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Show 127 intervals, and good grass ( though late in the season) was always found. Bands of antelope were numerous. The higher hills had their share of piQon and cedar, though after leaving the immediate neighborhood of the Sierra Blanca we no longer saw trees that could be called timber. It is hard to understand why so desirable a country should have been permitted to remain so long unoccupied, when less valuable regions have been settled in spite of the Indiana From Coyote Springs to Tulorosa the region was more mountainous, having a scarcity of water along the route. We could see that there was abundance of grass of the usual arid- region kind, but no plants were collected, owitfg to the lateness of the season. The slopes of the mountains were sparsely covered with a good-sized growth of pine and fir. The description of the country from Albuquerque to Agua Azul would, from a botanical or an economic standpoint, answer so well for the region between Tulerosaand Fort Craig that it is unnecessary to enter any further into details than to state that water is even more scarce, the supply at the time of our trip being too small to prevent suffering of men and animals. In the admirable report of the commissioners on " the irrigation of the San Joaquin, Tulare, and Sacramento Valleys of the State of California," two propositions are laid down ; t. « ., *' the average yearly rain- fall over the basin of the Great Valley is sufficient t o insure good crops annually," and " with a proper system of controlling the waters of precipitation and delivering them to cultivated lands where needed, annual crops may be assured." To these carefully- considered statements wo may add auother from the same source: " In 1870- 71 the total rain- fall was about 6.8 inches; in 1871- 72, 10.3 inches; in 1872- 73, 7.2 inches. In the first and third years the crops were failures; in the second year the harvest was an abundant one." From this, then, it appears that a difference in the rain- fall of 3.5 inches in one year and 3.1 inches in auother made all the difference between a total failure and a good crop. This is about the equivalent rain- fall of two or three average wet days. There are records of 15 inches of rain in a single day in India, and of as much in six hours at Catskill, N. Y. These, however, were exceptional cases. The above quotations were in strict reference to the great valley of California, and presuppose that the needed rain should be received in February, " when the grain is several inches hi< rh." I have introduced them to establish a unit of comparison for the portions of Arizona and New Mexico we have under consideration. For this purpose they are the best available data from which to reason. From the above it would appear that the first point of inquiry is the rain- fall. . Reliable statistics are as yet most meager, and at no point have observations extended over a period of more than four years. Hence I use the figures as but approximations to the truth. The most accurate report is probably from Santa Fe", N. Mex., where the mean result for the years 1872,1873, and 1874 is a little over 13.05 inches a year, the rain- fall of 1874, however, more than equaling that of the two years previous combined, showing thus a great variation in the yearly means. To what this was due I have no data for determining. The following observations from points near our line of march I glean from Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, No. 222, by Charles A. Schott, assistant United States Coast Survey. It was published iu May, 1872, and represents the most reliable observations up to that date : Albuquerque, N. Mex., ( and in the Rio Grande Valley,) has in spring a rain- fall of 0.83 inch; in summer, 4.35 inches; autumn, 2.04; winter, 0.90 i nch; or 8.12 inches for the year; ( Fort Wingate, in the same Territroy, has in spring 0.71; summer, 9.35, autumn, 2.99; winter, 0.90; or for the year a total of 13.95 inches; its proximity to the Zufii Mountains probably having something to do with giving a resnlt so near that of Santa Fe\ Camp Goodwin, in the Gila Valley and in Arizona, has a spring rain- fall of 3.21 inches; for summer, 7.20; autumn, 10.52; winter, 11.85; or a mean annual of 32.78 inches. This excessive amount of rain is probably due to the location, being in a region of more than usual evaporation, and which is between Graham and Turnbnll Peaks on the south and the Sierra Blanca on the northeast, with also peaks of lower altitude northwest of it, the aqueous vapor rising with the air from the heated plain and being cooled on the mountain- tops to below the point of saturation. Old Camp Grant, in the valley of the San Pedro, ( one season,) had, in autumn, 6.43; winter, 3.23; or for the two seasons 9.66 inches. Camp Lowell, at Tucson, received in the summer of 1867 4.30 inches; Tubac, south of Tucson and near the Sonora line, has about 10 inches of rain during June, July, and August. We may, from personal knowledge of the country, assert that these estimates are probably not far from the results observations during a term of years would give. The general average derived from these observations would be a little over 10 inches for the year; but as they were taken at points of more than usual rain- fall in the region, we must remember that further observations at the same points, combined with those from the more arid areas in the Colorado Basin, will somewhat reduce the average. Hence, then, the application of the above data must be restricted to the immediate vicinity of the spots at which the observations were taken, and only used in the absence of observations more reliable, which will extend over a longer period. This |