152 



THE FORESTER. 



July, 



as the' fireproof evergreen. Of course 

 there is no conifer that is strictly fire- 

 proof, but this tree resists fire to a greater 

 extent than any other known. In my care- 

 ful observation I find that where groves 

 have been sown thickly, so as to occupy 

 all the ground, they have resisted fires 

 that have apparently come with great 

 force. Where trees have been destroyed 

 by fire, it has been where they grew 

 sparsely and where there has been an 

 abundance of chaparral and other similar 

 inflammable growth. 



By planting the seed carefully, sys- 

 tematically, and a uniform distance apart, 

 nearly all this danger from fire is re- 

 moved, for in ten or fifteen years the en- 

 tire surface of the mountain is shaded so 

 that nothing else will try to grow, and 

 the rains will no longer go madly rush- 

 ing to the sea, but will be returned to us 

 bountifully during the summer months, 

 through the various subterranean and 

 surface channels. 



The higher altitudes, where the growth 

 has been burned, must also be restored, 

 and Nature again offers abundant seed 

 of the tree which is best adapted and 

 which will bring the best results. This 

 is the big tree of California, the "Se- 

 quoia Gigantea." The Yellow and Sugar 

 Pines will also do well, in the higher al- 

 titudes, as we see them in the San Ber- 

 nardino mountains, but none will so 

 quickly and effectively cover our higher 

 mountains as the Sequoia. 



In reply to the question, "What are 

 its relations to climate, soil and the as- 

 sociated trees?", John Muir, in his cele- 

 brated work on the " Mountains of Cali- 

 fornia, " says of the Sequoia: 



"All the phenomena bearing on these 

 questions also throw light upon the pecu- 

 liar distribution of the species, and sus- 

 tain the conclusion already arrived at on 

 the question of extension. In the North- 

 ern groups there are few young trees or 

 saplings growing up around the failing 

 old ones to perpetuate the race, and in- 

 asmuch as these aged Sequoias, so nearly 

 childless, are the only ones commonly 

 known, the species, to most observers, 

 seems doomed to speedy extinction, as 



being nothing more than an expiring 

 remnant, vanquished in the so called 

 struggle for life by Pines and Firs that 

 have driven it into its past strongholds 

 in moist glens, where climate is excep- 

 tionably favorable. 



' ' But the language of the majestic con- 

 tinuous forests of the South creates a 

 very different impression. No tree of all 

 the forest is more enduringly established 

 in accordance with climate and soil. It 

 grows heartily everywhere in moraines, 

 rocky ledges, along water-courses, and 

 in the deep, moist, alluvial meadows, 

 with a multitude of seedlings and sap- 

 lings crowding up around the aged, seem- 

 ingly abundantly able to maintain the 

 forest in prime vigor. For many old 

 storm-stricken trees, there is one or more 

 in all the glory of prime; and, for each 

 of these, many young trees and crowds 

 of exuberant saplings. So that if the 

 trees of any section of the main Sequoia 

 forest were ranged together according to 

 age, a very promising curve would be 

 presented, all the way up from last year's 

 seedlings to giants, and with the young 

 and middle-aged portion of the curve 

 many times longer than the old portion. 

 Even as far north as the Fresno, I 

 counted 536 saplings and seedlings grow- 

 ing promisingly upon a piece of rough 

 avalanche soil not exceeding two acres 

 in area. This soil bed is about seven 

 years old and has been seeded almost 

 simultaneousl} 7 to Pines, Firs, Ibocedrus 

 and Sequoia, presenting a simple and 

 instructive illustration of the struggle for 

 life among the rival species ; and it was 

 interesting to note that the conditions 

 thus far affecting them have enabled the 

 young Sequoias to gain marked ad- 

 vantage. 



"In every instance like the above I 

 have observed that the seedling Sequoia is 

 capable of growing on both dryer and wet- 

 ter soil that its rivals, but requires more 

 sunshine than they ; the latter fact being 

 clearly shown, wherever a Sugar Pine or 

 a Fir is growing in close contact with a 

 Sequoia of about equal age and size, and 

 equally exposed to the sun; the branches 

 of the latter in such cases are always 



