REDWOOD 229 



ocean. There is a very fine grove near Santa Cruz that is 

 not over six miles from the ocean or more than two hundred 

 feet above it. It is found nowhere outside of California 

 except on a small area in southwestern Oregon, and all 

 attempts to grow it elsewhere in the United States have 

 proved unsuccessful, although it appears to thrive in Eu- 

 rope. It revels in a moist atmosphere and evidently cannot 

 do without it. 



It is being largely cut for lumber in the counties named, 

 and if the present rate and method of cutting are kept up, 

 it will be practically exhausted in thirty years. The method 

 of harvesting is, to say the least, unique. The trees are 

 felled, the bark peeled off, the limbs lopped, and the tree 

 lies untouched until the bark and limbs are dry enough to 

 burn, when fire is set and the whole tract burned over. 

 This is done to get limbs and bark out of the way, the 

 latter sometimes being twelve to fifteen inches thick. The 

 tree is then cut into logs, and such as are too large for the 

 sawmill are split open with powder or dynamite some- 

 times even quartered. Seldom is a tree cut for lumber under 

 twenty to twenty-four inches in diameter. Those under that 

 are left to be killed by fire, to be blown down, or to die 

 from changed surroundings. It yields from forty thousand to 

 seventy-five thousand board feet to the acre, and not infre- 

 quently three hundred thousand feet. A single case is re- 

 ported where one million feet were secured from one acre, 

 but the percentage of loss is very great, the same as with 

 the Big Trees. 



The wood is about as heavy as White Pine, very soft, 

 brittle, of a purplish, red-brown color, and very durable. 

 It is rather dull when varnished, but makes excellent inte- 

 rior finish, and is used for general construction, siding, 

 shingles, and foundations for buildings, where it is com- 

 monly placed without anything intervening between it and 

 the ground. It is claimed that fence posts have lasted 

 thirty-five years without showing decay. It takes paint and 

 glue well. There is little difference between spring and 



