FOREST CONDITIONS. 333 



valleys, forestless plateaus, and mountains, where 

 tree growth is entirely absent or stunted, unless 

 artificially fostered. It is into this type of coun- 

 try that the Rocky Mountain forest protrudes, of 

 coniferous composition, for the most part of in- 

 ferior development, except in the more northern 

 portion ; and similarly, paralleling the coast from 

 north to south, extends the Pacific forest along the 

 mountain slopes of the Cascades, Sierra Nevada, 

 and Coast Range, practically almost wholly com- 

 posed of conifers, often of most magnificent de- 

 velopment, with only few broad-leaved species. 



For the purposes of this volume it is not 

 necessary to consider the forest conditions of the 

 newly acquired outlying dependencies and of the 

 far-removed Alaskan territory, except to state that 

 the interior of Alaska, being in the main an arid 

 country with a short season of vegetation, is 

 forested 'in the manner of such countries, the tree 

 growth mostly stunted and open, while the Alaska 

 coast forest partakes of the character of the Pacific 

 coast forest, with fewer species of conifers (mostly 

 only hemlock and spruce) of inferior develop- 

 ment. 



The distribution then of forest country and open 

 country is most uneven ; three-fourths of the wood- 

 lands being concentrated on one side of the conti- 

 nent, the remaining fourth being collocated in two 

 parcels on the two great mountain systems of the 

 other side of the continent. 



