from the centre outward, lets its branches die and fall off, while from the root other new trunks spring up, and attain a considerable size in four or five years. The wood has a beautiful grain, and is valuable for cabinet manufactures, taking a high polish. The foliage is handsome, being very broad, and of a light green. In the spring long racimes of yellow flowers give the tree a beautiful and ornamental appearance, which makes it sought for as a shade tree.
The Oregon alder (Alnus Oregona) is another cabinet-wood of considerable value. The tree grows to a height of sixty feet, with a diameter of two or three feet. It has a whitish-gray bark, and foliage much resembling the elm. On short stems, near the ends of the branches, are clusters of very small cones, not more than an inch in length. When grown in open places, with sufficient moisture, it is a graceful and beautiful tree.
Two species of poplar are found near the coast—the cottonwood (Populus Monilifera) and the balsam-tree (or P. Augustifolia). They are found on the borders of streams, and by the side of ponds or springs; but not so abundant near the coast as east of the Coast Mountains.
Along the banks of creeks and rivers grows one kind of willow (Salix Scouleriana), about thirty feet in height, and not more than a foot in diameter, with broad, oval leaves; of very little value.
The vine maple (A. Circinatum) is more a shrub than a tree, seldom growing more than six to twelve inches thick near the ground; and not more than twelve to twenty, rarely thirty feet in height. It grows in prostrate thickets, in shaded places, twining back and forth, and in every direction. The wood being very tough,
