1903 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



301 



by sprouts and occasionally by seed, tapered bole, clear for 100 feet or 

 and that in thirty years under fair con- more, with a crown of comparatively 

 ditions it should yield 2,000 feet B. M. short horizontal branches, which occupy 

 to the acre. from one-half to one-third of the total 



It is inevitable that the old forests length. It has no taproot, but the other 

 will be lumbered, but that need not roots strike downward at a sharp angle, 

 mean total destruction, which is apt to forming a compact woody mass, well 

 follow the wasteful methods now in use. adapted to securing water. The bark 

 The Mendocino Lumber Company, op- forms a remarkable resistant to fire and 

 crating in Mendo- 

 cino county, Cali- 

 fornia, has done a 

 great deal toward 

 the adoption of a 

 rational Redwood 

 forest management, 

 and has secured ex- 

 cellent growths on 

 its cut-over lands, 

 which, had they 

 been lumbered in 

 the usual careless 

 manner, would have 

 been worthless at 

 this time. 



The ordinary Red- 

 wood (Sequoia sem- 

 pervirens) and the 

 Big Tree {Sequoia 

 washingtoniana) are 

 distinct species, 

 though their lumber 

 is called by the same 

 name. Compara- 

 tively little lumber 

 comes from the lat- 

 ter, as it occurs only 

 in scattering bodies 

 and not accessible 

 to markets. More- 

 over, most of the Big 

 Trees are preserved 

 and their destruc- 

 tion is now hedged 

 about with much 

 sentiment. 



The commercial 



Redwood grows to a greater height thoroughly protects the older trees from 

 than any other American tree, though any flames which may go through the 

 it is exceeded in girth and age by the forest. The normal is not the common 



VIRGIN REDWOOD, SOUTH FORK OF EEL RIVER, CALIFORNIA. 



TREE AT ITS BEST. 



THE 



Big Tree. The best specimens are 

 350 feet high and 20 feet in diameter. 

 Most of those being cut at present are 

 upwards of 500 years old, the oldest 

 being about 1,375 years. When nor- 



form, as the tree assumes a variety of 

 shapes, depending on local conditions, 

 and in some cases the crown is a few 

 flat limbs near the top on one side, or 

 perhaps a thick mass of little bushy 



mal the tree has a straight, slightly branches extending from the ground to 



