THE PLANT WOELD 7 



THE THREATENED DESTRUCTION OF THE BIG TREES 



OF CALIFORNIA. 



BEFORE the glacial period the genus of big trees called Sequoia 

 flourished widely in the temperate zones of three continents. 

 There were many species, and Europe, Asia and America had 

 each its share. But when the ice fields moved down out of the north, 

 the luxuriant vegetation declined, and with it these multitudes of trees. 

 One after another the different kinds gave way, their remains became 

 buried, and Avhen the ice receded, just two species, the Big Tree and 

 lledwood, sur\'ived. Both grew in California, each separate from the 

 other, and each occupjdng, in comparison with its former area, a mere 

 island of space. As we know them now, the Redwood {Sequoia semper- 

 ■vireiis) lives only in a narrow strip of the Coast Range, 10 to 30 miles 

 wide, extending from just Avithin the southern border of Oregon to the 

 bay of Monterey, while the Big Tree {Sequoia Washing ioniana) is found 

 only in small groves scattered along the west slope of the Sierra Ne- 

 vada mountains, from the middle fork of the American river to the 

 head of Deer creek, a distance of 260 miles. The utmost search reveals 

 but ten main groups, and the total number of sizable trees in these 

 groups must be limited to figures in the thousands. It is, moreover, 

 the plain truth, tliat all the specimens which are remarkable for their 

 size, do not exceed 500. 



The Big Trees are unique in the world — the grandest, the largest, 

 the oldest, the most majestic, graceful of all trees- — and if it were not 

 enough to be all this, they are among the scarcest of known species, 

 and have the extreme scientific value of being the oldest living repre- 

 sentatives of a former geologic age. It is a tree which has come down 

 to us through the vicissitudes of many centuries, solely because of its 

 sui:>erb qualifications. Its bark is often two feet thick, and almost non- 

 combustible. The oldest specimens felled are still sound at the heart, 

 and fungiis is an enemy unknown to it. Yet with all these means of 

 maintenance, the Big Trees have ajiparently not increased their range 

 since the glacial epoch. They have only just managed to hold their 

 own on the little strip of country where the climate is locally favorable. 

 At the present time the only grove thoroughly safe from destruc- 

 tion is the Mariposa, and this is far from being the most interesting. 

 Most of the other groves are either in process of, or in danger of, being 

 logged. The veiy finest of all, the Calaveras Grove, with the biggest 

 and tallest trees, the most uncontaminated surroundings, and practically 

 all the literary and scientific associations of the species connected with 

 it, has been puichased rec(nitly by a lumberman, who came into full 

 possession on tlu; 1st of April, 1900. The Sequoia and General Grant 



