i3° 



FLORA AND SYLVA. 



Pines and Firs which were 150 feet high, while its sunlit crown, well-laden 

 with giant cones, was not less than 275 feet above the base. Such a tree, if it 

 ever comes to the saw, yields, even with our wasteful western methods, upward 

 of 100,000 feet of beautifully soft light-coloured timber, fitted for many uses 

 on account of its uniformity of grain and freedom from " pitch." In fact, the 

 housewife in the Sierras desires only this wood in her kitchen, pantry, buttery, 

 and wardrobe. The heartwood is a light brown colour, becoming whiter 

 towards the bark. 



Sugar Pine wood splits so even and easily that the shake-makers of the 

 Sierra will take no other species as long as they can buy or steal a Sugar Pine. 

 These shake-makers are a peculiarity of the California forests. A " shake " is a 

 long split shingle, nearly uniform in thickness ; the best average 6 inches wide, 

 3 2 inches long, and from one-sixth to one-fourth of an inch in thickness. Occa- 

 sionally they are made even 4 feet long, and many of the poorer grades are only 

 2 feet long ; but the standard grade is of the size first named, and sells in the 

 woods for live or six dollars a thousand, or for twice that when hauled down to 

 the towns. Even at these prices they are preferred by many persons to sawn 

 shingles or thin boards for roofing, as they can be put on very rapidly, and will 

 last many years if protected by fish-oil or roofing paint. In the towns they are 

 chiefly used on outbuildings, seldom on dwellings ; in the rural districts shakes 

 are almost always used. All through the mountains of California most of the 

 houses, barns, sheds, mining buildings and other structures have always been 

 roofed with shakes, and the shake-maker is as picturesque, though never as 

 harmless, a figure as the prospector and the placer miner. 



More than half a century back the value of the Sugar Pine for this destruc- 

 tive industry was discovered. Apparently there were no officials in California 

 who felt bound to watch over the Government lands, and everyone cut trees 

 where and when he chose. Shake-makers, singly or in little groups of three and 

 four, made camps in the Sierra and felled the finest trees, often in total ignorance 

 as to whether they would split well (for even Sugar Pine must be carefully 

 chosen for this purpose, and not more than half of them are first class). One 

 still finds only partially decayed logs of superb Sugar Pines in the forests, trunks 

 5, 10, or even more feet in diameter, which were cut down and left by these 

 gypsies of the tree-felling profession. Still more often one finds fine trunks from 

 which only 20 or 50 feet were "worked up," leaving thousands of feet of fine 

 timber unused. The wiser shake-makers spend much of their time hunting for 

 these logs, and manage in many cases to split wagon loads of shakes from such 

 neglected trees. They also cut down many dead Sugar Pines, and work up 

 the larger part of the trunks. 



A young mountaineer who has learned the knack of blocking out a log 

 into " bolts," or pieces 6 inches square and of the desired length, and, further, 



