THE SPRUCE, ETC. 293 



The bald cypress grows from GO to 125 feet 

 high, and furnishes valuable, clear lumber for in- 

 terior trimmings. Its grain is exceedingly beauti- 

 ful, and in the vicinity of the roots its darker rich 

 brown color and striking convolutions are not equaled 

 by many of the handsomest hard woods. For panel- 

 ing and doors not the best of French walnut seems to 

 me quite as effective as cypress. 



Two trees which I must mention in passing, be- 

 cause they are representatively American, are the 

 great trees of California — Sequoia gigantea, and the 

 redwood, Sequoia semper vir ens. The former is the 

 largest tree known.* 



Some of these great trees measure 3o0 feet in 

 height, and through the tunneled stem of one par- 

 ticular specimen a coach and four horses has been 

 driven, with room enough and to spare. The needles 



* Dr. Bigelow gives the following description of one, which I 

 copy from General James S. Brisbin's Trees and Tree Planting: 

 " Eighteen feet from the stump it was fourteen and a half feet in 

 diameter. As the diminution of the annual growth from the heart 

 or center to the outer circumference orsapwood appeared in regu- 

 lar succession, I placed my hand midway, measuring six inches, 

 and carefully counting the rings on that space, which were one 

 hundred and thirty, making the age of the tree, by this computa- 

 tion, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-five years. ... It 

 required thirty-one paces, three feet each, to measure its circum- 

 ference, making ninety-three feet: and to fell it. it took live men 

 twenty-two days, and the mere cutting down cost over five hun- 

 dred dollars." 



