n the forests of the West. The
children of the West miss all the nut trees that the boys and girls of
the East enjoy. But to make up for this lack there are some in the West
that are not found in the East. The sugar pine, the pinon pine, and the
digger pine afford delicious nuts which once formed an important article
of food for the Indians. In the West the broad-leaved trees do not form
dense forests. They are scattered among the pines on the lower mountain
slopes, in the valleys, and along the streams. The most important of
these trees are oaks of many kinds, soft maple, alder, cottonwood,
sycamore, and laurel.

The dense forests of the Western mountains consist almost wholly of
narrow-leaved trees. Among them are the pines and firs of different
kinds, spruce, cedar, redwood, and "big trees." The redwoods and "big
trees" are both known as sequoias; they grow to an immense size upon the
mountains of California. The coniferous forests of which these trees
form a part are among the most wonderful and interesting ones on the
earth.

If you will take a forest map of our country and place it beside a
rainfall map, you will quickly discover why the forests are found where
they are. You will see that the forests are found where there is more
than thirty inches of rain each year, except in the far North, where it
is very cold. You can say, then, that the climate is the chief thing
that determines where the forests shall grow.

If the climate is warm and the rainfall heavy, the forest vegetation
is so dense and rank that you can hardly travel through it. Such forests
are found in the tropical parts of the country. Where little rain falls
there is scanty vegetation, as upon the deserts of the Southwest. But
where it is very cold, even if there is much snow or rain, you will find
no trees.

[Illustration: _George J. Young_
Mountain hemlocks, which John Muir considered the most beautiful of all
conifers.]

We must not forget that there is another thing that affects the growth
of trees, and that is the soil. Pines like a sandy soil, while most
other trees do not. Certain cedars and cypresses like swampy places
where no other trees will grow. Many beautiful meadows and prairies have
no trees, because the soil is not well drained.

It is very easy to understand why trees cannot grow where it is dry, but
how shall we learn of the effect of cold upon them? Shall we have to
take a journey of thousands of miles into the far