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Show 124 hay is from the grama- grass, which grows so abundantly on the hills at the foot of the peak. The proximity of Graham Peak, ( 10,516 feet high,) which is densely covered with forest- growth, and on which there is an immense precipitation of snow and rain, causes many springs and small streams to reach the edge of the plain on which Camp Grant stands. Twenty miles across the country is the well- known " Hooker's Ranch," where, with abundant water and good grass, large droves of cattle are now thriving. The timber on Graham Peak is simply magnificent. Finns ponderoaa ( the yellow pine of the region) covers thousands of acres, and attains a height of 80 feet, constituting a most valuable lumber; Abies Douglassi, reaches 90 feet; A. conoofor, 70 feet, and A. Engelmanni, 40 feet. The first two are of great importance as a source of lumber. Under the present demand for timber, it is not at all probable that the supply will be exhausted for many years. The oaks so common on the lower hills of the 8ierra Blanca are not so abundant, and do not range higher On Graham Peak than 6,500 feet. Between the oak and pine belts the manzanita ( Arctostaphylos tomentosa) grows rather abundantly. In some portions of the country the red berries of this shrub are utilized by the natives in making an acid drink. The northern or Gila slope of Graham Peak has a barren aspect, the timber apparently not reaching so low an altitude as on the sonthern. No actual observation ( barometric) was taken to determine this fact, which may be only apparent, as the seeming greater elevation of the lowest limit of tree- growth may be due to the more rapid falling away of the land toward the river. Bunch- grass ( Feetuca and Pod) grows luxuriantly among the timber on the dry hillH from 7,000 to 9,000 feet. In the moist valleys leading from the main peak toward the plain, rushes and sedges grow luxuriantly, and make probably thousands of acres of valuable forage during the summer months. I am aware of the general statement that plants of these classes have little or no value as forage, and was inclined to adopt this current teaching, until, in 1873,1 saw in the Sao Luis valley of Southern Colorado bands of stock living entirely on these and remaining as fat as loose stock could possibly be. I had never seen more magnificent cattle or sedges. During the winter months there is a heavy snow- fall on the higher portions of this peak. In summer its thunder- storms are of a character we may well call terrific. I have already given the altitude of Graham Peak as 10,516 feet. Hence it is heavily timbered to its very summit. This, however, may be a, proper place to allude to a fact not popularly known, i. c, the height to which trees continue growing on a mountain- side in the Cordilleras of the western continent docs not increase as we approach the equator from the forty- first parallel, where it is between 1,100 and 1,200 feet. Thus in Colorado the average highest limit of timber, as deduced from observations on six peaks, is 11,533 feet. On the summit of Sierra Blanca, in Arizona, between the thirty- third and thirty- fourth parallels of latitude, after gradually decreasing in size, the trees disappear entirely at an elevation of 11,100 feet. For a full discussion of this interesting question the reader is referred to an article by Dr. Engleman in Transactions of the Saint Louis Academy of Science for 1862, page 129. From Camp Grant to Camp Bowie ( sixty miles) the road lay over a " rolling" plain in all respects similar to that about Grant. A spur of the Pinalefio range gradually disappeared toward the southeast, in the direction of a similar one advancing from the Chiricahui range. This tendency to union of the two ranges left the country dotted over with low, disjointed mesas, which rose above the general level of the plain as islands do from the ocean. The Boil was largely made up of detritus from the adjacent ranges, and was in itself fertile enough, but water conld only be found ( and that rather uncertainly) at two or three points along the road. Here and there dry arroyos ran from the hills to the plain, and indicated the force of the torrent that at some seasons must sweep through them. In all these arroyos we find Baccharis ccerulescens growing vigorously, despite its want of water at that time. It is one of the most distinctly localized plants of the region, being seldom found except in some such peculiar spot, where it luxuriates between extremes of wet and dry soil. At Camp Bowie, which is situated on a limestone formation, we found a remarkable change of flora. The dry hill- sides had still their mescal plants, but in addition there were found growing CeralUa sinuata; Echites microsiphon, an unusual form of that widely diffnbed and variable species, Mackoranihera canescens ; a remarkable variety of ferns, among which were Adiantum copulas, Veneris Asplenerom, and Filix- foemina, neither of which have hitherto been reported from Arizoua. The Echites was found growing at the base of the Santa Rita Mountains, and here, too, on limestone rocks. It was found in no other locatiou. Piflon pine and Emory's oak, neither of which grew more than 20 feet high, were the prevailing timber on the hills just higher than the post. The season for collecting the acorns of this oak was, in August, at its height, and the Indians found a ready market for all they conld bring in. They are taken to Tucson, where they command a good price, being either roasted or eaten uncooked. The taste is not unpleasantly astringent. It is said they must be taken immediately after falling from the tree to obtain them in prime condition. A wild cherry ( probably Prunu* demised) was found in the neighborhood of Bowie, attaining at the Chiricahui agency, |