COLLECTION OF SECTIONS. 47 



could not be identified at all, chiefly owing to large numbers of com- 

 pressed rings in the last 500 years or more, and to several heavy fire- 

 scars and its generally complacent character. In 1919 a short radial 

 sample was cut from another part of the stump and a complete and 

 satisfactory identification obtained. It shows very fine rhythmic growth 

 in places. No. 13 was not included in the final averages, because its 

 rings were very complacent and perfect identification was not obtained. 

 Nos. 14 and 15 were obtained from the northern side of the valley and 

 their identification was entirely satisfactory. The agreement which 

 they give with Huntington's ' 'first year of tree ' ' has already been quoted. 



The three groups whose collection has been described above showed 

 on examination certain interesting relationships to the location in 

 which they were found. The first group was obtained high up on a 

 hillside, where the slope of the ground was 15 to 25. It was not very 

 far from the top of a sharp ridge and there was no opportunity for 

 moisture to collect and remain for long periods on the soil. Therefore 

 one would expect these trees to show variation related to the amount 

 of snowfall each winter, if any did. The growth of some of these trees 

 was large but full of constant variation, and they were therefore of the 

 type which I have called "sensitive." They do in fact show best of 

 any the relationship to precipitation which will be described in a later 

 chapter. The second group came from a characteristic feature of the 

 country, namely, a basin with thoroughly water-soaked soil. 



The luxuriance of vegetation in these basins before lumbering was 

 wonderful. The sequoias grew often within a few feet of each other, 

 and even between them were pines, firs, and cedars. Lumbermen 

 often point out the bottom of a basin and say that such a place ran 

 over 1,000,000 board feet to the acre. To-day nearly all the trees are 

 gone and debris and rubbish are scattered about everywhere. The 

 constant supply of water in the basin made the trees less dependent 

 upon the annual precipitation and they show, in fact, large rings with 

 very slight variation from year to year. They are typical examples 

 of the "complacent" habit. Complacent trees contribute much less 

 to a knowledge of climatic variations, and some of them have to be 

 discarded because of uncertainty in the dating of their rings. 



The third group, Nos. 12 to 15, came from Indian Basin, where 

 logging had been done about 1903. Its outlet, like the others, was 

 toward the northeast. It had, however, a much larger flat area, now 

 covered by extensive fields of hay and by forage. The characteristics 

 of the trees found here were the same as in the groups already described. 



No. 1 (with a 7-foot radius) was first counted and marked with 

 provisional dates. The 'rings were coarse and the numbering seemed 

 promising, but proved later to have 6 to 8 errors in the last 700 years. 

 No. 5, which was the tree cut down during my visit, was then dated 



