ay after day bringing a bright and cloudless sky. Humidity is moderate
(annual averages for Grand Junction, Pueblo, Denver and Cheyenne, Wyo.,
for 6 A.M. about 50 to 66; for 6 P.M. 33 to 50); it is supposed to be
increasing with the increasing settlement of the country. Sunshine is
almost continuous, and splendidly intense. The maximum number of "rainy"
days (with a rainfall of more than 0.01 in.) rarely approaches 100 at
the most unfortunate locality; for the whole state the average of
perfectly "clear" days is normally above 50%, of "partly cloudy" above
30, of "cloudy" under 20, of "rainy" still less. At Denver, through 11
years, the actual sunlight was 70% of the possible; many other points
are even more favoured; very many enjoy on a third to a half of the days
of the year above 90% of possible sunshine. All through the year the
atmosphere is so dry and light that meat can be preserved by the
simplest process of desiccation. "An air more delicious to breathe,"
wrote Bayard Taylor, "cannot anywhere be found; it is neither too
sedative nor too exciting, but has that pure, sweet, flexible quality
which seems to support all one's happiest and healthiest moods." For
asthmatic and consumptive troubles its restorative influence is
indisputable. Along with New Mexico and Arizona, Colorado has become
more and more a sanitarium for the other portions of the Union. Among
the secondary hygienic advantages are the numerous mineral wells.

_Flora and Fauna._--The life zones of Colorado are simple in
arrangement. The boreal embraces the highest mountain altitudes; the
transition belts it on both sides of the continental divide; the upper
Sonoran takes in about the eastern half of the plains region east of the
mountains, and is represented further by two small valley penetrations
from Utah. Timber is confined almost wholly to the high mountain sides,
the mountain valleys and the parks being for the most part bare. Nowhere
is the timber large or dense. The timber-line on the mountains is at
about 10,000 ft., and the snow line at about 11,000. It is supposed that
the forests were much richer before the settlement of the state, which
was followed by reckless consumption and waste, and the more terrible
ravages of fire. In 1872-1876 the wooded area was estimated at 32% of
the state's area. It is certainly much less now. The principal trees,
after the yellow and lodgepole pines, are the red-fir, so-called hemlock
and cedar, the Engelman