CONE-BEARERS. 6 9 



base, in time reforesting the region, while trees of any 

 age throw out branches from adventitious buds in their 

 bodies, even from the fire-denuded heart-wood. 



The felling of monster redwoods of both the Coast and 

 Sierra species, and the manufacture of their trunks into 

 lumber, by the use of modern machinery and appliances, 

 afford examples of the most stupendous lumber operations 

 ever witnessed; but alas! the end is near. At the pres- 

 ent rate of destruction not an unprotected Sequoia of 

 lumber-producing size will be left standing-tw^wfey- years 

 hence. 



No. 2 -Giant Sequoia - S. gigantea, Decaisne. 



Gigantic trees, limited to a few groves in the high 

 Sierra from Placer and Calaveras Counties to Kings 

 County. Trees not sprouting from the base or ad- 

 ventitious buds, as in the other species. Cones about 

 the size of a hen's egg; leaves scale-like, scattered. 

 This matchless "Big Tree" (often miscalled Welling- 

 tonia), is abundant in cultivation up and down the 

 coast as well as abroad, and is so well known that 

 further description is not needed, but it may be stated 

 briefly that trees in the Sierra have been determined 

 to be 300 to 400 feet high without a limb for 150 

 to 200 feet, and 30 to 40 feet in diameter, while 

 their age must be 1,500 to 3,000 years. Trees of the 

 preceding generation (as shown by their stubs) seem 

 to have attained a life period of 4,000 to 5,000 years, 

 and all present trees have the appearance of vigorous 



