ESSAY UPON REDWOOD. 8l 



digious as to seem almost incalculable, because illimitable. 

 We say "care" because only at this juvenile age can fire 

 harm them ; also their daily fog-condensing foliage referred 

 to renders them, for the most part, almost forest-fire proof; 

 at length, with age, what the damp woods lack to absolutely 

 hold in check, the 'forest fire-fiend is supplied by a most pe- 

 culiar kind of red or cinnamon-brown bark well worthy of a 







study consisting of a thick coating of light, porous, readily 

 shreddy-fibrous, lamellar mass of coarse-satiny substance of a 

 dry, peaty, silicated texture, without even a vestige of either 

 oil or resin, so common in other conifers, or to their renowned 

 and sacred kindred of the old world ; is apparently dry of sub- 

 stance, if not of surface, and so nearly fire-proof as to sim- 

 ply smudge and apt to charr superficially, so that it rarely 

 heats to injure or to kill trees of a few inches in diameter. 

 If, however, it does penetrate deeper, and burn for a long 

 time, it seems not to kill the thin, paper-like layer of living 

 bark beneath. It is also a notable fact of general repute that 

 might be mentioned here, that a somewhat similar resistance 

 appertains to the timber: houses built of this wood are not 

 so combustible as those of pines and other large constructive 

 joinery; broad surfaces of it always fire with difficulty, and 

 the slightest dash of water quenches it quickly, like the sud- 

 denness of a puff on a candle blaze. Consequently, for this, 

 and reasons hereinafter given, most houses are built of it in 

 California. But returning, the bark of redwood ought to be 

 better known but as yet, it has but slightly attracted public 

 attention almost utterly going to waste; nevertheless, it 

 has manifold properties, and uses unnumbered; its magic 



