690 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



the influence of the sea fogs. A large portion of the area, originally covered by 

 the tree, has of late years been destroyed by fires and by felling for lumber. In 

 ancient times the redwood grew considerably to the southward of its present limit, 

 as is proved by logs being found by well-borers in various parts of the coast range, 

 where it does not now exist, as far south as Los Angeles and San Diego. 



In Oregon there are only about 2000 acres of redwood, in two small forests, 

 on the Chetco river, six miles from its mouth, and on the Winchuck river. The 

 redwood belt, properly so called, which is a continuous forest of the species, begins 

 on the northern boundary of California, and ends in Mendocino county, where it 

 attains its maximum width, about thirty-five miles. Farther north the belt narrows, 

 being only ten miles broad in Del Norte county. South of Mendocino county the 

 redwood is only met with in small isolated forests. 



In Monterey county^ the groves are small, the most southerly forest of any 

 importance being in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where the tree is common. The 

 State of California appropriated in 1901 $250,000 for the purchase of the redwood 

 forest of the Big Basin in Santa Cruz county, and this is now known as the 

 California Redwood Park.^ Prof. Jepson tells me that the area of the park is about 

 3800 acres, 2500 acres of which are covered with timber, consisting of Redwood 

 mixed with Tan Oak, Madrona, and Douglas Fir. A fine grove, known as the Santa 

 Cruz " Big Trees," is famous. A small grove, now practically destroyed, existed fifty 

 years ago on the east side of the bay of San Francisco in Alameda county. At present 

 the tree grows in the Mount Diabolo range in only one limited locality. Redwood 

 Peak, in the Oakland Hills, directly opposite the Golden Gate. In Napa valley the 

 tree is rather common ; and crossing over the summit of Howell Mountain it descends 

 the slope towards Pope valley. This is the point where the redwood grows farthest 

 from the ocean, and the only locality where it is found to the east of the divide of 

 the coast range. In Marin county there are only a few isolated groves, mainly used as 

 picnic grounds ; and in Sonoma county a few scattered claims still remain uncut. 



The redwood belt, which I visited in 1906, near its northern limit at Crescent 

 City, is the most impressive of all forests, being remarkable not only for the 

 immense size ' of the trees, but also for their extraordinary density upon the ground, 

 A single acre has yielded 100,000 cubic feet of merchantable timber. The favourable 

 conditions of the soil and climate account in great measure for this extreme pro- 

 ductiveness ; but I am inclined to think that the mode of reproduction by suckers 

 and by coppice shoots, explains in part the density with which the trunks stand 

 upon the ground. A large proportion of the old trees are sprouts from ancient 



' Cf. Jepson, Flora W. Mid. California, 24 (1901) ; and C. H. Shinn, Cycl. Am. Hort. iv. 1660 (1902). 



2 Prof. Jepson in a recent letter says that there is practically no Redwood in the National Forest Reserves ; but a few 

 groves in private hands are as safe a^ if under State or National control, namely : Redwood Caiion by Mount Tamalpais, 

 near San Francisco ; Bohemian Club Grove in Sonoma county ; and Armstrong Grove in the same county. These comprise 

 500 to 1000 acres each. 



' Mr. J. H. Maiden, Director of the Sydney Botanic Garden, in an article in the Sydney Morning Herald, quoted 

 in the London Pharmaceutical Journal, April 30, 1904, states that the excessive heights claimed for eucalyptus trees in 

 Australia are unreliable, and considers that the redwood, accurately measured by Sargent as 340 feet, is the tallest tree in 

 the world. Von Mueller, in Eucalyptographia, Decade 5 (1879- 1 884), gives, on the authority of Mr. D. Boyle, the 

 measurement of a fallen Eucalyptus amygdalina as 420 feet, and states that Mr. G. Robinson, a competent surveyor, measured 

 another tree of thi specie* as 47 1 feet ; and it i.-> unknown to me on what grounds Mr. Maiden has questioned these measurements. 



