TREE RECORDS: LENGTH 57 



the cambium layer is common around the group. We noted that on 

 that side of the tree which faces closely another sprout, there is a 

 dearth of growth-rings. On that side also there is practically no foliage 

 clear up to the tip. The most peculiar thing about this lack of ring 

 formation on one side is the sudden change from the normal to the 

 abnormal." 



In another letter soon after, he says: 



"The trees cut in this experiment .... were many of them 

 sprouts. Two to six sprouts, 15 to 35 inches in diameter at breast 

 height, were found around many mother stumps. This sprout-clump 

 habit makes the trees touch one another at the base (sometimes after 

 50 years to develop a common, or rather a continuous cambian ring 

 for two or three trees at stump height) and to be separated at the top by 

 3 to 6 or more feet. Tree No. 90, from which the specimen was cut, 

 was of this class. The crown was all on one side. The most difficult 

 thing to explain in the specimen seems to me to be the reason for the 

 sudden change from normal growth to asymmetry and then a return 

 to the normal." 



The coast redwood may some time be used in the study of climate 

 and solar activity, but its interpretation is so complicated that for the 

 present it can not be included in this study of modern and historic trees. 



OLD PINE RECORDS 



For climatic records involving rainfall as the most important 

 factor, no tree has yet been found superior to the yellow pine of the 

 arid Southwest. It combines a wide range of growth with excellent 

 sensitiveness and a reluctance to drop rings completely in deficient 

 years (as the junipers do). Next to it, perhaps, comes the Douglas 

 fir, which has larger growth with usually greater sensitiveness, so that 

 for the same size of trunk it has fewer rings with over-exaggerated 

 representation of climatic changes. Therefore, extension of climatic 

 records in the pine trees is most desirable. 



SEARCH FOR OLD TREES 

 In the summer of 1919, Flagstaff was visited primarily for the 

 purpose of investigating certain buried pine trees in the recently 

 filled land immediately north of town, which will be described in 

 another place. September 10 was spent in a "University" section, 5 

 miles south of town, a section which had long been pointed out as 

 having most beautiful pines with clear trunks, suitable for fine lumber. 

 These trees were on nearly level limestone, breaking to lower levels at 

 their south edge and protected to the west by the volcanic bulk of 

 Woody Mountain. There seems to be no special protection from the 

 occasional powerful northeast wind. This region had been cut over 

 recently and it was easy to select the large stumps with fine grain. 



