FOREST GEOGRAPHY AND ARCHAEOLOGY. 217 



nor a Hornbeam ; barely one Birch-tree, and that only far 

 north, where the differences are less striking. But as to 

 Coniferous trees, the only missing type is our Bald Cypress, 

 the so-called Cypress of our southern swamps, and that de- 

 ficiency is made up by other things. But as to ordinary trees, 

 if you ask what takes the place in Oregon and California of 

 all these missing kinds, which are familiar on our side of the 

 continent, I must answer, nothing, or nearly nothing. There 

 is the Madrona (Arbutus) instead of our Kalmia (both really 

 trees in some places) ; and there is the California Laurel 

 instead of our southern Red Bay tree. Nor in any of the 

 genera common to the two does the Pacific forest equal the 

 Atlantic in species. It has not half as many Maples, nor 

 Ashes, nor Poplars, nor Walnuts, nor Birches, and those it 

 has are of smaller size and inferior quality : it has not half 

 as many Oaks ; and these and the Ashes are of so inferior 

 economical value, that (as we are told) a passable wagon- 

 wheel cannot be made of California wood, nor a really good 

 one in Oregon. 



This poverty of the western forest in species and types may 

 be exhibited graphically, in a way which cannot fail to strike 

 the eye more impressively than when we say that, whereas the 

 Atlantic forest is composed of sixty-six genera and one hun- 

 dred and fifty-five species, the Pacific forest has only thirty- 

 one genera and seventy-eight species. 1 In the appended dia- 

 grams, the short side of the rectangle is proportional to the 

 number of genera, the long side to the number of species. 



Now the geographical areas of the two forests are not very 

 different. From the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of St. Law- 

 rence about twenty degrees of latitude intervene. From the 

 southern end of California to the peninsula of Alaska there 



1 We take in only timber trees, or such as attain in the most favorable 

 localities to a size which gives them a clear title to the arboreous rank. 

 The subtropical southern extremity and Keys of Florida are excluded. 

 So also are one or two trees of the Arizonian region which may touch the 

 evanescent southern borders of the Californian forest. In counting the 

 coniferous genera, Pinus, Larix, Picea, Abies, and Tsuga are admitted to 

 this rank, but Cupressus and Chamsecyparis are taken as one genus. 



