CHAPTER III 

 OTHER RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA 



ALTHOUGH from the agricultural point of view 

 California is a state of open lands,, requiring no 

 clearing or at most the removal of a few scattering 

 trees from large areas, it possesses forest of great ex- 

 tent, comprised of trees which add to large economic 

 values unique characters of longevity, majesty, sym- 

 metry and beauty and biological habit which have in- 

 duced science, literature and art to qualify them as 

 the most remarkable trees in the world. These for- 

 ests constitute one of the natural wonders of the 

 State. Description and portraiture of them have been 

 presented in nearly all popular publications for the 

 last half century. Most exact exposition of their 

 species, singly or in groups, has been made by botan- 

 ists in text-books, monographs and reports. The 

 United States government has reserved its right of 

 continuous possession of vast areas so that coming 

 generations may see living things which really began 

 to grow on the face of the earth when Solomon was 

 building his temple, three thousand years ago. Al- 

 though the "big tree of California" (Sequoia gigan- 

 tea) stands in the Sierra Nevada Mountains the su- 

 preme manifestation of arboreal size, age, impressive 



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