2 ESSAY UPON REDWOOO. 



dryness in the midst of mire and moisture is something amaz- 

 ing and to bridge over by a safety coating against wear and 

 tear, and to facilitate easy transit of great weights over bridges 

 and rough roads manufactured into upholstering or mat ma- 

 terial, etc. ; summarily, it is safe to say it would in one way or 

 another meet a thousand wants. But the reader must accept 

 general and suggestive hints his own thought will supply 

 the rest. Let us pass on to consider those uses already 

 known or soon to be more fully utilized. This course is too 

 often forced upon enunciators by the popular plodders like 

 ourselves, who are most of all wont to enter into other peo- 

 ple's labors ; albeit we turn again and read with ridicule our 

 antecedent and best benefactors. Why so ? forsooth lest 

 the firm of " Proud Us & Co." be under some obligations 

 somewhere in the universe heavens above or earth beneath. 

 But whatever judgment posterity may pass upon the men of 

 this day and generation, we seem doomed to be " famous ac- 

 cording as we have lifted up axes against the thick trees." 



"Redwood I" Yes, for the wood is red, with a faint, 

 coppery, or metallic iridescent gloss ; and so also is the bark, 

 as above mentioned hence the appropriateness of the com- 

 mon name. As a general remark, the grain is true to a line, 

 and splits with amazing precision noted for thus making 

 timbers and ties, rails and pickets, shakes and shingles by 

 annual millions. In this species " redwood " (Scguoia scm- 

 pervirens), the leaves are like the yew, spruce and cypress, 

 that is, small, half to an inch long, a line wide, and line-like, 

 with a prickly lance or awl point, of course, distinctly arranged 

 in two rows ; rather dark, dull green above, the under-side soft, 



