Saving the Forests 



519 



Mexico has very extensive water- 

 power possibilities. The many streams 

 rising in the highlands of the central area 

 fall rapidly in the region of steep slopes 

 descending to the lowlands. A fall of 

 200 to 500 feet to the mile is frequent. 

 Some of this power is now utilized and 

 transmitted as electricity to various mills 

 and cities. Soon 50,000 horse-power 

 will be carried to the federal district and 

 30,000 horse-power to Guadalajara. Sev- 

 eral plants now furnish electricity to 

 mines. 



Irrigation has been practiced in Mex- 

 ico for many centuries, but on a rela- 

 tively restricted scale and usually in 

 places where the engineering difficulties 

 have not been great. Large water sup- 

 plies remain to be utilized, and when 

 suitable reservoirs and ditches are con- 

 structed, there can be reclaimed an acre- 

 age comparable to that which is now 

 being provided by our own Reclamation 

 Service. Under the favorable conditions 

 of mild climate and rich soil, the prod- 

 ucts of irrigation will be very valuable. 

 It is safe to predict that the water that 

 can be used in this manner will prove to 

 be one of Mexico's most important re- 

 sources. 



Underground waters are also a re- 

 source that will be found of increasing 

 value for stock, domestic use, and irriga- 

 tion. In many portions of the Republic 

 the geologic structure is favorable for 

 artesian and other wells which eventually 

 will be sunk. There are a few flowing 



wells at various points and they furnish 

 a portion of the supply for the federal 

 district. 



Many sections of Mexico were well 

 forested originally, but large areas have 

 been devastated, especially near the cities 

 and mines and in connection with some 

 kinds of agriculture. The government 

 has taken the matter in hand and created 

 two large forest reserves. Many valua- 

 ble timber trees grow in the Republic 

 and now are a source of large income. 

 There are good prospects for the future 

 of the lumber industry when reforesting 

 is effected and the forests are placed 

 under suitable control. 



Live stock has always been one of 

 Mexico's most valuable resources and at 

 present is estimated to have a total value 

 of about 125 million dollars (Mexican). 

 Over two-thirds of this is cattle, with the 

 remainder horses, mules, sheep, goats, 

 hogs, and asses. There are wide cat- 

 tle ranges now largely utilized, but if 

 water were obtained by dams or wells, 

 extensive additional areas could be made 

 available in northern Mexico. Meat is a 

 much more important food element in 

 Mexico than is' generally supposed and 

 home consumption is large. Formerly 

 most Mexican cattle were of low grade, 

 but of late a large amount of high-class 

 breeding stock has been imported with 

 the view of raising the standard. By this 

 means much better markets can be se- 

 cured and the industry placed on a more 

 profitable basis. 



SAVING THE FORESTS* 



By Herbert A. Smith, Editor of the Forest Service 



UNCLE SAj\I, who is the largest 

 landowner in the world, is the 

 third largest timberland owner. 

 The forests of the Russian government 

 reach the enormous total of nearly 

 600,000,000 acres. This is almost equal 

 to all the forests in the United States, 



public and private. In Canada the Do- 

 minion government holds about 180,- 

 000,000 acres of commercial timber- 

 land. Our own national forests now 

 contain over 150,000,000 acres — an area 

 equivalent ta all the Atlantic states 

 from Maine to Virginia, inclusive, and 



* A description of the work of the U. S. Forest Service, which has charge of government re- 

 sources valued at $1,500,000,000 



