New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1920-10-01

lower altitude where more vigorous plants couiu
be produced in the longer growing season ana the
trees be dug and placed upon the planting areas
as soon as weather conditions made spring neiu
planting possible.
The monument nursery site was chosen and
developed in the spring of 1907 as a result or the
two years experience with the other two small
sites. The monument site has proved satisfactory
and Is now producing the large amount or yellow
pine, Douglas fir and Engelmann spruce, ana the
small amount of timber pine now being planted
nearly upon Pixies Peak.
After field planting, further seedlings of Doug
las fir were brought in and planted in the Bear
Creek region with a little better success, as this
small planting showed ~thirty-fve per cent alive.
OF this field planting, n study was made and
n map completed showing the extent of the types
which should be planted with the different species
of trees which grow originally upon the area. Inc
first experiments were made at the lower anu
tudes with yellow pine and Douglas fr. In the
more recent years the production of Engelmann
spruce and timber pine for the high planting
types has been taken up. The low percentage
of survival In the earlier paintings showed the
need Of the most vigorous transplants that couid
be produced. and this was secured In the TWO
one plant, as leaving the tree two years In the
seed bed gave n plant readily handled in trans
planting, while the one year in the transplant
had produced a well developed tree with a clus-
tered root system made up of fine roOtlets of
much greater area than that of tree crown or
evaporating surface.
Some 4,575 acres have been planted on the
Pike national forest, for the most part In the
Colorado Springs region and in the vicinity OF the
famous auto highway to the top of Pixies Peak.
An additional thousand acres Is also being re-
forested in this vicinity. Fully eighty-fve per
cent of the area which has been artifcially planted
TO pines and spruces can be considered as sue
c~essfuIly stocked with trees. Such losses MS nave
occurred are due principally to the planting OF
Austrian pine, a species which Is here out or It's
habitat. While fall planting may succeed in
regions where there are early and abundant SHOWS
such conditions cannot be depended upon along
the eastern slopes of the Rocky mountains.
The principal species planted are yellow pine
on the lower foothills, which in turn gives way
TO Douglas fir and Engelmann spruce on the
higher slopes, Timber pine being used for windy,
exposed regions. The trees are planted eight by
eight feet or about 700 an acre, and the average
cost of planting, including the cost of producing
the trees at the nursery, is approximately $11 an
acre. which is considered moderate when the
rugged and rocky region in which the reforesta-
ton work is being carried on is considered. Cen
orally speaking, 1t may be said that the annual
survival of trees varies from GO to 80 per cent.
There was little public interest In the work
at first. The slow growth of the trees and the
slight showing each year had much to do with
this lack of enthusiasm on the part OF the public.
In fact, in the early paintings complaint was
made Though scrupulous care was taken to guard
against it) that in planting these watersheds the
presence of camps for the planters would pollute
the water of the cities using 1t for a municipal
supply. One prominent citizen spoke with ridicule
of the project, claiming 1t was absurd to spend
the peoples money for reforestation above an
altitude of 1000 feet because above this altitude
the growth was so slow that such paintings could
never be of value. Now that the trees show well
- A. ~ron@offopc fhar1 ic boarfu QnnrOyQl for
what has been accomplished.
So IT seems that the millions of those who
have seen Pixies Peak may not know the old
fellow when next they make the trip, for he will
have a new face some day.
&c. 1920. Western Newspaper Union)