240 East and West 
ment for which the flora of any region is 
partly responsible, that particular effect due 
to the personality of plants, which accords us 
our impressions of Nature. Take the family 
of Conifers—what a pronounced personality 
they have. How distinctly boreal they are. 
A pine cone might well be the rugged sym- 
bol of the hardy North—of the land of 
Winter. It speaks of the silent snow-covered 
woods, as the palm leaf speaks of the tropics. 
It arouses associations peculiarly its own 
—coniferous associations. The Adirondack 
wilderness owes its individuality largely to 
the spruce, and to the tamarack in the swamps 
—they are the dominant personalities. In 
New England woods it is the white pine; in 
Southern swamps the bald cypress; and in the 
forests of the Sierra, the sugar pine and the 
silver fir, save in those small groves where 
the sequoia dominates all. In the South- 
West we are ordinarily removed by many 
miles from all that association which the 
Conifers have for us, but by going up in the 
air—which is equivalent to going north— 
we come again under their spell. 
Among Eastern Conifers, the tamarack of 
the Adirondack swamps and the red cedars of 
New England pastures are as strongly in- 
