PRACTICAL ARBORICULTURE 97 
YELLOW PINE FOR THE WEST. 
(Pinus Ponderosa.) 
Among the Clouds in Colorado. 
It is not an uncommon experience for mountain climbers to be upon a high 
peak and look down from a clear sky upon dense clouds from which snow or 
rain is being precipitated upon the plains or valleys below; the author has had 
many such impressions, but on February the 23rd, while examining a large tract 
of pine timber on the divide not far from Palmer Lake, Colo., quite another experi- 
ence occurred. 
The morning was fairly bright, as at sunrise the range of mountains to the 
west, as well as Pike’s Peak, was in plain view, the snow-covered slopes shining 
resplendent as a ray of sunshine penetrated the partial mist, and the dark, steep 
canyons contrasted with the more regular snowy surfaces. While yet admiring 
the beautiful scene, Pike’s Peak was suddenly enveloped in clouds, and soon 
the entire range was hidden. 
The elevation of this divide is 7,000 feet, nowhere steep, but with long, gently 
rolling slopes over which we drove in a buggy through forests of Pinus Ponde- 
rosa. This tree is not a dweller of the highest Rockies, but gradually disappears 
at from 7,000 to 8,o00 feet elevation—spruce and aspen appearing at the latter 
elevations. 
Ponderosa is essentially an arid region tree, the melting snows and mini- 
mum rain showers providing sufficient moisture, while the sandy or gravelly 
soil of the plains suits its ponderous roots, enabling them to build up the super- 
structure which is so well named Bull Pine. 
There seems to be no other tree of any consequence which will take root 
from natural seeding, grow rapidly and develop into valuable timber in a soil 
so dry and porous as exists throughout the plains regions, under conditions of 
aridity which prevail west of the 100th meridian and at such an elevation. 
Pinus Ponderosa therefore possesses a value in re-afforestation as a grand 
forest tree which places it beyond the usual popular estimate of timber trees. 
It is the only solution of the forest problem for the great plains region, South 
Dakota, western Nebraska and Kansas, Colorado and westward to California. 
Of the millions of seeds produced, by far the greater quantity are devoured 
by small animals and also forms the food of birds, yet a sufficient quantity falls 
in good ground and germinates to quickly reproduce a forest where a sufficient 
number of seed trees remain. 
