172 



THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFORNIA 



go to the woods in winter. Then it is laden with 

 myriads of four-sided staminate cones about the 

 size of wheat grains, winter wheat, producing 

 a golden tinge, and forming a noble illustration of 

 Nature's immortal vigor and virility. The fertile 

 cones are about three fourths of an inch long, borne 

 on the outside of the plumy branchlets, where they 

 serve to enrich still more the surpassing beauty of 

 this grand winter-blooming goldenrod. 



WHITE SILVER FIR 

 (Abies concolor) 



WE come now to the most regularly planted of 



all the main forest 

 belts, composed almost 

 exclusively of two 

 noble firs A. concolor 

 and A. magnified. It ex 

 tends with no marked 

 interruption for 450 

 miles, at an elevation 

 of from 5000 to nearly 

 9000 feet above the sea. 

 In its youth A. con- 

 color is a charmingly 

 symmetrical tree with 

 branches regularly 

 whorled in level col 

 lars around its whit- 



FOREST OF GRAND SILVER FIRS. ish-2TaV 9X1S which 



TWO SEQUOIAS IN THE FOREGROUND li ^ *U* WI1 

 ON THE LEFT. 



terminates in a strong, 



