- "S. B. H.," Gordon, Sheridan Co., Neb. "By mail to day I send you cone, seed, twig, sap wood from live tree, and heart wood from dead tree, of a variety of pine that is indigenous here. The tree grows quite large, in some places three and four feet in diameter and quite tall, and free from knots. In the deep ravines young trees eight inches in diameter, are frequently forty and fifty feet high. The young trees in the open ground are very beautiful; when standing singly it is a perfect pyramid of green, and although a fast grower it keeps its shape and dense foliage, rivalling in its wild state any variety I ever saw in cultivated grounds.

"The heart wood from trees that have been partly burned, seems to remain buried in the earth for a long time without rotting. Can you tell me what variety it is? The young plants spring up everywhere, and seem indifferent whether they have shade, sun, drouth or moisture".

[This is the Colorado form of Pinus ponderosa,. and which Dr. Engelmann named variety Scopu-lorum. The leaves and seeds are the same as the Pacific species, but the cones are generally smaller, and the whole tree less in proportion. About four feet in diameter is the full size, and they seldom grow more than fifty feet high.

On account of their smaller size than their Pacific relative, the species will not compete with it in timber culture, but for ornamental purposes in eastern gardens it is far superior, as being free from the pine leaf-rust, which destroys the lower branches of California pines generally, and this one in particular. - Ed. G. M].