Sequoia 691 



trees, as is readily seen by the way in which one-sided stems are often grouped 

 around a hollow, from which the old stump has rotted away. At the present day 

 reproduction is mainly effected by suckers, the proportion of these to seedlings being as 

 100 to I . Seeds do not germinate except in open places, and young seedlings, requiring 

 plenty of light to grow, are usually suppressed by the shade of the suckers, which, 

 being well nourished by the roots of the parent tree, grow fast in dense shade. 



The. habit of the tree perpetuating itself by suckers seems to have impaired the 

 vitality of the seed, as only 15 to 25 per cent of it proved fertile in experiments 

 made by Mr. P. Rock of Golden Gate Park. 



The topography of the redwood belt is uneven, and the character of the forest 

 in consequence is very varied. The mountains of the coast range rise to altitudes of 

 ICXX3 to 2000 feet, and consist of two or three ridges parallel to the coast, through which 

 rivers and streams have cut deep valleys in some places, and formed wide alluvial 

 flats in others. On the steep slopes and at the higher elevations, where the soil is 

 shallow and dry, the redwood is always mixed with Douglas, hemlock, A dies grandts, 

 and two or three other species, and is comparatively small in size and less dense 

 upon the ground. It is only at low altitudes, in the deep soil of alluvial flats and in 

 ravines, where the water-supply is great, that the redwood grows as practically pure 

 forest, and attains a great size and density ; but even here a few trees of Sitka spruce 

 and hemlock are usually associated with it. Absolutely pure stands, however, occur 

 on flat tracts near streams, and in these the shade is so great that nothing grows upon 

 the ground but Oxalis and a few tufts of Aspidium munitum. I saw a stand of this 

 kind close to the Smith River, where the trees were of enormous size and of 

 incredible density upon the ground. One tree measured 51 feet in girth. The 

 river bank was fringed with Alnus oregona 50 to 60 feet high, behind which were two 

 or three rows of taller Umbellularia ; and a single Lawson cypress, 200 feet high, had 

 taken refuge on the river bank. Behind this screen there were only redwoods towering 

 far above the other trees. On the slopes the ground cover was dense and impenetrable, 

 consisting mainly of Aspidium attaining an immense size, Acer circinatum, Rhamnus 

 Purshiana, Gaultheria Shallon, Rubus, etc. According to R. T. Fisher, of the U.S. 

 Forestry Service, of whose paper* I have made use in this account, the redwood 

 slopes, where the tree is mixed in varying proportions, cover fifty times as large an 

 area as the redwood flats, where the tree is pure or nearly so. 



Near Crescent City the flat which extends for about three miles in width from 

 the ocean to the first hill of the coast range was originally covered with a mixture of 

 redwood, Sitka spruce, and hemlock, most of which is now cut away. On the bluffs 

 of the sea-shore a few small trees of Pinus contorta take refuge, while behind them 

 and inland there are scattered groves of second-growth spruce, about 50 feet high. 

 The first slope, exposed to the south-west and rising to 500 feet, is a dense stand 

 of virgin spruce and hemlock, the trees attaining 200 feet high by 1 5 feet in girth. 

 Crossing the hill to the north-east slope the first redwoods are seen, and from here 

 inland for about eight miles over rolling country the redwood is the dominant tree, 

 enormous in size and thick upon the ground. Afterwards, ascending the gorge of 



> "The Redwood" : U.S. Forestry Bulletin, No. 38 (1903). 

 Ill 2 1 



