from the ground on knees and elbows seemingly ill at ease and anxious like stubborn to rise again i the is the most singularly beautiful of all the so slender is its at the top that it over and like the stalk of a nodding lily the branches also and divide into innumerable slender waving which are arranged in a varied eloquent harmony that is wholly indescribable its are purple and hang free in the form of little two inches long from all the from top to bottom though exquisitely delicate and feminine in expression it grows best where the snow lies deepest far up in the region of storms at an elevation of from to feet on frosty northern slopes but it is capable of the mountains of et os nd seven in four feet from the ground growing on the edge of lake hollow at an elevation of feet above the level of the sea at the age of twenty or thirty years it becomes fruitful and hangs out its beautiful purple at the ends of the slender where they swing free in the breeze and contrast delightfully with the cool green foliage they are when young and their beauty is delicious after they are fully ripe the forests they spread their shell like scales and allow the brown winged seeds to fly in the mellow air while the empty remain to the tree until the coming of a fresh crop the of all the are beautiful growing in bright clusters yellow and rose and crimson those of the are the most beautiful of all forming little of blue flowers each on a slender stem under all conditions sheltered or well fed or ill fed this tree is singularly graceful in habit even at its highest limit upon exposed though compelled to in dense huddled close together as if for mutual protection it still to throw out its in irrepressible loveliness while on well ground soil it a perfectly tropical of foliage and fruit and is the very loveliest tree in the forest poised in thin white sunshine clad with branches from head to foot yet not in the faintest degree heavy or it towers in majesty drooping as if unaffected with the tendencies of its race loving the ground while conscious of heaven and of its blessings reaching out its branches like sensitive feeling the light and in it no other of our so finely its strength its delicate branches yield to the mountains breath yet is it strong to meet the wildest of the gale � strong not in resistance but compliance bowing snow laden to the ground gracefully accepting burial month after month in the darkness beneath the heavy mantle of winter the mountains of when the first soft snow begins to fall the lodge in the leaves weighing down the branches against the trunk then the yet lower and lower until the slender top touches the ground thus forming a fine ornamental arch the snow still falls and the whole tree is at length buried to sleep and rest in its beautiful grave as though dead entire groves of young trees from ten to forty feet high are thus buried every winter like slender but like the and which the heaviest crush not they are safe it is as though this were only nature s method of putting her to sleep instead of leaving them exposed to the biting storms of winter thus warmly wrapped they await the summer the snow becomes soft in the sunshine and at night making the mass hard and compact like ice so that during the months of april and may you can ride a horse over the prostrate groves without catching sight of a single leaf at length the down pouring sunshine sets them free first the elastic tops of the arches begin to appear then one branch after another each springing loose with a gentle rustling sound and at length the whole tree with the assistance of the winds gradually and rises and settles back into its place in the warm air as dry and and fresh as young just out of the some of the finest groves i have yet found are on the southern slopes of s there are also many charming companies on the head waters of the and san and in general the species is so far from being rare the that you can scarcely fail to find groves of considerable extent in crossing the range choose what pass you may the mountain pine grows beside it and more frequently the two species but there are many beautiful groups individuals or more without a single intruder i wish i had space to write more of the surpassing beauty of this favorite every is sure to regard it with special admiration even seeking only game or gold stop to gaze on first meeting it and to themselves that s a mighty pretty tree some of them adding d d pretty in autumn when its are ripe ha little striped and the and the crow make a happy stir in its groves the deer love to lie down beneath its spreading branches bright streams from the snow that is always near ripple through its groves and precious carpets in its shade but the best words only hint its charms come to the mountains and see dwarf pine this species forms the extreme edge of the timber line throughout nearly the whole extent of the range on both it is first met growing in company with on the upper margin of the belt as an erect tree from fifteen to thirty feet high and from one to two feet in thickness thence it goes straggling up the of the the mountains of summit peaks upon or crumbling wherever it can obtain a to an elevation of from to feet where it to a mass of prostrate branches covered with slender upright shoots each tipped with a 