14 FORESTRY 



IV. AMERICAN FORESTS. 



American forests are noted for their large number of 

 valuable species. The forests of Europe, compared with 

 ours, are monotonous. In northern Europe a single species 

 of pine, Pinus Sylvestris, is the only representative of its 

 genus, supplemented in the south by two others. In Amer- 

 ica we have over thirty different species, and no large re- 

 gion is without at least three. Other conifers are usually 

 represented more numerously here than in Europe, espe- 

 cially in the forests of the Pacific coast, where in addition 

 to numerous firs and representatives of the cedar, yew, 

 larch, spruce, incense cedars and cypress, we have two gen- 

 era not found at all in the old world — the Douglas fir or 

 Pseudotsuga taxifolia, and two species of big tree, the coast 

 redwood and the big trees of the Sierras. The sugar pine, 

 largest of the white pines, grows in the Sierras. The se- 

 quoia, or big tree groves, have most unfortunately passed 

 largely into private ownership, but through the generosity 

 of one or two men some of the finest timber has been deeded 

 to the national government and is secure from destruction. 

 Even aside from these giant trees, which surpass in gran- 

 deur any forests ever known, the size and value of the coast 

 redwoods and of the Douglas fir stands in Washington and 

 Oregon, are greater than any known forest in Europe or the 

 tropics. 



Just as the west coast excels in conifers, so the eastern 

 portion of the country is first in her array of valuable hard- 

 woods. The Appalachian region is the central home of these 

 hardwood species. Europe has two oaks of commercial 

 value, America has nearer forty. Beech, for lack of any- 

 thing better, is made much of abroad. Here we may grow 

 ash, hickories, maple, birches, elm, basswood, yellow or tulip 

 poplar, chestnut and a long list of other trees of greater or 

 less importance each of them possessing some particularly 

 valuable qualities, or else showing capacity for growth on 



