TPtfi &ift on t^i (KocRtesr 



age and of even size. Seedlings and saplings are 

 not seen in an old forest. This forest covers the 

 mountains for miles, growing in moist, dry, and 

 stony places, claims all slopes, has an altitudinal 

 range of four thousand feet, and almost entirely 

 excludes all other species from its borders. 



The hoarding habit of this tree, the service 

 rendered it by forest fires, the lightness of the 

 seeds and the readiness with which they germi- 

 nate on dry or burned-over areas, its ability to 

 grow in a variety of soils and climates, together 

 with its capacity to thrive in the full glare of 

 the sun, — all these are factors which make this 

 tree interesting, and which enable it, despite the 

 most dangerous forest enemy, fire, to increase 

 and multiply and extend its domains. 



During the last fifty years this aggressive, in- 

 domitable tree has enormously extended its area, 

 and John Muir is of the opinion that, " as fires 

 are multiplied and the mountains become drier, 

 this wonderful lodge-pole pine bids fair to obtain 

 possession of nearly all the forest ground in the 

 West." Its geographical range is along the Rocky 

 Mountains from Alaska to New Mexico, and on 



184 



