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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



TYPE OF CANVAS BUNGAI.OW IX YOSEMITE VALLEY CAMP 



Secretary of the Interior Lane's policy of opening our national parks as real playgrounds for the people strikes a new and popular note in 

 these splendid camjjs, where the tourist with a medium-sized purse can get close to nature at a minimum expense. 



Seated in hammock is (.eorge Sterling, the California poet: standing is Lawrence Harris, whose poem on the San Francisco fire received world- 

 wide comment, and on the chair, E. D. Coblentz, editor of the San Francisco Call. 



posed to the salt winds, take on irregular shapes, re- 

 sembling the Monterey cypress. It has, however, a con- 

 siderably wider range, there being three groups along the 

 coast and others on the Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz 

 Islands. 



Three other trees of limited range or rare occurrence 

 deserve specific mention. One of these, the bristlecone 

 fir, is found mainly in Monterey County, where it is ir- 

 regularly grouped or scattered on the eastward slopes of 

 the Santa Lucia Mountains. It is a little known tree 

 because confined to a region which attracts few visitors. 

 The only place it would be seen without a special trip 

 is along the stage road near Pajarijo Springs. It is the 

 most unique of all the firs, and striking in character be- 

 cause of its dense Indian club-shaped crown, which 

 often extends to the ground, and ends in a long, ex- 

 tremely narrow, sharp point. The foliage is of a lustrous 

 green, so pronounced that the color becomes a dis- 

 tinguishing characteristic at some distance. A further 

 remarkable feature is found in the cones, which have 

 long needlelike points, which protrude from among the 

 cone scales. While not deserving a special trip in order 

 to see it, the bristlecone fir merits attention from any- 

 one who is in the region where it grows. 



The rarest and most restricted of all the California 

 conifers is the Torrey, or Soledad pine of San Diego 

 County. It is confined to a sea-coast range ubout 1 mih 

 wide on both sides of the mouth of the Soledad River, 



and to a limited area on Santa Rosa Island. Where ex- 

 posed to the high winds, it is low, crooked and deformed, 

 although in protected situations it may have a straight 

 trunk 50 or 60 feet in height. A few of these trees can 

 be seen from the Santa Fe train between Los Angeles 

 and San Diego, the narrow strip along the coast starting 

 about 3 miles north of Del Mar. 



Another interesting evergreen of considerably wider 

 range is the coulter or bigcone pine. The general dis- 

 tribution of this tree is the middle elevations on the coast 

 and cross range mountains in Southern California. Al- 

 though common throughout this range, it is nowhere 

 abundant, and rarely forms pure forests. Its claim to 

 particular notice is the enormous size of the cones, which 

 are often 12 to 14 inches long, sharp spiked and armed, 

 and extremely heavy. None of the other pine trees pro- 

 tects its seeds in such a strenuous way, and while the 

 sugar pine cones are longer, the cone scales are thin, 

 light and harmless by comparison. Visitors to any of the 

 well-known mountain resorts or peaks in Southern Cali- 

 fornia can hardly miss seeing some of these trees. The 

 large cones and stiflf foliage will distinguish the coulter 

 from yellow pine, while the cone itself deserves close in- 

 vestigation and proves an interesting and lasting souvenir. 



Of the California trees which are unique or different, 

 the pines receive special attention. This is deserved be- 

 cause no less than seventeen distinct species grow in Cali- 

 fornia and at least six are found in no other State, 



