[Illustration: VIEW IN THE MAIN PINE BELT OF THE SIERRA FOREST.]
It appears, therefore, that the Sierra forests in general indicate the
extent and positions of the ancient moraines as well as they do lines of
climate. For forests, properly speaking, cannot exist without soil; and,
since the moraines have been deposited upon the solid rock, and only
upon elected places, leaving a considerable portion of the old glacial
surface bare, we find luxuriant forests of pine and fir abruptly
terminated by scored and polished pavements on which not even a moss is
growing, though soil alone is required to fit them for the growth of
trees 200 feet in height.
THE NUT PINE
(_Pinus Sabiniana_)
The Nut Pine, the first conifer met in ascending the range from the
west, grows only on the torrid foothills, seeming to delight in the most
ardent sun-heat, like a palm; springing up here and there singly, or in
scattered groups of five or six, among scrubby White Oaks and thickets
of ceanothus and manzanita; its extreme upper limit being about 4000
feet above the sea, its lower about from 500 to 800 feet.
This tree is remarkable for its airy, widespread, tropical appearance,
which suggests a region of palms, rather than cool, resiny pine woods.
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