FOREST TREES AND FOREST SCENERY 



the pale-blue sky, listening to the swish 

 and whisper of the sea. 



Several cone-bearing trees of the 

 "Western States remain to be consid- 

 ered. These are the firs and spruces, 

 which belong to the same class as the 

 pines; and the big tree and redwood, 

 relatives of the bald cypress. 



The Douglas spruce, or red fir, is in 

 reality neither a true spruce nor a fir, 

 though it has some of the character- 

 istics of each. It was discovered as 

 long ago as 1795 by the famous ex- 

 plorer, Archibald Menzies. This spe- 

 cies and a smaller one that grows on 

 the arid mountains of southern Cali- 

 fornia, with possibly a third that is 

 found in Japan, constitute together 

 the whole genus Pseudotsuga. But 

 whatever its botanical peculiarities, the 

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