there is a paucity of species and individuals 

 generally in the Old World, while there is 

 variety and profusion in the New. 



These twenty species of California pines in- 

 clude about three-fourths of the forest trees 

 in the state; that is, they constitute the much 

 larger part of the great forests covering our 

 several mountain ranges. 



Now, would it not be gratifying and en- 

 couraging as well, if one with little attention 

 could be enabled to tell any pine tree at a 

 glance? That pleasure and power may be in 

 the possession of the reader by making one 

 simple little discovery. Look closely at the 

 twigs or pick up a few leaves beneath a forest 

 tree and examine them. If they are fastened 

 together in little bundles of two, three, or five, 

 you may be sure that you have at hand a pine 

 tree. Moreover, most of the leaves (all of 

 them when young) are close-wrapped at the 

 base with long, thin, overlapping scales. This 

 leaf-sheath is the infallible sign of a pine, as 

 it covers the case of the Single-leaf Pine, 

 which is born a twin, but the microscope re- 

 veals that its brother is overcrowded in the 

 sheath and perishes. 



Other important characters are: Usually 

 long, slender leaves (called needles), of equal 

 size from end to end : the fruit (called a cone) 

 is composed of flat, overlapping scales, ar- 

 ranged in spirals from base to apex, the scales 

 enlarged at the end or exposed portion, which 

 usually bears a prickle or a stouter spine or 

 hook, each developed scale bearing above it 

 two usually winged seeds. 



It is necessary to segregate this mass of 

 thousands of miles of forest wealth, and per- 

 haps it will be as well in this brief paper 

 to depart from the strict botanical groupings 

 presented in "Manual of West-American Cone- 

 bearers," since the species composing them are 



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