forests farther north. The unkempt half-breed or Indian hunter
is replaced by the prosaic gatherer of turpentine. As the man of the
southern forests shuffles along in blue or khaki overalls and carries
his buckets from tree to tree, he seems a dull figure contrasted with
the active northern hunter who glides swiftly and silently from trap to
trap on his rawhide snowshoes. Yet though the southern pine forest may
be less picturesque than the northern, it is more useful to man. In
spite of its sandy soil, much of this forest land is being reclaimed,
and all will some day probably be covered by farms.

Two other outliers of the northern evergreen forest extend southward
along the cool heights of the Rocky Mountains and of the Pacific coast
ranges of the United States. In the Olympic and Sierra Nevada ranges
the most western outlier of this northern band of vegetation probably
contains the most inspiring forests of the world. There grow the
vigorous Oregon pines, firs, and spruces, and the still more famous Big
Trees or sequoias. High on the sides of the Sierra above the yuccas, the
live oaks, and the deciduous forest of the lower slopes, one meets these
Big Trees. To come upon them suddenly after a long, rough tramp over
the sunny lower slopes is the experience of a lifetime. Upward the great
trees rise sheer one hundred feet without a branch. The huge fluted
trunks encased in soft, red bark six inches or a foot thick are
more impressive than the columns of the grandest cathedral. It seems
irreverent to speak above a whisper. Each tree is a new wonder. One has
to walk around it and study it to appreciate its enormous size. Where a
tree chances to stand isolated so that one can see its full majesty, the
sense of awe is tempered by the feeling that in spite of their size the
trees have a beauty all their own. Lifted to such heights, the branches
appear to be covered with masses of peculiarly soft and rounded foliage
like the piled-up banks of a white cumulus cloud before a thunderstorm.
At the base of such a tree the eye is caught by the sharp, triangular
outline of one of its young progeny. The lower branches sweep the
ground. The foliage is harsh and rough. In almost no other species of
trees is there such a change from comparatively ungraceful youth to a
superbly beautiful old age.

The second great type of American forest is deciduous. The trees have
broad leaves quite unlike the slender needles or overlapping scales of