CHAPTER X V 

 PYGMY TREES 



PREVIOUS chapters have dealt with the 

 patriarchs, the giants, and the eccentric types 

 of tree-growth; also with trees of strictly 

 utilitarian interest, and it now remains to treat of the 

 pygmy forms which also have their niche in Nature's 

 scheme. A number of these plants, the dwarf Coni- 

 fers in particular, have considerable garden value. 

 Most people are familiar with the dwarfed trees of 

 Japan which in recent years have been much in 

 demand in this country and in Europe. I shall have 

 something to say about these later, but first let us 

 consider the diminutive forms of tree-growth pro- 

 duced by Nature to suit the exactions of exposed 

 situations and severity of climate. In the rich val- 

 leys and on the lower, sheltered slopes of mountains 

 grow the giants of the tree world. On the higher 

 parts of mountain ranges the wind exercises a strong 

 influence on vegetation, diminishing the height of 

 trees and on the topmost regions reduces them to a 

 255 



