THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[February, 



in the Mariposa grove, and some of the trees in 

 the other groves, and published the result years 

 ago. In the Calaveras grove there were then 

 twenty-seven trees of two hundred and fifty or 

 more feet, four of which were three hundred or 

 more feet, the highest being three hundred and 

 twenty-five feet. Over three hundred trees were 

 measured in Mariposa grove, the tallest of which 

 Avas two hundred and seventy-two feet. The only 

 other tree I have seen which rivals "The Father 

 of the Forest" in diameter is in the King's river 

 grove, and was less than three hundred feet high. 

 There is no evidence that " The Father of the 

 Forest " (or any other Sequoia) ever reached 

 three hundred and fifty feet, and what its height 

 actually was can never be known. 



Next as to age. The first extended descrip- 

 tion, published in Em'ope twenty-five years ago, 

 "' estimated" the age at several .thousand years, 

 and gave wings to the imagination as to the 

 events in the world's history which the old trees 

 had seen in their life-time. This error has been 

 refuted from year to year, for I know not how 

 long, for every scientific investigation has shown 

 its fallacy ; but the first story was so well told, 

 and seemed so marvelous, that it is repeated by 

 the majority of "correspondents" in some form, 

 and I am sorry to say that clergymen and teach- 

 ers are not the least common offenders. It is so 

 much easier to repeat a startling story than it is 

 to test its accuracy, that it is probable future 

 generations of correspondents in I'JTS will con- 

 tinue to tell how large this or that tree was 

 " when Paris carried Helen from the walls of 

 Troy." And so your correspondent speaks of 

 one still standing as " a tree that began its 

 growth long before David reigned in Isi'ael !"' 



We know the actual age of only one of the 

 larger trees of the Calaveras grove, and that is 

 the tree your correspondent tells us of as liaving 

 been felled in 1853. That tree was sound to its 

 centre, and we know its age to within a very 

 few years, and it began its growth more than 

 twenty-five hundred years after David died. It 

 is possible that some of the oldest trees of this 

 species may have begun their growth over two 

 thousand years ago, but not at all probable that 

 any reached back to within a thousand years of 

 the time of David." 



The "White Oak in Maryland. — Accord- 

 ing to the American Farmer, Gen. L. Giddings, 

 near Annapolis, Md., has a White Oak, within 

 fifty yards of his house, which is twenty-one feet 

 in circumference. It is sound and healthy and 



symmetrical in form, and as grand a tree of the 

 oak family as can be seen. There must be 

 many ancient and large specimens of trees yet 

 remaining in the Atlantic States, and it would 

 bd interesting to have our readers report any 

 trees on their farms or in their neighboi'hoods 

 remarkable for their size. 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Sumac for Tanning. — B., New Jersey, 

 writes: "Attention has several times been 

 called to this subject in the Gardener's Mon- 

 thly, but I cannot learn where Sumac can be 

 sold if collected. Rhus copallina, which I sup- 

 pose is the variety used for this purpose, grows 

 here plentifully and if it could always be readily 

 sold, might become a source of profit. I am 

 told by a shoemaker here, that there is always 

 a demand, but that it must be ground, and that 

 Sumac mills are rather expensive. Will you, or 

 some one who is posted, give us information on 

 these points." 



[The Sumac used for tanning jDurposes is the 

 Rhus glabra. We know nothing of the use of R. 

 copallina in this connection. — Ed. G. M.] 



The Great Growth of the Willow. — 

 E. S. Carman, editor of The Rural Xexv Yurkrr, 

 writes : " The following note, upon which you 

 comment, was taken from Rural Xeio Yorker, of 

 recent date :'' 



"Growth of Trees in America. — The Garden- 

 er\s Record, says : "Mention is made of a Weep- 

 ing Willow fifty feet high, after five years' 

 growth in Xew .lersey soil. Astonishing rate 

 of growth, if true.' '' 



"The tree was planted near a neighbor's house, 

 five years ago. It was at that time about ten 

 feet high. It is now about ten feet higher than 

 the house, which consists of three stories over 

 the cellar, which is three feet above ground. I 

 did not measure it except by the house, each 

 story of which is at least ten feet in height. 

 You will see my estimate is not out of the way. 

 It is not a remarkable growth for the Weeping- 

 Willow in suitable soil and situation. I men- 

 tioned it rather to show rapid than extrordinary 

 growth. 



Tiiornless Honey Locust. — A Kansas cor- 

 respondent says : "Can any of the correspond- 

 ents of the Gardener's Monthly give any 



