328 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Redwood lumber is clear red-brown in color. It is Serviss in his description of it, this huge section would 



light in weight and varies in grain from fine to coarse. form a round table at which 20 or 2.5 persons could 



It has a high value commercially because of its ex- comfortably sit. Its area is 200 square feet. It would 



ceptional durability, its resistance to fire, the ease with cover a large room. A similar section of the biggest 



which it is worked and the large size of clear lumber 

 which it furnishes. It is also highly prized in the tropics 

 because it is one of the few woods which white ants do 

 not attack. The wood of the Rigtree is of less weight and 

 strength than that of the redwood, but so closely re- 

 sembles the latter that it is 

 sold under that name. The 

 lumber is bright rose-red 

 when first cut, but in time 

 becomes a dark reddish- 

 brown. It contains much 

 tannin and resists decay to 

 a remarkable degree. 



The redwood tree has no 

 enemies except forest fires. 

 It is \-ery long-lived, Ijut 

 the Bigtree attains a 

 greater age. A redwood 

 20 feet in diameter, 3.50 

 feet high, was found to be 

 1,000 years of age, another 

 tree 21 feet in diameter was 

 1,3"3 years old. The red- 

 wood has been planted as 

 an ornamental tree in Eu- 

 rope, but in the United 

 States it has so far been 

 little used. It is a very 

 beautiful tree, surpassing 

 the Bigtree in gracefulness 

 of form and in the attrac- 

 tiveness of its foliage. Al- 

 though it is very e.xacting 

 in regard to conditions of 

 soil and climate, it thri\-es 

 near Charleston, South 

 Carolina, and it is pnibablc 

 that it can be grown in 

 many other places, but the 

 chances for its successful 

 growth are much less than 

 the Bigtree. 



New Yorkers and visi- 

 tors to that city may gain 

 an idea of the size of the 

 Bigtrees by examining in 

 the .\merican Aluseum of 

 Natural History a circular 

 slice cut straight across the 

 grain of a Sequoia Gigan- 

 tea, whose trunk w^as lii 

 feet in diameter or 5(i 

 feet in circumference. 

 Placed in a horizontal po- 

 sition, says Garrett P. 



THE GRIZZLY GIANT COMPARKD WITH A CHURCH 



Tills tree, the famous Grizzly Giant in Mariposa Grove, Vosemite 

 National Park, is 204 feet Iiigh; !'3 feet in circumference and 29 

 feet in diameter at tlie base; 64 feet in circumference and 20 feet 

 in diameter at a point 10 feet above tlie ground. 



oak or elm or pine or sycamore or tulip tree that grows 

 in the Eastern states, placed beside it, would resemble 

 an old-fashioned 3-cent silver piece beside a trade 

 dollar. 



"Yet this imposing specimen of the 'big tree' is 



really undersized. The av- 

 erage diameter of a fully 

 developed Sequoia is 2.5 

 feet, and a section from a 

 tree like that would be 

 nearly 80 feet, instead of 

 .5(1, in circumference. At 

 least one sequoia has been 

 cut down whose diameter 

 was almost 31 feet and cir- 

 cumference 96. That tree 

 was 302 feet in height. 

 The average height is 27.5 

 feet, but a few attain 350 

 to 400 feet. Still, the Se- 

 i|uoia is not the tallest tree 

 in the world, though it is 

 l)y far the largest or most 

 massive. The eucalyptus 

 trees of Australia exceed 

 it in height, but are more 

 slender. 



"There is a feature of 

 llie exhibit in the museum 

 that adds greatly to its ef- 

 fect. Beginning at the 

 center or heart of the tree, 

 a series of figures con- 

 tinued outward to the 

 bark indicates the lapse of 

 the successive centuries 

 during which the giant was 

 growing. Every year a 

 "ring of growth' was 

 formed, and a hundred of 

 these rings, of course, fill 

 the space of a century on 

 the section. The rings are 

 plainly seen, but so crowd- 

 eil that the eye could not 

 ct)unt them but for the aid 

 afforded by the grouping 

 into century periods. 



"From this it appears that 

 the tree began growing in 

 the year .550 of the Chris- 

 tian era — at the time when 

 Justinian was emperor — 

 and continued until it was 

 cut down in 1 SOI ." 



