THE FOKESTS 211 



that you can scarcely fail to find groves of consider 

 able extent in crossing the range, choose what pass 

 you may. The Mountain Pine grows beside it, and 

 more frequently the two-leaved species ; but there 

 are many beautiful groups, numbering 1000 indi 

 viduals, or more, without a single intruder. 



I wish I had space to write more of the sur 

 passing beauty of this favorite spruce. Every tree- 

 lover is sure to regard it with special admiration ; 

 apathetic mountaineers, even, seeking only game or 

 gold, stop to gaze on first meeting it, and mutter to 

 themselves : " That 's a mighty pretty tree," some 



of them adding, " d d pretty ! " In autumn, 



when its cones are ripe, the little striped tamias, 

 and the Douglas squirrel, and the Clark crow make 

 a happy stir in its groves. The deer love to lie 

 down beneath its spreading branches; bright 

 streams from the snow that is always near ripple 

 through its groves, and bryanthus spreads precious 

 carpets in its shade. But the best words only hint 

 its charms. Come to the mountains and see. 



DWARF PINE 

 (Pinus albicaulis) 



THIS species forms the extreme edge of the timber 

 line throughout nearly the whole extent of the range 

 on both flanks. It is first met growing in company 

 with Pinus contorta, var. Murrayana, on the upper 

 margin of the belt, as an erect tree from fifteen to 

 thirty feet high and from one to two feet in thick 

 ness; thence it goes straggling up the flanks of the 



