tains; and they do less in holding the greater 

 part of it in the canyons of the Sierra for 

 the summer needs of the plains below. 



No ; it is an entirely different class of trees 

 that, mainly, discharge these important func- 

 tions for the benefit of smaller plants, and, 

 incidentally, for the sustenance of mankind. 

 That class is the resinous-wooded, narrow- 

 leaved, usually evergreen trees bearing a pe- 

 culiar scaly fruit, called from its usual shape 

 the cone, giving to the great class the appro- 

 priate name of CO NIFER^E Cone-bearers. 



SPIRALES 

 NORTHERN PITCH TREES 



It is the most resinous of these trees, the 

 spiral-coned Northern Pitch Trees, that form 

 most of the great forests of the North Tem- 

 perate Zone. This is the region where man 

 originated and where the most populous na- 

 tions assembled, and, particularly, the most 

 important of these are in Europe and North 

 America, the homes of the dominant nations 

 of the earth; and, farther, the largest num- 

 ber of species in ratio to the breadth of the 

 country occupied, and the largest forms of 

 these trees, with largest cones and seeds, are 

 found only in California. 



What an inspiring inference can be drawn 

 from this array of extraordinary facts ! What 

 a guaranty barring accidents for an unex- 

 celled people hundreds of years "nence ! 



It may be well in this connection to state 

 that the superlative terms largest," "tallest," 

 "heaviest," "most valuable," etc., are inevita- 

 ble expressions when one is describing and 

 comparing California trees. This is owing to 

 the fact that our flora is not identical with 

 any other. Our trees are, in a sense, a spe- 



