i'^'V'! H AV-Viw , Tall Trees of Australia. 53 



" The trees," says the writer, " are not mere poles or slender 

 shafts, such as the eucalypts of Australia, but proportionate 

 and symmetrical in girth and height. The bark varies from 

 II to 40 inches in thickness. . . The beauty of the tree is 

 enhanced by its flutings, which traverse the trunk from base to 

 apex." Several trees are specified as being 300 feet high, and 

 one with a girth of 90 feet. 



The Department of the Interior (U.S.A.), in " The Sequoia 

 National Park," tells of S. gigantea only, and in this park trees 

 of dimensions as follow exist : — 



Height. Diameter. 



General Sherman . . . . 279.9 ^^^t . . 36.5 feet 



General Grant . . . . . . 264 ,, . . 35 



Abraham Lincoln .. .. 270 ,, .. 31 



California . . . . . . 260 ,, . . 30 



The American Museum of Natural History (from a publication 

 of which was selected the quotation that introduces this 

 article) says of the Big Tree, Sequoia gigantea, after belittling 

 the eucalypt, that the Kauri Pine of New Zealand, so far as 

 size goes, is a really dangerous rival, and two examples are on 

 record having respective diameters of 24 feet and 22 feet. 



In a list of fourteen specimens particularized by the Museum 

 are two worthy of special note — viz., specimen " C," of King's 

 River Grove, has a height of 276 feet and a circumference (near 

 the ground) of 116 feet, while specimen " G," of Calaveras 

 Grove (dead, without bark), has diameter 23 feet 2 inches at 

 3 feet from the ground, and height to present top 365 feet 

 (estimated former height, 400 feet). Other heights mentioneil' 

 are 302, 321, 325, 319, 315, 311, and 270 feet, the diameters 

 running up to 96 feet. 



By the courtesy of the Conservator of Forests I am enabled 

 to quote from the Department's copy of American Forestry 

 (June, 1916), wherein Sequoia is described, but in this case it 

 is not the Big Tree, but the tall tree — the Redwood, S. semper- 

 virens. The writer of the article (S. B. Detwiler) says : — " There 

 are a few trees in the world that have attained greater diameters 

 and some that grow to greater heights, but no other tree with 

 a trunk of huge size rises so gracefully to the majestic height 

 of the Sequoias." He quotes from John Muir as follows : — 

 " Trees from 10 to 15 feet in diameter and 500 feet [a misprint 

 for 300, obviously. — A. D. H.] high are not uncommon, and a 

 few attain a height of 350, or even 400, with a diameter (at the 

 base) of 15 to 20 feet or more, while the ground beneath them 

 is a garden of fresh, exuberant ferns, lilies, Gaultheria, and 

 Rhododendron. This grand tree, Sequoia sempervirens, is sur- 

 passed in size only by its near relative Sequoia gigantea, or 

 Big Tree, of the Sierra Nevada, if, indeed, it is surpassed. The 



