62 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



seed obtaineJ froin the origioal specimens. Many 

 have been also expoiteJ to Europe, where, despite of 

 reason or comiiiou sea^e, the name ol' the great 

 British Mero has been conferred, by a scientific bota- 

 nist, on this giant and noble product of American 

 soil — as if we had no Hero in our history worthy of 

 the couiinemoration. The " JJia Tree," however 

 called IVtUingtonm gigantea by Lindley, can xiever 

 be styled so by the American citizen. 8ome have 

 substituted that of JFashingtonia gigantea, while 

 others adhere to an older but incorrect title, Sequoia 

 gigantea. A brief description is all we can allbrd 

 of this valuable specimen of California products. 



This tree has been known for about thirty years. 

 It was discovered in the JJistrict of Sierra Nevada, 

 near the source of the iSan Antonio river, in 38 deo-. 

 of north latitude, at an elevation of nearly 5,000 feet 



THE '^EK TREE" OF CALIFORXIA. 



above sea level. The branches are pendulous; leaves 

 in three alternate row?, imbricated, appressed, oval 

 hinceolate, with a sharp coriaceous point, color light 

 green; cones oval with scales, each covering seven 

 seeds. The mo?t accurate description was furnished 

 by J\lr. W. Lobh, botanical collector, who sent speci- 

 mens of the branches and cones to England. Some 

 of the specimens he saw, reached the height of three 

 buudred feet, and the trunk measured thirty feet in 

 diameter, at three feet from the surface of the ground; 

 at eighteen feet from the base a section measured 

 fourteen feet in diameter; the bark was from twelve 

 to (ifteen inches in thickness; and a section which had 

 been hollowed out was twenty-one feet in diameter, 

 a'Toiditjg sufficient space to seat forty ])ersons and a 

 piano. The age of such a specimen, calculating by 

 the zones of wood, is estimated at thr,^e thousand 



yean-j, or one inch in height for every ten \ cars of its 

 estimated age. 



M. Naudin, in an elaborate article, in the ''Flore I what"a White Cedar, or Red^ Cedar. 



des Serres" on the discovery and history of this tree, 

 has the following hints for the Government of its 

 native territory, which we have translated, and deem 

 them worthy insertion here: 



" It would seem,"' says M. Naudin, " from the 

 accounts that we have cited, that the great specimens 

 of this tree are not numerous and that the species is 

 even circumscribed within narrow limits. If the 

 government of California had any appreciation of the 

 picturesque beauties of Nature — if it understood its 

 duty towards the Men of Science, Poets and Histo- 

 rians of the future — it would take care not to permit 

 the destruction of these rare and marvellous moua- 

 ments of the vegetable kingdom, which might one 

 day afford a solution to a question interesting at once 

 to physiologists and geologists — the origin of specie^ 

 and even that of man himself. Before such consider- 

 erations all the cupidity of individuals should give 

 way. It is also the duly of men of intelligence m 

 that country to make their fellow citizens understand 

 that the public interest is not exclusively limited to 

 the pursuit of lucre and discovery of gold mines; and 

 that a nation progresses as much and perhaps more 

 by intelligence and knowledge than by material 

 wealth. A government adds honor to itself, by 

 favoring the noble instincts of Science, Art and 

 Poetry, and it fulfils not its mission at the i^resent 

 day. if it neglects to guard the interests of moral 

 order, no longer confined to the people of which it 

 has the care, but extended to mankind." 



Such are the ideas which the destruction of soitre 

 of the noble specimens of the " Great Tree " created 

 in the mind of a French lover of natural productions, 

 and who — living as he does under the domination of 

 an emperor — forgets that the government of Califor- 

 nia has but a limited authority over the citizen, and 

 dares not dictate what trees shall be cut down, or 

 what shall be left standing, unless, by actual purchase 

 or cession the soil on which they grow belong to it 

 as a body. That, by exerting a wholesome and time- 

 ly influence on the owners of the soil, such natural 

 curiosities might be preserved, there is no doubt, at 

 least in a society even partially civilized. Our Yan- 

 kee countrymen much prefer cutting down such trees, 

 and turning them into dollars and cents, either by 

 cutting them up into lumber or fire-wood, or, Barnum- 

 like, exhibiting for a "quarter," to the lovers of the 

 marvellous, in our i:)opulous cities, a section of a tree, 

 while, to see the original growing in its native majes- 

 ty, is worth one hundred fold that sum. Pearls are 

 still cast before swine, notwithstanding the advice of 

 the Great Teacher. 



From the great elevation at which the trees have 

 been found growing, and from the low temperature 

 prevailing there, it is hoped the young trees now 

 flourishing in our nurseries will withstand the winter 

 here. In England they have proved hardy, though 

 — obviously from some defect in the management^ 

 which the sapient Lindi.ey has not yet clearly ex- 

 plained — many plants have become sickly in the nur- 

 series there. The plants at present in the hands of 

 several nurserymen in this country, have been raised 

 from seeds obtained from the original grove in Cali- 

 fornia, collected by travelers from the Northern and 

 Eastern States. The plants — some of which we have 

 seen — are from eighteen inches to two feet high, and 

 beautifully symmetrical in their habit ; the foliage is 

 of a gloucous or light bluish green, resembling SiQDCie- 



