eighteen inches of the ends of the branches is packed with stiff needles which like an electric fox or s tail the needles have a glossy polish and the sunshine through them makes them bum with silvery while their number and elastic temper tell delightfully in the winds this tree is here still more original and picturesque than in the far surpassing not only its companion in this respect but also the most noted of the oaks some stand firmly erect with radiant down to the ground forming slender towers of shining others with two or three branches pushed out at right angles to the trunk and clad with take the form of beautiful ornamental crosses again in the same woods you the find trees that are made up of several united near the ground spreading at the sides in a plane parallel to the of the mountain with the elegant hung in charming order between them making a harp held against the main wind lines where they are most effective in playing the gi and storm and besides these there are many forms alone or in gi with innumerable drooping beneath the arches or radiant above them and many lowly giants of no particular form that have the storms of a thousand years but whether old or young sheltered or exposed to the wildest this tree is ever found and and offers a richer and more varied series of forms to the artist than any other i know of nut pine the nut pine covers or rather the eastern flank of the to which it is mostly in bush like patches from the margin of the sage plains to an elevation of from to feet a more fruitful and could not be conceived all the species we have been make more or less distant from the typical spire form but none goes so far as this without any apparent of climate or soil it remains near the ground throwing out crooked branches like an orchard the mountains of apple tree and seldom a single shoot higher than fifteen or twenty feet above the ground the average thickness of the trunk is perhaps about ten or twelve inches the leaves are mostly like round instead of being separated like those of other pines into and and the are green while growing and are usually found over all the tree forming quite a marked feature as seen against the gray foliage they are quite small only about two inches in length and give no promise of nuts but when we come to open them we find that about half the entire bulk of the is made up of sweet seeds the of which are nearly as large as those of nuts this is undoubtedly the most important on the and the and river indians with more and better nuts than all the other species taken together it is the indians own tree and many a white man have they killed for cutting it down in its development nature seems to have aimed at the formation of as great a fruit bearing surface as possible being so low and accessible the are readily beaten off with poles and the nuts procured by them until the scales open in seasons a single indian will gather thirty or forty of them � a fine employment of all the along the eastern base of the and on all the many mountain groups and short of the great basin this little pine is the commonest tree and the most the forests nearly every mountain is planted with it to a height of from to feet above the sea some are covered from base to summit by this one species with only a growth of on the lower slopes to break the of its curious woods which though dark looking at a distance are almost and have none of the damp leafy and hollows so characteristic of other pine woods of thousands of acres occur in continuous indeed viewed the entire basin seems to be pretty divided into level plains dotted with sage bushes and mountain chains covered with nut pines no slope is too rough none too dry for these of the red man the value of this species to is not easily it and timber for the mines and with the supplies the with fuel and rough in fruitful seasons the nut crop is perhaps greater than the wheat crop which so much influence throughout the food of the world when the crop is ripe the indians make ready the long beating poles bags baskets and are collected the women out at service among the washing or at the family huts the men leave their work old and young all are mounted on and start in great glee to the nut lands forming curiously picturesque flaming and skirts stream loosely over the two usually of each with baby in baskets on their backs or balanced on the the mountains of saddle bow while nut baskets and water project from each side and the long beating poles make angles in every direction arriving at some well known central point where grass and water are found the with baskets the men with poles ascend the to the laden trees followed by the children then the beating begins right the s fly in every direction rolling down the slopes lodging here and there against rocks and sage bushes chased and gathered by the women and children with fine natural gladness speedily mark the joyful scene of their labors as the fires are kindled and at night assembled in gay circles as they begin the first nut feast of the season the nuts are about half an inch long and a quarter of an inch in pointed at the top round at the base light brown in general color and like many other pine seeds handsomely dotted with purple like birds eggs the shells are thin and may be 