488 AAIERICAN FORESTRY 



of bark were saved ; masses of leaves decay and fall before these long years 



and twigs matted in the asphalt were elapsed. We know that all its smaller 



examined with microscopic eyes to see branches and limbs did decay, as the 



if they were mere drift, or the stomach worm-drilled ends attest, leaving only 



contents of herbivorous annnals. Bush- ^j^g ponderous trunk, 18 inches in diam- 



els of loose material were washed m ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^-^^ ^^^^. ^j^^^^ ^^^^^^^ 



gasoline through sieves for seeds, in- , , , , , , , , • r ., 

 ^^ , 1 .1 .? ,1 ."^ to be only one probable solution of the 

 sects and the thousand and one minute ^. r^ ^ ■ , ,, , , i 

 r _ .1 • 1 *. ^1 • 1 • question. Certainly the tree must have 

 forms otherwise lost. ihis work is ,,.,,, / , ., , 

 usually delegated to one man, who for ^een killed soon after the oil penetrated 

 the time being does nothing else, for it '^s root area, and it seems almost as 

 is found that after working on a skull certain that as the sap left the tree it 

 (the mastodon, for instance), that takes was replaced by the penetrating asphalt- 

 four men to lift, one was apt to over- laden oil, the wonderful preservative of 

 look a specimen as small as the scapula, Rancho La Brea. That it did its work 

 for instance, of a shrew, the size of a well is certain for the wood is sound 

 pin head, especially if hidden in a clod enough to make into furniture today. 

 of la brea the size of one's fist. An authenticated sample of the tree 



"At fifteen feet a network of large was sent to the Biological Survey at 

 roots was encountered intermingled Washington for analysis, and micro- 

 with skulls and bones of bison, camel, scopic slides were made of transverse 

 tiger, wolf and sloth. Working around and cross sections, showing that the 

 to the north, the roots were found firm- tree was a cypress {Ciipressiis uiacnabi- 

 ly imbedded in a bank of oil-soaked ana). Many fragments of wood have 

 clay, proving that the tree had grown been thrown out of the pits and visitors 

 where found. All sorts of conjectures have carried pieces away. In some in- 

 have been made, some wise and some stances these have been sent out as 

 otherwise. Out of it all we may con- fragments from the tree, with the result 

 elude that the tree once grew on the that the tree has already had three 

 bank of a small run or depression, the scientific names attached to it. The 

 roots on one side firmly imbedded in name Cupressus macnabiana, however, 

 the bank. On the other side they ex- must stand for the present, as it is based 

 tended into a soft, perhaps muddy basin, on a true sample of the tree." 

 The ever shifting gas, under heavy (The specimen of wood from the 

 pressure, in its effort to reach the sur- tree was sent to H. W. Henshaw, chief 

 face, probably followed the root of the of the Biological Survey at Washing- 

 tree as the point of least resistance, ton, D. C, to determine its identity. 

 Once at the surface the asphalt deposit Dr. Albert Mann, of the Bureau of 

 commenced and the trap began its work. Plant Industry, made a few slides, and 

 slowly, over hundreds of years of time, the tree was determined by Mr. C. D. 

 until the tree was completely covered as Mell, of the Forest Service, to be a cy- 

 the surrounding country gradually press, technically, Cupressus Macnabi- 

 filled. ana, Murr., a species which is still pres- 



"One wonders why the tree did not ent in California. — Editor.) 



Pennsylvania's Two Arbor Days. 



The State of Pennsylvania cclclirates two arl)or days cacli year — one for spring planting 

 and one for the fall — in April and October, respectively. 



