FOREST TREES AND FOREST SCENERY 
a similar tortuous habit in the growth 
of their branches: the pitch pine of 
our eastern coast States and the lodge- 
pole pine of the Rocky Mountains. 
These, however, have an esthetic value 
for quite a different reason. In the 
case of the pitch pine it is due to 
a natural peculiarity otherwise rare 
among conifers; for, this tree has the 
power of sprouting afresh from the 
stump that has been left after cutting 
or forest fires, thus healing in time the 
raggedness and devastation resulting 
from necessity, neglect, or indifference. 
The lodgepole pine of the West per- 
forms the same patient work over burned 
areas through the remarkable power 
of germination belonging to its seeds, 
even after being scorched by fire. 
Thus both of these trees not only fur- 
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