nds.

No other pine seems to me so unfamiliar and self-contained. In
approaching it, we feel as if in the presence of a superior being, and
begin to walk with a light step, holding our breath. Then, perchance,
while we gaze awe-stricken, along comes a merry squirrel, chattering and
laughing, to break the spell, running up the trunk with no ceremony, and
gnawing off the cones as if they were made only for him; while the
carpenter-woodpecker hammers away at the bark, drilling holes in which
to store his winter supply of acorns.

[Illustration: YOUNG SUGAR PINE BEGINNING TO BEAR CONES.]

Although so wild and unconventional when full-grown, the Sugar Pine is a
remarkably proper tree in youth. The old is the most original and
independent in appearance of all the Sierra evergreens; the young is the
most regular,--a strict follower of coniferous fashions,--slim, erect,
with leafy, supple branches kept exactly in place, each tapering in
outline and terminating in a spiry point. The successive transitional
forms presented between the cautious neatness of youth and bold freedom
of maturity offer a delightful study. At the age of fifty or sixty
years, the shy, fashionable form begins to be broken up. Specialized
branches push out in the most unthought-of places, and bend with the
great cones, at once marking individual character, and this being
constantly augmented from year to year by the varying action of the
sunlight, winds, snow-storms, etc., the individuality of the tree is
never again lost in the general forest.

The most constant companion of this species is the Yellow Pine, and a
worthy companion it is.

[Illustration: FOREST OF SEQUOIA, SUGAR PINE, AND DOUGLAS SPRUCE.]

The Douglas Spruce, Libocedrus, Sequoia, and the White Silver Fir are
also more or less associated with it; but on many deep-soiled
mountain-sides, at an elevation of about 5000 feet above the sea, it
forms the bulk of the forest, filling every swell and hollow and
down-plunging ravine. The majestic crowns, approaching each other in
bold curves, make a glorious canopy through which the tempered sunbeams
pour, silvering the needles, and gilding the massive boles, and flowery,
park-like ground, into a scene of enchantment.

On the most sunny slopes the white-flowered fragrant chamoebatia is
spread like a carpet, brightened during early summer with the crimson
Sarcodes, the wild rose, and innumerable violets and gilias. Not even in
the shadiest nooks