THE CONIFEKOUS FORESTS 



Southwest. In the mountam ranges of 

 'New Mexico, Arizona, and southern 

 CaUfornia the forests have a hard 

 struggle for existence. The winter 

 months at the higher elevations are se- 

 vere; in the summer rain is scarce, or 

 entirely absent, and the sun beats down 

 upon the dry earth through the rarefied 

 atmosphere with intense and desiccating 

 power. ]N^aturally the forest trees are 

 scattered, and on the steep, crumbly 

 slopes, dry and rocky, they hug the 

 soil and cling to it with uncertain foot- 

 ing. But in a sheltered ravine, or on 

 the back of a rounded ridge, or in a 

 slight swale or hollow of the mountain 

 — repeatedly, in fact, among those rug- 

 ged slopes — we meet with the dignity, 

 the beauty, and the peculiar expressive- 

 ness of the open coniferous forest, with 

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