soil and clime that is best suited to its require- 

 ments; in other words, most trees are growing 

 where they can do the best, or where they can 

 do better than any other kind. Some trees do 

 the best at the moist seashore; some thrive in 

 swamps; others live only on the desert's edge; 

 some live on the edge of a river; and still others 

 manage to endure the storms of bleak heights. 



At timber-line the trees have a hard time of 

 it. All of them at this place are dwarfed, many 

 distorted, some crushed to the earth, flattened out 

 upon the ground like pressed flowers, by the 

 snowdrifts that have so long lain upon them. 

 The winter winds at this place blow almost con- 

 stantly from the same quarter for days at a time, 

 and often attain a high velocity. The effect of 

 these winds is strikingly shown by the trees. 

 None of the trees are tall, and most of them are 

 leaning, pushed partly over by the wind. Some 

 are sprawled on the ground like uncouth vines 

 or spread out from the stump like a fan with the 

 onsweeping direction of the storms. Most of the 

 standing, unsheltered trees have limbs only on 

 the leeward quarter, all the other limbs having 



I0 5 



