.•^4 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



by a chase after a bird which proved to be a bat; an occasional frog 

 was poked with a stick to encourage it to hop out of the way so the 

 stump 's rings could be counted ; and some peculiar ants, furry like 

 mice and partly as large, had to be thrown oflf repeatedly and as 

 often returned to the attack. 



Then begins the mathematic part of the investigation. Professor 

 Huntington lays emphasis repeatedly on the mathematical nature of 

 his work ; asserting that much of the proof of his claims depend on 

 processes that are "purely mathematical," and depend "in no respect 

 upon the individual ideas of the computer." This is reason enough 

 for dwelling a moment on a paragraph of his story which is interest- 

 ing but not directly connected with the theory that Asiatic climatic 

 changes are recorded in the bigtree rings. In other words, he has 

 appealed unto mathematics and unto mathematics he shall go — in a 

 good natured way, of course. A certain bigtree, he says, made 30,000 

 fence posts, 650,000 shingles, several hundred cords of wood, and 

 one-third remained unmeasured in the forest. By the ordinary 

 reducing factors, these products figure up not less than 450,000 feet, 

 board measure. There never was a tree on the face of the earth 

 that would make half of it. "\¥hen the Forest Service was negotiating 

 for the purchase of the Calaveras bigtrees — some of them the largest 

 in the world — Fred G. Plummer, a thoroughly competent timber en- 

 gineer, was sent to measure the quantity of wood in the trees. He 

 measured 862 trees, the largest to be found, and the average size 

 was 27,738 board feet each. Only two trees exceeded 100,000 feet, 

 and the largest of these two fell short of 120,000. Mr. Plummer 

 indulged in no guesswork. He even bored the bark to make sure of 

 its thickness in order to eliminate all known sources of error. 



It may be argued that these errors are quibbles and do not affect 

 the author's serious argument. How do we know that? He starts out 

 to prove a very unusual thing — that Palestine climate has been con- 

 nected with trees 9,000 miles away — and the accuracy of the whole is 

 properly judged by the accuracy of tlic parts. 



Professor Huntington's serious argiunent is worthy of serious con- 

 sideration. He takes historical dates and facts in the eastern hemis- 

 phere, such as great migrations, ami remarkable changes in political 

 and physical geography, and attributes them to climatic changes in 

 those countries. In some cases he is doubtless right in his conclusions, 

 and in others he is doubtless wrong ; but right 'or wrong in his treat- 

 ment of the questions in the eastern countries, he must reasonably ex- 

 ]iect his conclusions to be questioned when he claims to have found 

 evidence that the causes which led to the aliandonment of a earavan 

 route in Arabia, for instance, t«o thousand years ago, produced a 

 series of narrow rings in the trunks of trees growing on the Sierra 

 Nevada mountains 10,000 miles away. He seems to claim too much, 

 and the evidence which ho educes is insufficient. He truthfully says, 

 "It is a far cry" from Palestine to California. It is, indeed, a far 

 cry — too far. He assumes that a series of rainless years sufficient to 

 dry up rivers in Syria would stunt the growth of trees in California 

 and cause narrow rings of growth. He says he has found evidence 

 if it, but unfortunately, he has not presented the evidence in a way 

 to convince. 



Some of the weak points in his data are these: The growth rings 

 in the bigtrees of California, as he measured them, show nothing 

 tliat cannot be accounted for by purely local conditions. The Califor- 

 nia climate, as far as the tree growth indicates, was the same 3,000 

 }ears ago as it is now. The author assumes that ancient migrations 

 were due to climatic changes, but proof is not offered. The drying up 

 of water along caravan routes may have been due, and probably was 

 due, to deforestation in those regions, and there was no connection in 

 that respect between Asia and California. An acquaintance with the 

 history of Egypt, which he cites, makes it plain that the irruptions of 

 barbarians from the East and the West into that county were due to 

 the weakening of the Eg3-ptian government — its inability to hold the 

 hordes in check — and was in no way due to climatic changes (not- 

 withstanding the bigtrees of California are .supposed to bear withness 

 to such climatic changes). The outpouring of Mohammedans from 

 Arabia is cited as another result of climatic change recorded by nar- 

 row rings in the California trees. There is no more reason for be- 



lieving that the Arab movements were due to climatic changes than 

 that tlie Roman conquest of Gaul was due to such a change, or that 

 the migrations of the Helvetians, as recorded by Caesar, were due 

 to such, or the overrunning of England by the Normans, or the 

 conquests of Tamerlane, or the present day migrations of millions of 

 Chinese into Mhlaysia, or of Italians to the United States, or of 

 .\merican farmers to Canada, or the treks of the South African Boers 

 iu the last century or two. 



The author is as unfortunate in his reference to botany as in his 

 application of arithmetic. He insists that, in order to correctly in- 

 terpret his grow'th data, we must take ' ' account of the fact that all 

 trees grow faster in youth than in old age." Since when was that 

 "fact" discovered! and by whom? Somehow, dendrologists seem to 

 have overlooked it. A suppressed tree in the shade of others (which 

 is the common lot of most young trees) grows slowly until it gets 

 its crown up to light, and then makes up for lost time. It may grow 

 less in its first fifty years than in ten or even five years later. Age 

 has very little to do with a tree's rate of growth. It is a matter of 

 environment. What the author lays down as an universal fact, is a 

 fact only about half of the time; and this must profoundly modify 

 the value of the charts and curves which he puts forward as proof 

 cf his theory. 



The author is iu agreement with dendrologists in one important 

 matter, namely, that the growth rings of a tree are a record of 

 conditions under which it has grown; but he goes too far away in his 

 search for those conditions. In the case of the California trees, the 

 ■.arrow rings which he concludes are records of the famine in the 

 time of Elijah, or those which show trouble along caravan routes from 

 India, or those which coincide with the Lybian invasion of Egypt, 

 the incursions of barbarians into southern Europe, and other events 

 of the Dark Ages, might very well be credited to local causes, and not 

 to mysterious influences acting from a distance of 10,000 miles. In 

 most cases it should not be necessary to go a mile from the trees to 

 find the causes of slow or rapid growth, and surely not beyond the 

 confines of California. Some of the influences adequate to produce all 

 tlie variations in growth noted are, more shade at one time than an- 

 other; a forest fire; frost out of season; scarcity or superabundance of 

 jirecipitation; defoliation by caterpillars. As long as known causes 

 ;ne ample to produce the effects, it is unnecessary to claim miracles. 

 There are many things relating to climate that are little imderstood. 

 The sun's heat, of course, produces all climate; but winds, ocean 

 currents and even the works of men, modify results. We do not know 

 v.hat effect, if any, is due to the shifting of the magnetic pole, the 

 jirecession of the equinoxes, or other astronomical phenomena; but 

 we do know that any change in climate due to such causes comes about 

 with such exceeding slowness that the whole life of the oldest tree 

 in California would not amount to one pendulum swing of the clock 

 of time; and it would be impossible for yearly growth rings to record 

 changes so long in coming and going. 



When it comes to realizing on cut-over land for agricultural pur- 

 poses it is well to remember that the place where good hardwoods 

 grow is where the farmer will have the best show. 



A laborer out in the hardwood yard can cut off the defective ends 

 of boards with a, buck saw, but there is a suspicion that maybe some 

 of the portable power sawing rigs would be better. 



A real estate agent selling a new house with hardwood floors and 

 trim can give even a lumberman new ideas on the points of value 

 and merit in the class of iuterior woodwork. It wouldn 't be a bad 

 idea for the hardwood folks to listen to some of these songs of the 

 house selling agent to get boosting material. 



It is really cheaper to keep a lumber yard clean and the piles in 

 good shape than to let it go sloppy — and then think how much better 

 the owner can rest nights when the weather is hot and dry and a 

 spark would make a wipe-out. 



There are perhaps several things needed to make secure an unin- 

 terrupted industrial prosperity, not the least among which is some 

 method for settling or preventing strikes. 



