THE FORESTS OF WASHINGTON 



large, beautiful cones. This is far the most 

 beautiful of all the firs. In the Sierra Nevada 

 it forms a considerable portion of the main 

 forest belt on the western slope, and it is there 

 that it reaches its greatest size and greatest 

 beauty. The third species (P. suhalpina) forms, 

 together w^th Abies Pattoniana, the upper 

 edge of the timber-line on the portion of the 

 Cascades opposite the Sound. A thousand 

 feet below the extreme limit of tree-growth 

 it occurs in beautiful groups amid parklike 

 openings where flowers grow in extravagant 

 profusion. 



The pines are nowhere abundant in the 

 State. The largest, the yellow pine (Pinus 

 ponderosa), occurs here and there on margins 

 of dry gravelly prairies, and only in such sit- 

 uations have I yet seen it in this State. The 

 others (P. monticola and P. contorta) are 

 mostly restricted to the upper slopes of the 

 mountains, and though the former of these 

 two attains a good size and makes excellent 

 lumber, it is mostly beyond reach at present 

 and is not abundant. One of the c^'presses 

 (Cupressus Lawsoniana) ^ grows near the coast 

 and is a fine large tree, clothed like the arbor- 

 vitse in a glorious wealth of flat, feathery 



^ ChamcEcyparis lawsoniana Pari. (Port Orford cedar) in 

 Jepson's SUva. [Editor.] 



233 



