat prolonged struggle upward into sunlight. Some- 
times for miles, as in a valley south of Deer Spring, the soil is actually a 
