420 C. 8. Sargent—The Forests of Central Nevada. 
of the branches smooth and quite white. The short, falcate, 
appressed leaves persist for years, forming tufts of foliage a foot 
or more long at the ends of the naked branches; and this pe- 
culiarity has suggested to the lumbermen of the region the 
name of ‘Fox Tail Pine” for this species. Pinus Ba/fouriana, 
should it be found to retain in cultivation the peculiarities 
which characterize it on the mountains of Nevada, will be one 
of the most striking and interesting of the genus for orna- 
mental planting. 
Pinus flexilis, the Nevada representative of the Eastern White 
and the California Sugar Pine, is the largest and the most valu- 
able timber tree of the central portion of the “Great Basin.” 
I found large tracts of it on the Monitor Range, from 8,000 up 
to 10,000 feet elevation; and further to the northeast it gives 
their names to “ White Pine” District, ‘‘ White Pine” Range, 
etc. On the Monitor Range specimens fifty to sixty feet high, 
and from two-feet six to four feet in diameter were not infre- 
quent, the trees gradually becoming smaller as the elevation 
‘Increased, until at 10,000 feet they were little more than pros- 
trate bushes a foot or two high. The fact that the finest speci- 
mens were found on the banks of the mountain streams, associa- 
ted with Populus tremuloides, indicates that this species is more 
dependant on moisture than the other Nevada Conifers. It is 
the only tree of this region which is sawed into lumber. The 
wood is soft, white, and, although not free from knots, is of fair 
quality, and about intermediate between Eastern white pine 
and sugar pine. 
us ledifolius, with Populus tremuloides, the only non- 
coniferous tree of this region, here attains its largest size and 
greatest age. It is common at 6,000 to 8,000 feet elevation, 
and next to the Juniper and the Nut Pine is the most common 
of Central Nevada trees. It is a small tree, ten to thirty feet 
high, with small evergreen leaves and brown scaly bark, in 
habit and general appearance not unlike a stunted apple tree. 
The wood of this tree, which is of a bright mahogany color 
and susceptible of a beautiful polish, is exceedingly ha 
heavy and close-grained, but very brittle, and so liable to “heart 
shake” and difficult to work as to be useless in the arts. It is, 
however, sometimes employed for the bearings of machinery, 
where it is found to wear as well as metal; but it is as fuel 
that “Mountain Mahogany” (the name by which, owing to the 
ds 
per cent. more than hickory. The amount of ash, too, left after 
