I 904 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



213 



day, and the sharp-witted modern busi- 

 ness man knows it. In good business 

 nowadays nothing costs too much, pro- 

 vided it pays for itself and brings a rea- 

 sonable surplus of profit. It is not hard 

 to believe that 20 years from now for- 

 esters will not be stared at in curiosity 

 when the nature of their occupation is 



announced. They will be as much a 

 part of the settled professional world as 

 the doctors, and lawyers, and engineers 

 now are, and, should they suddenly 

 be removed, business interests would 

 feel their loss quite as much as they 

 would the disappearance of some of the 

 others. 



THE BIGTREES AND FOREST FIRES. 



BY 



G. FREDERICK SCHWARZ. 



THE bigtree (Sequoia washington- 

 iana) of the Sierras is singularly 

 free from most of the ills that threaten 

 forest trees. It is known to be practically 

 proof against the attacks of insects and 

 fungi. It is windfirm, notwithstanding 

 its flat root system, for its roots extend 

 in a wide circle about the tree and its 

 bole is amply proportioned and well 

 balanced toward the base. Moreover, 

 the crown in mature specimens is com- 

 paratively narrow, and is rounded at 

 the top, thus affording only slight lever- 

 age in storms. The tops of old bigtrees 

 are sometimes shattered by lightning 

 and occasionally one is broken off in a 

 severe gale, but the injury is rarely 

 serious. New branches and foliage 

 spring up and cover the old wounds. 



There remains the common scourge 

 of all forest trees, the forest fire ; but 

 it is generally understood that even fire 

 is less harmful to the bigtree and its 

 near relative, the redwood, than to 

 other trees. The thick, spongy bark, 

 which effectually protects the wood, is 

 free from pitch and not very combus- 

 tible ; nor is the wood itself easily 

 burned when exposed, at least in living 

 trees. Nevertheless, many old trees 

 are severely burned at the base. Re- 

 peated fires, fed by dead branches and 

 other combustible material at the foot 

 of the tree, finally eat their way through 

 the bark and into the heart wood. Some- 

 times fire attacks the tree from several 

 sides, and as the injury enlarges inward 

 it may meet with a similar excavation 



from the opposite side, and thus form 

 an opening through the middle of the 

 tree. Occasionally the stubs of former 

 branches, or bruises on the trunk, cause 

 the fire to spread higher up the sides. 

 In one of the trees of the Mariposa 

 Grove, the interior of the trunk has 

 been hollowed out by fire all the way 

 from the base to an opening near the 

 top, a distance of about one hundred 

 feet, which has suggested the appro- 

 priate name of the Telescope. 



Although a large number of bigtrees 

 have thus been burned more or less 

 severely by forest fires, their vitality has 

 been rarely if ever seriously affected ; 

 the communication between crown and 

 root system has generally been suffi- 

 ciently maintained for a continuance of 

 the vital processes of growth ; but the 

 fires have caused another kind of injury 

 which, so far as the writer is aware, has 

 heretofore been overlooked. Around 

 the foot of an old bigtree may some- 

 times be seen a large, circular mound 

 covering the bulging roots and formed 

 by the accumulated debris of twigs, 

 cones, shreds of bark, and needles that 

 have fallen for centuries. These mounds 

 apparently serve a useful purpose in 

 protecting the root system and regu- 

 lating its supply of moisture. The 

 copious winter rains and the melting 

 snow do not readily seep into the 

 ground close to the bases of the old 

 trees, but the water flows away to the 

 outer parts of the extensive root system, 

 where it is most needed. Most of these 



