CHAPTER XIII 
LEAF AND BRANCH 
It is commonly stated in the encyclopedias, 
I believe, that the lakes of North America 
contain half the fresh water on the face of the 
globe, that the rivers of the Western continent 
are the largest and the longest in existence, 
and that the whole area of North and South 
America is the best-watered and the most fer- 
tile land in the world. The truth of this state- 
ment granted, it should follow that the land of 
the two vast countries is more productive of 
vegetation than any other known to man. 
This is not merely an inference, it is a state- 
ment of fact. The palms of South America 
have a maximum height of from one hundred 
and fifty to two hundred feet, the red-woods of 
California are sometimes ninety feet in girth, 
and how tall were once the pines of the North- 
west woods I cannot now say, but their ranks 
were countless, and they covered millions of 
acres. It is true that these are growths of ex- 
253 
The New- 
World 
vegetation. 
