of the Broken-cone Pines allow the cones to 

 remain about two years. The three or four- 

 inch stems of the Heavy Cones are not dis- 

 turbed for four to six years. The long, 

 slender, soft stems of the Sugar Pine either 

 separate naturally from the branchlet or they 

 are twisted off by the autumn winds next fol- 

 lowing maturity. 



Mingling sparsely with the Monterey Pine, 

 but increasing to sole possession of the shore 

 northward, is the Prickle-cone Pine (P. muri- 

 cata), loving the wet places, from Tamales 

 Point to Cape Mendocino, where it is found 

 of large size, two or three feet in diameter, 

 and with very hard bark, three to five inches 

 thick, the thickest known. The cones in cir- 

 cles are reduced to the size of a hen's egg 

 and are armed with sharp prickles ; the leaves 

 are reduced to a pair in each fascicle. This 

 tree, like the last, belongs to the group Tenaccs, 

 or Persistent-cone Pines, holding their cones 

 through life. As the cones are carried along 

 outward, the piece of stem causes a channel 

 behind it from pith to bark, spoiling the lum- 

 ber of the whole group, boards made from 

 them being found full of "pinholes." 



To make amends, they are beautiful trees, 

 holding in check the ocean winds, and further, 

 they readily yield to cultivation, like the mari- 

 time pines of southern Europe, largely used 

 in the reclamation of the southern coast re- 

 gions. 



Near Cape Mendocino commences the long 

 stretch of North Shore Pine* (P. contortd), 

 the last and smallest of this quartette of sea- 

 loving, fog-nurtured, aggressive, fighting pines. 

 Pressing along the promontories, and taking 

 possession of the sand dunes as soon as 

 thrown up by the sea despite the blasts of 

 old Boreas they yield so far as to become 

 close-set, round-shouldered, flat-headed, many- 



( r 34) 



