598 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



400 and 500 years old, have reached 

 old age, but the sequoia trees, several 

 times as old as the great pines, are still 

 in the bloom of youth. 



They do not attain prize size or 

 beauty before they are 1,500 years old 

 and are in their prime when 2,000 

 years old, not becoming old in less than 

 3,000 years. Not only do these trees 

 stand in a class by themselves because 

 of their long life, but they are classed 

 among the wonders of the earth be- 

 cause of their giant size. 



In the giant forest in Sequoia Na- 



tional Park, where the giants are 

 named for men who have been promi- 

 nent in public life, the General Sher- 

 man is 286 feet high and 36 feet in 

 diameter, the Abraham Lincoln 270 

 feet high and 31 feet in diameter, and 

 the tallest is the William McKinley. 

 291 feet high and 28 feet in diameter. 



In the General Grant Park the prin- 

 cipal trees are the General Grant, 264 

 feet high and 35 feet in diameter, and 

 the George Washington 255 feet high 

 and 29 feet in diameter. 



THE TALLEST TREES 



■^^i^HE big tree supremacy of 

 C^) California is being disputed by 

 ^^"^ Australia. The tallest tree yet 

 discovered in California was found 

 by actual measurement to be 340 

 feet high. Australia's record gum 

 tree can beat this by 140 feet. Baron 

 Mueller, formerly government botanist 

 of Victoria, is quoted as saying that 

 Australian gum trees attain a height of 

 500 feet. But the tallest tree the baron 

 measured was a prostrate one on the 

 Blacks' Spur, ten miles from Heales- 

 ville, totalling 480 feet. This tree was 



81 feet in girth near the root. Another 

 found in the same locality was 415. 

 feet high, with a circumference of 69 

 feet at the base. Mueller refers to this 

 species as "the highest tree on the 

 globe, surpassing the famous California 

 sequoia and Wellington pine." In 1889 

 G. W. Robinson, civil engineer of Ber- 

 wick, in a journey from Gippsland to 

 Mount Baw, measured a tree 471 feet 

 high. The height of this specimen had 

 previously been estimated at not less 

 than 500 feet. 



PINE LANDS OF NICARAGUA 



CONSUL ARTHUR J. CLARE 

 of Bluefields reports that "the 

 pine belts on the Atlantic coast of 

 Nicaragua extend north from the Rio 

 Grande along the 84th meridian, west 

 longitude, following the coast line into 

 Honduras, and vary in width from 10 

 to 30 miles. This territory is traverse^ 

 by the Walpasixa, Prinzapulka, Kukal- 

 laya, Wawa, Sisin, Awastara, and 

 Wanks rivers and incloses the lagoons 

 of Pahara, Twappi, and Beymona. 



"All the above-named rivers are 

 navigable, but bars across their mouths 

 prevent large vessels from entering 



and navigation at present is carried on 

 by gasoline boats, canoes, and 'pit- 

 pans.' The latter are large, built-up 

 canoes capable of holding several tons 

 of freight each. 



"The land for a few miles on each 

 side of the rivers mentioned is a dense 

 jungle, where mahogany cutting is now 

 carried on, log rafts being easily floated 

 downstream. Inside from these jungles 

 and around the lagoons the pine lands 

 extend, and to obtain the best results 

 railroads must be built to carry out the 

 logs or sawed lumber. 



