THE CONIFEROUS FORESTS 
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 absent, and the sun beats down 
upon the dry earth through the rarefied 
atmosphere with intense and desiccating 
power. Naturally 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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