178 



doubt some of the immense kauri trees 

 of New Zealand {Agatliis amtrdis) 

 with their barrel-like trunks and eab- 

 bage heads, are as old as the sequoias. 

 The largest known tree at Mercury 

 Bay, now destroyed, measured 24 feet 

 in diameter and was estimated as over 

 4,000 years old; but a more recent esti- 

 mate based on rates of growth, places 

 it as 2,400 years. 



As to height of living trees the 

 coastal redwood is supreme. The 

 "Founder's Tree" was accurately meas- 

 ured about 1931 as 364 feet in height. 

 For illustration, see article by the writer 

 in American Forests, November 1931, 

 "What are the Largest Trees in the 

 World?" There is evidence, however, 

 that in times past, before destruction by 

 civilization, some of the Australian 

 eucalypts, especially the mountain ash 

 (E. regnans), reached a height of 

 nearly 400 feet, but there are none 

 such now in existence. 



So much as to age and height. But 

 this is not a sermon on the vicissitudes 

 of life, and I have space to discuss only 

 a few of the many interesting trees of 

 the world. What constitutes a "remark- 

 able" tree? All plant life is indeed re- 

 markable and little understood. No one 

 has solved its mystery. There is a 

 reason for the existence and peculiar- 

 ities of each species, the result of long 

 descent through geological ages. For 

 instance, the sequoias, as pointed out 

 by John Muir, are taking a final stand 

 in their long struggle for survival since 

 the glacial age, against vicissitudes of 

 climatic changes, on the moraines left 

 by the last glaciers, and also on a 

 narrow strip along the coast where 

 climatic conditions have remained fa- 

 vorable. Others are the recently discov- 

 ered metasequoias, in the remote val- 

 leys of the mountains in northern 

 China. Even more striking in this re- 

 spect is the Monterey pine, which had 

 become almost extinct, save for a mere 

 speck on the map at Monterey. Yet 



FORESTRY 



when this pine has been planted in 

 Australia, New Zealand, and Africa, as 

 has been extensively done, it has ex- 

 ceeded all other pines in the world in 

 its rate of height growth. 



FAMILIAR PRODUCTS FROM 

 UNFAMILIAR TREES 



Products derived from trees are too 

 numerous to attempt to cover in a 

 short article, yet it would be incom- 

 plete without mention of some of the 

 more important ones. In the paint and 

 lacquer industr}' turpentine from yel- 

 low pine resins is, of course, so familiar 

 as to need no discussion, and the crude 

 resin as "naval stores." Tung oil ex- 

 tracted from the nut of the tung tree 

 of China {Aleurites fordii) is an oxi- 

 dizing oil replacing linseed in paints. 

 One of the finest lacquers, as evidenced 

 by the wonderful lacquered furniture 

 from China and Japan, is obtained 

 from the sap of a samach {Rhus 

 verniciflua). Until the advent of the 

 innumerable synthetic resins, varnishes 

 were made of gums from trees. Dam- 

 mar is an exceedingly hard clear gum 

 from the great kauri trees of New 

 Zealand (Agathis australis) and re- 

 sembles amber, which is also the "fos- 

 silized" gum of extinct trees. Copal is 

 a similar hard resin from various legu- 

 minous trees of Africa and South 

 America, the best coming from Africa. 

 Others are tragacanth, caraya, etc. 

 Ubiquitous rubber is mainly from sap 

 of trees of the euphorbia familv, genus 

 Hevea of Brazil. Gutta-percha comes 

 from the gutta tree, sapodilla family 

 (Palaquium gutta) of the Malay Penin- 

 sula. Vegetable ivory, or the ivory nut, 

 furnishes the material resembling the 

 finest ivoT}', for buttons, etc. The nuts 

 grow in immense globular heads weigh- 

 ing up to 25 lbs. each on a low palm- 

 like tree {Phytelephas macrocarpa) of 

 Colombia and Ecuador. Kapok is ob- 

 tained from the pods of the silk-cotton 



