14 FOBAGE CONDITIONS ON NOETHEEN BOBDEE OF GEE AT BASIN. 



furnish but little water. This, however, is to be expected in such 

 small and low mountain ranges. Not only does the water of Nevada 

 not reach the ocean, but the rivers do not reach the sinks, and the 

 small tributaries from the mountains often do not reach the main 

 channel, for all of the water that succeeds in getting down to the fer- 

 tile sage-brush areas near the river bottoms is used at the present 

 time in irrigation. The rivers reach the sinks in the spring; the 

 brooks, the rivers in early summer; but even the rivulets close to the 

 base of the mountains are dry in summer or early autumn. On the 

 advent of cool weather in the fall the waters are said to "rise " whether 

 it rains or not. Even the diurnal fluctuation in the mountain brooks 

 is often remarkable. One may find a brook carrying a considerable 

 volume of water in the morning but have none whatever at 5 o'clock 

 in the afternoon. By the next morning it will have regained its usual 

 volume. This was unusually conspicuous on the eastern side of Steins 

 Mountains at the Divine and Manns Lake ranches, where observations 

 were conducted for several days. 



The only range containing pine timber south of the spur of the Blue 

 Mountains, north of Burns. Oreg.. was the Pine Forest Kange near 

 Quinn River Crossing. Here on the highest elevations is a scanty 

 growth of pine (Pinus albicaidis). It is rather astonishing that we 

 should find this isolated range having pine timber upon it. while 

 neighboring ones, such as Steins Mountains, have no pine at all. The 

 latter, however, have a much larger quantity of Juniper (Juniperus 

 virginiana) than the former. The latter are also said to contain some 

 balsam in one or two of the canyons, but we found none upon our route. 

 The principal pine in the spur of the Blue Mountains which we crossed 

 north of Burns is the bull pine {Pinus scopuZorurn). The best growth 

 of juniper seen on the whole trip was in Steins Mountains. Even 

 here, however, there is seldom what one may term a forest, but on the 

 contrary, scattering trees. 10 to 18 inches in diameter are found at 

 long intervals. Aside from the pines and juniper, the only trees of 

 the region south of Burns are two species of poplar (Popuhis treirm- 

 Joidts and P. trichoca/rpcu). The latter is quite abundant in canyons and 

 deep ravines in Steins Mountains, but the former species is the impor- 

 tant one in the other ranges visited, both in the gulches and on the 

 high shaded slopes. Among other shrubby plants which form dense 

 thickets, often over areas of considerable extent, may be mentioned: 

 Mahogany {Cercocarpus ledifoliits), service-berry {AmelancJiitr afoii- 

 folia). snow brush (Ceanothus vekitinus), spirea (Hblodiscus dumosus), 

 Indian currant (Symplwricarpos oreophilus), shrubby cinquef oil (Dasi- 

 pJtorafruticosa), and choke-cherry (Prunus emarginaMs and Primus 

 demissa). Along the moister areas in gulches one always finds a pro- 

 fuse growth of willows which are also sometimes found forming 

 thickets on high, moist, shady slopes. In the same localities extensive 

 growths of alder are also to be found. The willows of the entire 



