there is a paucity of species and individuals 
generally in the Old World, while there is 
variety and profusion in the New. 
These twenty species of California pines in¬ 
clude about three-fourths of the forest trees 
in the state; that is, they constitute the much 
larger part of the great forests covering our 
several mountain ranges. 
Now, would it not be gratifying and en¬ 
couraging as well, if one with little attention 
could be enabled to tell any pine tree at a 
glance? That pleasure and power may be in 
the possession of the reader by making one 
simple little discovery. Look closely at the 
twigs or pick up a few leaves beneath a forest 
tree and examine them. If they are fastened 
together in little bundles of two, three, or five, 
you may be sure that you have at hand a pine 
tree. Moreover, most of the leaves (all of 
them when young) are close-wrapped at the 
base with long, thin, overlapping scales. This 
leaf-sheath is the infallible sign of a pine, as 
it covers the case of the Single-leaf Pine, 
which is born a twin, but the microscope re¬ 
veals that its brother is overcrowded in the 
sheath and perishes. 
Other important characters are: Usually 
long, slender leaves (called needles), of equal 
size from end to end : the fruit (called a cone) 
is composed of flat, overlapping scales, ar¬ 
ranged in spirals from base to apex, the scales 
enlarged at the end or exposed portion, which 
usually bears a prickle or a stouter spine or 
hook, each developed scale bearing above it 
two usually winged seeds. 
It is necessary to segregate this mass of 
thousands of miles of forest wealth, and per¬ 
haps it will be as well in this brief paper 
to depart from the strict botanical groupings 
presented in “Manual of West-American Cone- 
bearers,” since the species composing them are 
( 24 ) 
