While exploring the lower portion of the Merced Canon I found a lonely
miner seeking his fortune in a quartz vein on a wild mountain-side
planted with this singular tree. He told me that he called it the
Hickory Pine, because of the whiteness and toughness of the wood. It is
so little known, however, that it can hardly be said to have a common
name. Most mountaineers refer to it as "that queer little pine-tree
covered all over with burs." In my studies of this species I found a
very interesting and significant group of facts, whose relations will be
seen almost as soon as stated:
1st. All the trees in the groves I examined, however unequal in size,
are of the same age.
2d. Those groves are all planted on dry hillsides covered with
chaparral, and therefore are liable to be swept by fire.
3d. There are no seedlings or saplings in or about the living groves,
but there is always a fine, hopeful crop springing up on the ground once
occupied by any grove that has been destroyed by the burning of the
chaparral.
4th. The cones never fall off and never discharge their seeds until the
tree or branch to which they belong dies.
[Illustration: LOWER MARGIN OF THE MAIN PINE BELT, SHOWING OPEN
CHARACTER OF WOODS.
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