The story of Arizona . n may go coatless withcomfort in mid-winter. There are otherplaces in the state where the camper-out, if hewould keep the shivers from his back, must havean evening fire throughout the entire extremes in temperature are caused by dif-ferences in altitude, and as in the lowest altitudesthe rainfall is not over five inches for the entireyear, and in places in the mountains it is five orsix times that amount, the variations in plant lifeare even more striking than the climatic differ-ences. Topographically, Arizona falls naturally intothree distinct physical di
The story of Arizona . n may go coatless withcomfort in mid-winter. There are otherplaces in the state where the camper-out, if hewould keep the shivers from his back, must havean evening fire throughout the entire extremes in temperature are caused by dif-ferences in altitude, and as in the lowest altitudesthe rainfall is not over five inches for the entireyear, and in places in the mountains it is five orsix times that amount, the variations in plant lifeare even more striking than the climatic differ-ences. Topographically, Arizona falls naturally intothree distinct physical divisions. The southwesternpart of the state is, for the most part, a flat desert,out of which gaunt mountains rise, whose rockysurfaces, save where cacti or hardy shrubs findfooting in fissures in the sandstone or lava rock,are devoid of vegetation. In the northern part ofthe state there is a plateau, averaging in heightabout a mile above sea level, with mountains hereand there, whose snow-capped peaks reach an ele- 416. ARIZONA PLANT LIFE 417 vation of twelve thousand feet. Between these twoextremes comes the foothill country. Each of these divisions has its own particularflora, and included among its trees, shrubs, grasses,flowers and even ferns are nearly 3,000 species ofplants, representing almost every plant family inour large country. Some of these have been recog-nized quickly as worthy of places in our yards,gardens and conservatories, and in time manyothers, through merit, are sure to find their wayinto cultivation to become a help to is almost no season of the year when onecan not find flowers somewhere in Arizona. On the low, desert floor to the south, in orderto maintain existence, plant life must ever protectitself both against the hot, dry, scorching air thatwould wring from it the little water it obtainsfrom the infrequent rains, and animals that in acountry of sparse vegetation seem ready to con-sume almost anything that grows. The methods the diffe
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