34 FOREST PROPORTION. 



region. Besides this we are on the limit ot sufficient rainfall which 

 condition should call for a higher forest proportion than that accepted 

 for districts with larger rainfall; a proportion limited practically by 

 the possibilities of forest growth in the Southern California Sierras. 

 7 he topography is mountainous with many small and a few large val- 

 leys. The forests are all on the mountains. This is where the forests 

 should be and is where they are most needed and can do the most 

 good. In our steep Sierras with heavier rainfall than that oi the val- 

 li'ys it is of the highest importance to preserve and extend the forest 

 covering to secure a perennial delivery of the season's rainfall and to 

 prevent the rainfall from becoming destructive in flood and torrent. 

 None of these mountain forest lands are available for agriculture. 

 There are valleys here and there in the mountains with meadows or 

 capable of supporting a few fruit trees such as the apple but in a gen- 

 eral way there are no mountain ranges in the world with less possibility 

 of agriculture than the Sierra Madre. 



