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of splitting these bolts evenly, rapidly, and without a waste stroke, into useful 

 shakes, is spoiled for all other kinds of work. Without capital or outfit other 

 than an axe, saw, and riving knife (called a " froe "), despised by the real lumber- 

 man of the saw and shingle mills and watched with care by the rangers and 

 officers of the U.S. Forest Reserve, and by the owners of private forest lands, 

 he goes forth, audacious and independent, a veritable poacher of the forest, 

 buying a tree if it serves his turn to do so, and surprised beyond measure if he 

 errs respecting a boundary and is brought up to judgment. In vain may one 

 talk to such a shake-maker, whose fame is spread abroad over six counties, of 

 the profit of a shingle mill, or of a small lumbering plant, for which he could 

 pay in a few seasons, become an employer, and settle down in a legitimate 

 business. In vain one points out the inevitable end of his occupation, as private 

 owners of forest lands on whom he chiefly depends for a supply of Sugar Pine 

 learn to protect their tracts better or refuse to sell him any stumpage. He 

 laughs in your face with contagious glee, and climbs back to his camp by 

 some mountain spring, in thickets of Dogwood or Azaleas under the great Pines 

 and Firs. 



If no shake-makers had ever existed in California the Sugar Pine would 

 still be scarce as compared with the Yellow Pine and its near relative, P.yeffreyi. 

 In fact P. L,a?nbertiana never occupied a very large area of our forests, though 

 it is very plentiful in portions of Shasta, Butte, Eldorado, Fresno, and some 

 other districts. The tree does not reproduce itself rapidly, and one never finds 

 large groves among the second-growth areas which are springing up in timber 

 cleared districts. There is therefore need of care, or this beautiful Pine will 

 become less and less a distinctive feature of the West American forests. 



Much might be done by collecting and planting the seed on a large scale 

 on suitable and unoccupied slopes of the middle Sierra. The tree fruits heavily, 

 especially in favourable years, but the squirrels are very fond of the seeds, so 

 much so that they climb clear to the top, run out on the tips of the branches, 

 and gnaw off thousands of the cones. In many cases these contain only diseased 

 and defective seeds, but nearly all the mature seeds are secured by the animals 

 and stowed away in hiding places. If in the earth, some deposits are forgotten 

 by squirrels with short memories, and often grow. 



The young Sugar Pine is a lovely tree at all stages of its growth, and can 

 be picked out as far as the eye can see it from among other conifers of similar 

 ages. When beginning to fruit, and while still young, graceful, and flexible 

 far beyond other Pines, a tree of 80 or 100 feet in height stands against the 

 horizon, holding on its drooping branches these clusters of bright brown cones 

 12 to 18 inches long, it seems to thrill with the joy of growth, of life, and its 

 transmission of life in Nature's ceaseless round. Its many cylindrical cones 

 appear to be shining lanterns upheld by an immortal Titan in the higher regions 



