tains; and they do less in holding the greater 
part of it in the canyons of the Sierra for 
the summer needs of the plains below. 
No; it is an entirely different class of trees 
that, mainly, discharge these important func¬ 
tions for the benefit of smaller plants, and, 
incidentally, for the sustenance of mankind. 
That class is the resinous-wooded, narrow¬ 
leaved, usually evergreen trees bearing a pe¬ 
culiar scaly fruit, called from its usual shape 
the cone, giving to the great class the appro¬ 
priate name of CONIFERFE, —Cone-bearers. 
SPIRALES 
NORTHERN PITCH TREES 
It is the most resinous of these trees, the 
spiral-coned Northern Pitch Trees, that form 
most of the great forests of the North Tem¬ 
perate Zone. This is the region where man 
originated and where the most populous na¬ 
tions assembled, and, particularly, the most 
important of these are in Europe and North 
America, the homes of the dominant nations 
of the earth; and, farther, the largest num¬ 
ber of species in ratio to the breadth of the 
country occupied, and the largest forms of 
these trees, with largest cones and seeds, are 
found only in California. 
What an inspiring inference can be drawn 
from this array of extraordinary facts! What 
a guaranty—barring accidents—for an unex¬ 
celled people hundreds of years hence! 
It may be well in this connection to state 
that the superlative terms largest,” “tallest,” 
“heaviest,” “most valuable,” etc., are inevita¬ 
ble expressions when one is describing and 
comparing California trees. This is owing to 
the fact that our flora is not identical with 
any other. Our trees are, in a sense, a spe- 
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