THE CONIFEEOUS FOKESTS 



Southwest. In the mountain ranges of 

 New Mexico, Arizona, and southern 

 California 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 ahsent, and the sun beats down 

 upon the dry earth through the rarefied 

 atmosphere with intense and desiccating 

 power. liTaturally 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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