692 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



the Smith River, Douglas fir begins to prevail, the redwoods becoming gradually 

 fewer and smaller; and the last ones were seen twelve miles inland at about 1000 

 feet elevation. 



The prevailing formation in the redwood belt is sandstone ; and the tree 

 attains its maximum either on deep sandy loam or on gravel full of moisture. The 

 climate is remarkably even and moderate, with warm days, cool nights, and scarcely 

 any frost even in winter ; while the air is charged with humidity, and the annual 

 rainfall amounts to from 60 to 80 inches. The following observations, taken in 1900 

 at Crescent City, show the nature of the climate in which the redwood thrives : 



January 

 February . 

 March 

 April . 

 May . 

 June . 

 July . . 

 August 

 September 

 October 

 November 

 December . 



Total rainfall 



65-9 



The tree is not found in the interior valleys to the east of the coast range, 

 where the summer is comparatively hot and dry, and only a moderate amount of 

 rain falls in winter. 



Dr. Mayr,^ reproduces a sketch of the largest redwood he saw in December 

 1885 near Santa Cruz. The mean of three measurements made it 308 feet high 

 by 46 feet in girth at 6J feet from the ground, above the swollen base. The first 

 large green branches were at 230 feet up. This tree was still standing in 1903. 

 He also gives an excellent illustration'* of the appearance of a redwood forest after 

 lumbering and fire have devastated it, which reminds me strongly of similar scenes 

 in the Douglas fir forests of Oregon and Washington. 



Fisher gives several tables showing the composition of the species and the size 

 of the trees in the redwood belt. At Scotia, on an alluvial flat, there are 100 

 redwoods to the acre, no other species being present, and of these thirty-six were 

 over 20 inches, and averaged 76 inches in diameter. Mayr gives the following 

 figures for the best pure stand which he measured : 57 trees to the acre, averaging 

 275 feet in timber height and 23 feet in girth ; total cubic contents, exclusive of 

 branches, 199,000 cubic feet per acre. The tallest redwood recorded' was measured 

 in 1896 by Professor Sargent. This tree grew on the Eel River, and was 662 



Fremdliitid. Wald- u. Parkbdume, tt. 19, 20 (1906) ; cf. also Waldungen, p. 268 and frontispiece. 

 ' Waldungen von Nordamerika, 267 (1900). ' Garden and Forest, 1897, p. 42. 



