FLOWERS AND FORESTS OF THE FAR WEST 



who have dug over miles of ground and cleared away most 

 of the fine timber. This lower portion is, however, natur- 

 ally more arid, and the trees have never been so fine as 

 at greater elevations. It is curious to notice how the pines 

 and firs increase in beauty as well as in size as we ascend 

 further towards the central ranges. For the first thousand 

 feet there is a scanty vegetation of stunted shrubs, and the 

 only conifer is the scrub-pine (Pinus sahiniana), which has 

 a most singular appearance, being irregularly branched, 

 with scanty foliage, and, when well grown, looking at a 

 distance more like a poplar than a pine. Higher up 

 occurs the large white pine {Pinus ponder osa), which, 

 except in very fine specimens, is a coarse, unornamental 

 tree. Above two thousand feet we meet with the sugar 

 pine {Pinus lamhertiana), so called because its turpentine 

 is sweet and sometimes almost like a mixture of sugar and 

 turpentine. This is a handsomer species, and when full 

 grown is of immense size, and may be known at a distance 

 by its clusters of large cones hanging down from the very 

 extremities of its loftiest branches. Thus far the forests 

 are poor, owing to the absence of the more elegant firs and 

 cedars, which only appear above 2,500 feet, when we first 

 meet with the noble Douglas fir and the beautiful Red 

 cedar {Lihoccdrus decurrens). This last is usually known 

 in our gardens as Thuja gigantca, characterised by its 

 columnar mode of growth, and here sometimes reaching a 

 hundred and fifty feet in height. Higher still, at about 

 4,000 feet, we come upon die most beautiful of the Cali- 

 fornian firs, Abies concolor and A. nohilis. Both are exqui- 

 sitely symmetrical in growth, while the dense horizontal 

 branches of the latter species are adorned with the most 

 delicate blue-green tints. These beautiful trees are to be 

 seen here in every stage of growth, from such small plants 

 as we see on the lawn of a suburban villa up to noble 

 specimens 150 or 200 feet in height. These two elegant 

 firs, along with the stately cedar and Douglas fir, and the 

 noble yellow pine and sugar-pine, constitute the main bulk 

 of the forest from 4,000 to 7,000 feet elevation, the belt in 

 which alone are found the true " big trees " {Sequoia gigan- 

 tca), in this country commonly knpwn as the Wellingtonia. 

 VOL. I. Q 



