astrous conditions affecting the sources of the 
Mississippi River. 
Above the belt of Sugar Pine, often mingling 
with its upper edge, resides his big brother, 
the Silver Pine (P. monticola ), with its white 
bark (on young trees gleaming like beaten 
silver), the same kind of large, outreaching 
limbs; but the cones are smaller, not one- 
fourth the size. Like the Sugar Pine and 
the eastern White Pine, it belongs to an im¬ 
portant group, with special characters of 
white, soft lumber, smooth, unarmed cones, 
and short, slender leaves always in fives. 
Ranging below the Sugar Pine belt of the 
Sierra, and outspanning it north and south, 
as also extending eastward to the Rocky 
Mountains, are massed the great forests of 
Yellow Pine (P. ponderosa), trees varying 
considerably in color of bark and size of cones, 
but usually with yellowish bark, and the cones 
ovate, three to four inches long, with small, 
deltoid prickles, the leaves in threes. A 
marked peculiarity of this tree is common to 
the group to which it belongs,—the Broken- 
cone Pines. Soon after maturity the cones 
break away from the stem by an irregular 
fracture through the base of the cone, and fall 
away, leaving a rosette of small, undeveloped 
scales unon the branch. 
The Yellow Pine is next to Sugar Pine in 
size, often attaining the dimensions of 200 to 
300 feet in height by 8 to 10 feet in diameter, 
with spire-like form and short limbs. The 
lumber is yellowish, hard, and strong. Closely 
related to the Pitch Pines of the east and the 
Long-leaf Pines of the south, it shares with 
them in reputation for good building lumber. 
The male or staminate flowers of the Yel¬ 
low Pine are quite conspicuous, forming large 
rosettes of long, curling, brown tassels two 
or three inches long and one-fourth inch in 
(28) 
