growth, and in characters of the cone, of any 
group in the forests of the Northern Hemis¬ 
phere, and hence easily detected. 
Should the reader, being anywhere in the 
Northern Hemisphere, see in the forest, even 
from a distance, a tree perfectly conical in 
outline, the limbs arising in horizontal circles, 
the branches often nearly touching each other, 
forming layers or platforms prim and sym¬ 
metrical, the broadest layer at the bottom, 
diminishing in breadth regularly to the top; 
or should you be able to see only the top 
of the tree, if you found it bearing cones 
standing out bold and erect upon the upper¬ 
most limbs, you may be sure that you are 
beholdine one of the most interesting of trees, 
the true Fir {Abies'). Close examination re¬ 
veals other characters. The cones at maturity 
fall to pieces, the scales and seeds sailing away 
on the wind, leaving the brown axis on the 
limb to weather away during the next winter. 
You never find a fir cone on the ground, un¬ 
less it has been cut off before quite ripe by a 
squirrel, hence many persons, even lumber¬ 
men, are unaware that they bear cones at all. 
Also, the leaves are peculiar; on young trees 
and the lower limbs of older ones they are 
arranged in two ranks, but on the upper, bear¬ 
ing limbs they all turn upward. 
The principal points for certain identifica¬ 
tion of a fir tree are: Prim, regular stratifi¬ 
cation of the limbs, the cones erect upon the 
upper limbs, their scales deciduous at matu¬ 
rity, the leaves in two ranks, right and left, 
along the branchlets of lower limbs. 
THE SIX CALIFORNIA FIRS 
There are in California six species of fir, 
four of them becoming large trees. The 
largest is the magnificent Red Fir {Abies 
( 49 ) 
5 
