FOREST TREES AND FOREST SCENERY 



the trees are of small stature and seem 

 to be struggling for their life. Again 

 we meet it on the humid western slopes 

 of the Sierra ^Nevada, associated with 

 the sugar pine and other lofty trees. 

 Here we scarcely recognize it. It holds 

 its own among the company of giants, 

 and is full of vitality, freedom, and 

 strength; with brighter, redder bark 

 and stout, sinuous branches; with 

 longer needles and larger cones. The 

 sunlight fills its ample crown spaces, 

 and the wind murmurs in the foliage 

 overhead; for the pines are the master 

 musicians of the woods. 



The Southern States and the Gulf 

 region furnish us with a conifer of 

 striking originality and great useful- 

 ness. This is the bald cypress, which 

 may have caught the reader's eye in 

 40 



