astrous conditions affecting the sources of the 

 Mississippi River. 



Above the belt of Sugar Pine, often mingling 

 with its upper edge, resides his big brother, 

 the Silver Pine (P. monticola), with its white 

 bark (on young trees gleaming like beaten 

 silver), the same kind of large, outreaching 

 Ijmbs; but the cones are smaller, not one- 

 fourth the size. Like the Sugar Pine and 

 the eastern White Pine, it belongs to an im- 

 portant group, with special characters of 

 white, soft lumber, smooth, unarmed cones, 

 and short, slender leaves always in fives. 



Ranging below the Sugar Pine belt of the 

 Sierra, and outspanning it north and south, 

 as also extending eastward to the Rocky 

 Mountains, are massed the great forests of 

 Yellow Pine (P. ponderosa), trees varying 

 considerably in color of bark and size of cones, 

 but usually with yellowish bark, and the cones 

 ovate, three to four inches long, with small, 

 deltoid prickles, the leaves in threes. A 

 marked peculiarity of this tree is common to 

 the group to which it belongs, the Broken- 

 cone Pines. Soon after maturity the cones 

 break away from the stem by an irregular 

 fracture through the base of the cone, and fall 

 away, leaving a rosette of small, undeveloped 

 scales unon the branch. 



The Yellow Pine is next to Sugar Pine in 

 size, often attaining the dimensions of 200 to 

 300 feet in height by 8 to TO feet in diameter, 

 with spire-like form and short limbs. The 

 lumber is yellowish, hard, aniSl strong. Closely 

 related to the Pitch Pines of the east and the 

 Long-leaf Pines of the south, it shares with 

 them in reputation for good building lumber. 



The male or staminate flowers of the Yel- 

 low Pine are quite conspicuous, forming large 

 rosettes of long, curling, brown tassels two 

 or three inches long and one-fourth inch in 



(28) 



