THE SILVA OF COLORADO III 



People are feeling the call of the wild. They want the wild, wild world beau- 

 tiful. They want the temples of the gods, bits of the forest primeval, the pure and 

 fern-fringed brooks. They like to stand " knee-deep in June," they demand the 

 shadow of the pines, and have them they will. Above Colorado's purple forests 

 there are alpine meadows bannered with rare blossoms, and crags and snow go up 

 into the blue. Timber line tells stirring stories of the forest frontier. The sunny 

 grass plots in the forest are delightful wild gardens with flowers, crags, and brooks 

 that shine in silver. There are still bits of dark forest in which one may hear the 

 music of the pines and the songs of white cascades. 



Forest reserves in Colorado. — What the officers of the United States 

 forest service think of the necessity for forests in Colorado may be 

 learned form the extent of the reserves estabhshed in the state. ^ On 

 December 31, 1905 there were fourteen such reserves with a combined 

 area of nearly thirteen milHon acres, or about one-fifth the total area 

 of the state. California is the only state with a larger area of forest 

 reserves. Lumber to the amount of seventeen milHon feet was sold 

 from the Colorado reserves during 1905. In addition there were ten 

 thousand cords of fuel wood and fourteen thousand posts and poles. 

 In the future, with suitable protection against fire and scientific regula- 

 tion of lumbering operations the reserves may be expected to furnish a 

 much larger output. 



"The Silva of Colorado." — Under this heading it is proposed to 

 pubHsh from time to time articles dealing with the trees and shrubs of 

 the state. Some of the articles will have to do with botanical questions 

 relating to particular trees; some will discuss forest areas; some will 

 be strictly technical; some will be intended for popular use. In the 

 following pages are given descriptions of trees of the pine family. By 

 means of keys and also through the introduction of figures it is hoped 

 to make plain the differences between the species, and to make it pos- 

 sible for persons without botanical training to distinguish these trees 

 when growing in the forest.^ For most purposes a comparison of the 

 tree with the account in the following keys will be sufficient; rather full 

 descriptions are, however, given for the use of students. 



Books dealing with the trees of Colorado. — The greatest work on 



' Yearbook oj Dept. oj Agriculture for igos, pp. 636-644. 



» For certain jxjints in the foUowing descriptions the writer is indebted to D. M. Andrews, Esq., of 

 Boulder, Colo. 



