The mountains of California . lit-tle Douglas squirrel can oj)en them. Indians gath-ering the ripe nuts make a striking picture. Themen climb the trees like bears and beat off the coneswith sticks, or recklessly cut off the more fruitfulbranches with hatchets, while the squaws gather thebig, generous cones, and roast them until the scalesopen sufficiently to allow the hard-shelled seeds tobe beaten out. Then, in the cool evenings, men,women, and children, with their capacity for dirtgreatly increased by the soft resin with which theyare all bedraggled, form circles around camp-fires,on the ban
The mountains of California . lit-tle Douglas squirrel can oj)en them. Indians gath-ering the ripe nuts make a striking picture. Themen climb the trees like bears and beat off the coneswith sticks, or recklessly cut off the more fruitfulbranches with hatchets, while the squaws gather thebig, generous cones, and roast them until the scalesopen sufficiently to allow the hard-shelled seeds tobe beaten out. Then, in the cool evenings, men,women, and children, with their capacity for dirtgreatly increased by the soft resin with which theyare all bedraggled, form circles around camp-fires,on the bank of the nearest stream, and lie in easyindependence cracking nuts and laughing and chat-tering, as heedless of the future as the squirrels. Finns tubercidata This curious little pine is found at an elevationof from 1500 to 3000 feet, growing in close, willowygroves. It is exceedingly slender and graceful inhabit, although trees that chance to stand alone out-side the groves sweep forth long, curved branches, THE FOEESTS 149. TnK GROVE FORM. THE ISOLATED FORM (PINUS TUBERCULATA). !, ii sfiikiiig contrast to thi^ ordinary groveform. Tlio foliage is of the same juMMiliai- gray-green eolor as Hint of llic Xut I*iii<, jiikI is woiual)oni .IS loosely, so that the l)0(ly of the tree isscareely obsenred hy it. 150 THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFORNIA At the age of seven or eight years it begins tobear cones, not on branches, but on the main axis,and, as they never fall off, the trunk is soon pic-turesquely dotted with them. The branches alsobecome fruitful after they attain sufficient average size of the older trees is about thirty orforty feet in height, and twelve to fourteen inches indiameter. The cones are about four inches long, ex-ceedingly hard, and covered with a sort of siliciousvarnish and gum, rendering them impervious tomoisture, evidently with a view to the careful pres-ervation of the seeds. No other conifer in the range is so closely re-stricted to special
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectcaliforniadescriptio
