FOREST POLICY. 



was taken upon it. A State Forestry Association seems to have 

 died. The splendid public road law of New Jersey should greatly 

 facilitate conservative forestry. What New Jersey needs is an 

 enthusiastic and unselfish leader of propaganda for forestry. 



7 Laws: Since 1792, county officials act as fire wardens 

 and are privileged to summon help. Railroads are responsible 

 for damages caused by spark fires, and locomo'tives must be sup- 

 plied with spark arrestors. The "Minch bill," of 1902, providing 

 salaried fire marshals, seems to have failed. Arbor Day sinCe 

 1884. 



8. Reservations: None, except small private reserves. 



9. Irrigation: Only on 73 acres producing hay, vegetables, 

 and corn. 



FORESTRY CONDITIONS OF NEW MEXICO: 



1. Area: 23,700 square miles, equal to 19% of total area 

 of Territory, are wooded. 



2. Physiography: Rocky Mountains traverse Territory 

 from north to south. Average elevation of Rockies, north of 

 Santa Fe, 10,500 feet. Drainage chiefly towards the Gulf of Mex- 

 ico, via the Rio Grande from the west slope of the Rockies, and 

 via Pecos and Canadian River from 'the east slope of the Rockies. 

 River beds sunken 200 feet into the table lands. Rainfall averages 

 less than one inch per month, except in the higher altitudes. Mean 

 altitude of the whole territory is about 5,600 feet. 



3. Distribution: Arid plains east of the Pecos River 

 (Llano Estacado), with some mesquit. In the southwest, nar- 

 row mountain ranges separate wide plains on which Madrona, 

 Spanish Bayonet and Palo Verde grow. "Journanda del Morte," 

 along the Mexican frontier, is said to be the worst of all des- 

 erts. The mesas show scattering scrub oak with groups of red 

 cedar, western juniper and pinon. In the depressions of the 

 mesas occur fine groves of mesquit. Splendid grazing on the 

 mesas. Along the rivers appear fringes of box elders, willows 

 and cottonwoods. The mountain ranges show, at the highest 

 elevations, a cupressus species forming dense forests (probably 

 Arizonica); lower down, on the north slopes, white pine (flexilis), 

 Douglas fir and Engelmann's spruce, which are replaced, after 

 heavy cuttings and burnings, by quaking aspen. On south slopes 



64 



