The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-07-28
I'D GREAT TIRE rs.
Ilsnts Of Hills and Valleys
of Washington.
o.oANTIc RED JUNIPER.
- Strength OF the Mountain
- weeping Williamson Hem-
,.ek that Likes Snow.

.-
Acdv Who travels in the western
Es].s = Wilmington. or visits the numer-
.s..dx in Puget sound, or further up
~ fsnif of Georgia, win remark q pecu-
-; occupying the rugged, barren
g @hsre there is scarcely q handful
] Is .,,1 Like the great carbon cactus OF
sSS, fz.rcss qiganfcus, this peculiar
11ous there where no other plant
1; INV. though it has no similarity
& with cactus. 1t belongs to the
q zsss-e and it is commonly called
s ~ al cedar or juniper. Among the
: ~ s,;.1. Il IL known under the name OF
s ]. occ;destalis--a marvelously cas- y
-. i xe take into consideration the
ssr3ature Of some other plants.
5s;r I'd cedar Of ours is q very peculiar
8 q "a differs in leaves. wood and fruit
= ID, : similar eastern species. The trunk
q - su6nfly enormous, for it measures
e3; siohf feet in diameter, though the
iis1If i not tall, especially in higher
1879 It has very strong and powerful
~ mostly bare at the ends, though
~ "A there densely covered. while the
g q 8 "a trees is almost always dead.
Z Goo the tree is as broad as it is high
: 4 nerely weathered stump, though
S = 16oident the soil Is good, the juniper
abingdon attains quite considerable
s s. q IA cedar Is more like block Of
lSSn tree. Even its bright CHINA
sslored bark looks something like q
- d porphyry. The wind OF the
100 mountains has no power over it;
k6ayy and rigid trunks of this tree
Ihe rover Of the storm. It is always
- 10 matter If the wiud roars in cam
ma uproots pines and frs; or If the
4 n calm and full of sunshine, the burly
5 Is Always immoyable, always rigid.
column of ice, and grand in its
and If it dies, it is only from old
]; 81 the juniper can brave the storms
11turies.
~ viii leave now the rocky shores and
16onse islands of Puget sound and de-
"a INTO some valleys of the interior of
6k 1fats, one will remark another peculiar
"a sume respects similar to the jump
Il yet ID others very different. 1t is the
nestem mountain pine. sometimes called
spIy mountain pine. Its Latin name is
M Roaticola, or Pinus p,ophyracd,pa.
s1lhera long name, but OF course the pine
knpl responsible for it.
~ mountain pine is long-lived, strong,
~ and hardy. like the juniper, but here
SimilArity ends. In every other re-
u Il b different 1t does not grow in
{ g rucks, but requires moist soil and an
ikundant rainfall, and its trunk is not to
= eompared with that of the juniper, for
oflains sometimes the height of ninety
6tsen 100 feet and two-thirds of this tall
tunk isiree of limbs. though close, fringy
tuie Of sprays occur all the way down.
~ herk Is furrowed very deeply, the par
~ burrows connected by conspicuous
oopfufrows, and is of q deep reddish
INN color. With the exception, per-
ps, Of the sugar pine, which is over
1ics 8 tall, and to which it is closely al
ID. no other mountainous tree is so capa-
e ef ihdisidutl expression as this noun
an pine Of Washington. With its ex-
Nnded arms, its tall. graceful form, this
foFme vision of beauty in the forest
- soon 70 be forgotten. The cones are
lstefed on the branches and when ripe
N sre IRON four to eight inches long.
ny are cylindrical and somewhat curved.
coming pendulous as they increase in
Nlght This western white pine is like
juniper, very tough, and defies storms
10 hosts. and If left alone, the pine of
nlngton would die also of old age,
even thousand year old is yet strong
"a robust
I ~ 80 now towards the new cities on
nsham bay, and perhaps q little fur
Il 70 the eastward, we will meet with q
galafiy beautiful tree, so slender in its
- that II will bend like stalk of wheat,
wv shs branches divide into innumerable
oslne sprays, slender and delicate like
va o. the weeping willow. The cones
purple and do not hang in clusters, but
8 ne and hang from all the sprays from
ep % bottom. This tree is the Williamson
bruce Or hemlock. Its first Latin name,
e pdftonidnd, is rather difficult to re-
smper, but its second name, Abics Wall
$. .'ons Will not be so easily forgotten.
san glorious tree grows i'm this state to an
esssuon Of over 1900 feet, though in Cali
= s.1e's u found on mountains 10000 feet
In British Columbia it scarcely
kscaes The elevation of 9, 500 feet. 1t likes
NV and sometimes entire groves of young
ases are buried in snow every winter. In
- sutumn the white flakes lodge in the
s Ases, Weighing down the branches, then
g ans begins TO bend, forming an arch,
~ nnaily the whole young tree is buried
Z y winter sleep. not exposed to the bit-
4g storms and warmly wrapped until the
oA becomes soft in the sunshine of
sang and sets it free-fresh and. featherly
me young fern.
ane spruce is about rs tall as the noun
g pine. but its diameter is only two to
~ .est. while the diameter of the Pinsts
''co'a from five to six feet.
snoagn his tree looks very elegant and
net delicate, yet it surpasses other conf
storm-enduring strength. 1t is
& enough to meet the widest onset
we hurricane, it bows gracefully to the
t<ity. '' i's eAa''
8 Inc age of twenty-five the tree be-
81 'ss fruitful; its cones are then of q
\ purple color. and hang at the ends
s.' - slender sprays, contrasting strangely
sa ~ 'ne dark green foliage. As soon as
- are ripe they open their shell-like
& es and swing free in the breeze until
-. - coming OF fresh crop. No one who
- 80 saw the spruce in forest will ever
49, y, Tor even if compelled TO crouch in
-. s,se 'hickets il still manages to throw its
3, s.'e = branches and sprays trying to feel
nghi and battle its green foliage in it.
a. 49, wnen Old and covered from head to
~ with green branches, it never looks
fesh. saeeioi anu always
:. ns1e have given short sketch of three
- found in this state. Only three,
- aos many cone trees are in Washing.
.ss -, anu what are the conifera il compared
,,ss a ae immensely rich fora of this new
80 The field is rich and room for in