diameter, though you may find specimens here and
there considerably larger than this. It is as massive and suggestive of
enduring strength as an oak. About two-thirds of the trunk is commonly
free of limbs, but close, fringy tufts of spray occur nearly all the way
down to the ground. On trees that occupy exposed situations near its
upper limit the bark is deep reddish-brown and rather deeply furrowed,
the main furrows running nearly parallel to each other and connected on
the old trees by conspicuous cross-furrows. The cones are from four to
eight inches long, smooth, slender, cylindrical and somewhat curved.
They grow in clusters of from three to six or seven and become pendulous
as they increase in weight. This species is nearly related to the sugar
pine and, though not half so tall, it suggests its noble relative in the
way that it extends its long branches in general habit. It is first met
on the upper margin of the silver fir zone, singly, in what appears as
chance situations without making much impression on the general forest.
Continuing up through the forests of the two-leaved pine it begins to
show its distinguishing characteristic in the most marked way at an
elevation of about 10,000 feet extending its tough, rather slender arms
in the frosty air, welcoming the storms and feeding on them and reaching
sometimes to the grand old age of 1000 years.

The Western Juniper

The Juniper or Red Cedar (Juniperus occidentalis) is preeminently a
rock tree, occupying the baldest domes and pavements in the upper silver
fir and alpine zones, at a height of from 7000 to 9500 feet. In such
situations, rooted in narrow cracks or fissures, where there is scarcely
a handful of soil, it is frequently over eight feet in diameter and not
much more in height. The tops of old trees are almost always dead, and
large stubborn-looking limbs push out horizontally, most of them broken
and dead at the end, but densely covered, and imbedded here and there
with tufts or mounds of gray-green scalelike foliage. Some trees are
mere storm-beaten stumps about as broad as long, decorated with a few
leafy sprays, reminding one of the crumbling towers of old castles
scantily draped with ivy. Its homes on bare, barren dome and ridge-top
seem to have been chosen for safety against fire, for, on isolated
mounds of sand and gravel free from grass and bushes on which fire could
feed, it is often found growing tall and unscathed to a height of forty