Q£oc8j> Qttounfain ^ovists 



up to timber-line, usually in the moister places. 

 To me the aspen is almost a classic tree, and I have 

 met it in so many places that I regard it almost 

 as an old friend. It probably rivals the juniper 

 in being the most widely distributed tree on the 

 North American continent. It also vies with the 

 lodge-pole pine in quickness of taking possession 

 of burned-over areas. Let a moist place be burned 

 over and the aspen will quickly take possession, 

 and soon establish conditions which will allow 

 conifers to return. This the conifers do, and in a 

 very short time smother the aspens that made it 

 possible for them to start in life. The good nurs- 

 ery work of aspens is restricted pretty closely to 

 damp places. 



Besides being a useful tree, the bare-legged 

 little aspen with its restless and childlike ways is 

 a tree that it is good to know. When alone, these 

 little trees seem lonely and sometimes to tremble 

 as though just a little afraid in this big strange 

 world. But generally the aspen is not alone. Usu- 

 ally you find a number of little aspens playing 

 together, with their leaves shaking, jostling, and 

 jumping, — moving all the time. If you go near 



205 



