(. 27 ) 



First we pass two Red Cedars (p. 112), and then come to a 

 large dark-foliaged tree that looks like an Austrian Pine, if we 

 already know that species. Three similar trees stand just opposite 

 on the right-hand side. These trees are a variety of the Austrian 

 Pine and are known as 



Pinus nigra var. Pallasiana, the Crimean Pine 



This variety is a native of western Asia. There is scarcely any 

 apparent difference between it and the Austrian Pine, and it is 

 most difficult to distinguish them. The variety is said to be dis- 

 tinct in its pyramidal habit, with the main 1 (ranches growing erect. 

 More will be said concerning these trees when we reach a very fine 

 collection of large Austrian Pines farther on in this Section. An- 

 other but less developed Crimean Pine stands next along the path, 

 set back a bit. 



The next five evergreens on our left, together with an addi- 

 tional one which stands opposite on the right-hand side, are 



Pinus ponderosa, the Western Yellow-Pine 



Ibis tree, so tar, is relatively unimportant ornamentally in this 

 section of the country. 



It is the most widely distributed pine in America, ranging from 

 southern British Columbia south to Mexico and east to South 

 Dakota. In such a range, covering a million square miles, we find 

 geographical variations as we do in other trees of similarly ex- 

 tended distribution. Of three such variations we shall see one a 

 little later, the Jeffrey Pine. In addition, there is an altitudinal 

 variation, for at timber-line in the higher mountains this tree 

 becomes dwarfed. 



The Western Yellow-Pine is the most abundant and important 

 hard pine of the West and one of the great American lumber 

 trees. Its annual cut amounts to about two and one-half billion 

 board feet, exceeded only by that of the southern yellow-pines and 

 Douglas Fir. Immense tracts of territory, especially in northern 

 Idaho and Montana and elsewhere in the western states, are cov- 

 ered with this tree. Probably two hundred and fifty billion board 

 feet of this timber still remain in the Western States, exceeded 



