cial creation of enlarged specimens, the result 

 of exceptionably favorable conditions of soil 

 and climate; consequently, they are in many 

 instances simply unexcelled. 



If we Californians would enter upon the 

 exalted stage prepared for us by Mother 

 Nature, we will profit by avoiding the errors 

 of older nations, by the study of our own 

 matchless forests, insistence upon their preser- 

 vation, and consequent inheritance of their 

 benign influence upon our own advancement. 



Preparatory to the serious study of forestry, 

 and in accordance with the outline of topics 

 presented in "Some Hints upon Forestry," let 

 us in this paper take up the first topic there 

 suggested, learn how to distinguish the many 

 kinds of trees, call them by name, and get 

 acquainted with them in their homes. 



REDWOODS SEQ UOIA 



Of course, the first tree that comes into the 

 mind of a Californian, native or adopted, is the 

 Redwood (Sequoia), the chief of all trees in 

 size and majesty; one species (S. scnipcr- 

 vircns) dominating the coast forests, with its 

 wealth of valuable lumber trees ; the other, the 

 Big Tree (S. Washinptoniana), ennobling the 

 Sierra forests with its mammoth columnar 

 trunk and its immense crown of perfect ver- 

 dure, not a limb awry or dead, nor a tree 

 dying until prostrated by its own overweight 

 or a severe storm. 



So well known at home and abroad are these 

 mammoth trees that this mere brief mention 

 of them in the order of their importance suf- 

 fices. It is pertinent in passing to call atten- 

 tion to the newly-discovered fact that, of the 

 fifty or more extinct species of a prodigious 

 forest known to have extended well over 

 northern regions, of which our two Sequoias 



(20) 



