SEQUOIA 



SEQUOIA 



3155 



species, and it is probable that trees exist which rise to 

 nearly 400 feet, and therefore deserve to take first place 

 among the conifers. Many trees of 20 and even 22 feet 

 in diameter at 5 feet from the ground, and from 300 to 

 325 feet in height, are still standing in the redwood 

 forests. The finest groves of redwoods contain many 

 specimens that range from 150 to 250 feet or more in 

 height and have a diameter of 12 to 18 feet. In such 

 forests the trunks rise in clear red-brown shafts to a 

 height of 75 to 150 feet before they branch; they 

 stand so close that the masses of timber that exist 

 on each acre are greater than are found in any other 

 known forest, and through their far-distant tops 

 the sun seldom reaches the warm sheltered soil of 

 the Coast Range canons. With proper management, 

 under the principles of scientific forestry, the redwood 

 region as it exists today could be maintained, and 

 its future yield greatly increased, but otherwise in forty 

 or fifty years the commercial value of the entire area 

 will be practically destroyed. 



The annual output of the redwood forests of Cali- 

 fornia has steadily increased in recent years until now 

 (1916) it approximates 25,000,000 feet, board measure 

 (The Pioneer Lumberman statistics ) . Stands of 250,000 

 feet, board measure, to the acre are not uncommon. 

 One tree is on record as having yielded 480,000 feet of 

 merchantable lumber. 



Nearly all of the coast redwood is in private hands, 

 but the state of California in 1901 appropriated $250,- 

 000 to create a "redwood park" in the famous Big 

 Basin of Santa Cruz County. Here, at the present time 

 (1916) the state owns and cares for 3,800 acres, 1,500 of 

 which are dense virgin forest, and much of the rest is 

 thinly timbered. The possibilities of this superb and 

 easily accessible park are very great. It was secured for 

 the people by the efforts of many organizations and 

 individuals, chief among which were the Sempervirens 

 Club, and the late Professor Dudley of Stanford. 



The Muir Grove of 295 acres is a fine forest in Red- 

 wood Canon, Marin County, on the south side of 

 Tamalpais, which was the gift of the Hon. William Kent 

 to the nation. The Bohemian Club Grove on Russian 

 River will probably remain uncut for generations. The 

 beautiful Armstrong Woods in the same region have 

 been offered to the state of California, but have not yet 

 been purchased. 



The 5. semperrirens, even more than S. gigantea, is 

 connected historically with many and great names. Xot 

 only Haenke, Menzies, and Douglas, but also Coulter 

 and Hartweg aided in its introduction to Europe, where 

 numerous horticultural varieties are in cultivation. S. 

 sempervirens var. adpressa, Carr., is a smaller tree than 

 the type form, with creamy white younger leaves and 

 more glaucescent older leaves. It is called in Cali- 

 fornia the "white redwood" and the "silverleaf red- 

 wood." Other horticultural varieties in cultivation are 

 known as 5. gracilis, S. taxifolia, S. picta, S. albo-spica, 

 and 6'. glauca. The golden forms found in many other 

 conifers occasionally appear, but cannot yet be called 

 fixed. No really dwarf redwood is yet extant. Larger- 

 leaved or more compact forms can be selected from the 

 forest, and the tree responds easily to selection and cul- 

 ture. It thrives in gardens in the Sacramento Valley, 

 in the Sierra foothills, and in many parts of southern 

 California, so that its range for ornamental uses can 

 be greatly extended on the Pacific coast. It has been 

 largely planted in Europe, particularly in English 

 parks, and. as was to have been expected, does best in 

 well-drained rich soil near the ocean but sheltered 

 from cold winds. 



The most famous of the sequoias and certainly the 

 most widely known of all living conifers is the great 

 redwood of the Sierras, S. gigantea. It is undoubtedly 

 one of the rarest of ah 1 living species of trees and one of 

 the most easily visited and studied. It is the best liv- 

 ing representation in the whole world of a past geologic 



200 



age, and it is the most ^ble and impressive of trees. The 

 interest attached to this sequoia is therefore distinctly 

 international, and an immense body of literature has 

 gathered about it . 



Jepson, in his "Silva of California," 1910, lists thirty- 

 one known groves of big trees in the California Sierras, 

 containing 86,499 trees. While private owners control 

 much of these areas, still a large part is in the National 



3612. Sequoia gigantea. 



Forests and Parks, where, under protection, the safety 

 of the tree is assured and reproduction is excellent. In 

 the Fresno grove, for example (Sierra National Forest), 

 thousands of young trees are now growing. The low 

 vitality of the seeds of S. gigantea, long a matter of 

 complaint among nurserymen, appears to be less 

 marked than formerly, and nearly all the groves show 

 young trees. 



The measurements of standing trees and the age- 

 estimate made in the last decade have materially 

 altered former conclusions. Sudworth has published 

 an excellent table of measurements in the Calaveras 

 Grove, and Jepson has supplemented them with meas- 

 urements elsewhere. Sudworth measured thirty trees 

 which were from 9 to 19Ji feet in diameter 6 feet 

 above the ground, and from 237 to 325 feet high. 

 Former measurements were generally taken at the 

 surface of the ground and hence were most misleading. 

 A tree in Giant Forest, on the Kaweah, for example, 

 measured (in circumference) at the surface of the 

 ground 72 feet, but at 11 feet, where the bulge ceased, 

 and the true shaft began, was but 57A feet in cir- 

 cumference. The famous Boole tree, in Fresno County, 

 girths 109A feet at the surface, and 77 feet at 10 feet 

 from the ground. 



The problem of the age of the sequoias has long 

 occupied the attention of students; popular literature 

 has reveled in extravagant statements on this subject, 

 so that many persons believe that trees now standing 

 were in existence before the pyramids were built. As 

 regards the coast redwood, so many trees have been 

 cut and the rings counted that its age is now well 

 known; this species lives from 400 to 1,300 years, or 

 may possibly reach 1,500 years in a few cases. In 

 respect to the Sierra redwoods, S. gigantea, the heavy 

 logging done in recent years on private lands has 

 enabled foresters to make careful age-determination. 

 They find that mature trees range from 400 to 1,500 

 years. It remains to determine the resisting powers of 

 mature trees. A few old fallen trees have been found 

 whose rings showed ages of 2,200 to 2,300 years. John 

 Muir estimated a partly burned tree at 4,000 years, but 

 this is open to discussion. 



The economic value of the coast redwood is so high 

 that ever}' principle of wise conservation requires more 

 careful management of private forests, more complete 

 reproduction and the reforesting of cut-over areas. 

 Little attention has yet been paid to the by-products 



