hemlock in the wildness of its natural surroundings have spoken and written much in its praise. It has been called the loveliest cone-bearing tree of the American forest. That praise, however, applies only when the tree is at its best, with its broad, pyramidal crown, balanced and proportioned with geometrical accuracy, outlined against a background of rocks, peaks, snow, or sky. Its other form, prostrate and angular where the tree occurs on cold, bleak mountains, has never inspired praise from anybody, though its defiance of the elements and its persistence in spite of adversity, cannot but challenge the admiration of all who like a fair and square fighter. There are many intermediate forms. On mountains facing the Pacific, and at altitudes of 6,000 or 7,000 feet, the young hemlocks are buried under deep snow weeks or months at a time. They are pressed down by the weight of tons, and it might be supposed that not a whole branch would be left on them, and that the main stems would be deformed the rest of their lives. But when the early summer sun melts the snow, the young trees spring back to their former faultless forms, without a twig missing or a twisted branch. [Illustration] WESTERN YEW [Illustration: WESTERN YEW] WESTERN YEW (_Taxus Brevifolia_) The Pacific yew is an interesting tree, useful for many minor purposes, but it is not procurable in large quantities. Its north and south range covers more than 1,000 miles, from Alaska to central California; while the species occurs from the Pacific coast eastward to Montana. It approaches sea level on some of the Alaskan islands, and toward the southern part of its range it reaches an altitude of 8,000 feet.