^66 TREES 



on the western slopes of the Sierras. Wherever they grow 

 their roots have made of the deep soil a sponge that holds 

 the drainage of melting snowbanks and doles it out through 

 streams that flow thence to famishing, hot, wind-swept 

 plains and valleys. When the trees are gone, turbulent, 

 short-lived spring floods exhaust the water supply and do 

 untold damage in the lowlands. 



Big Trees have not succeeded in cultivation in our 

 Eastern states, but for many years have been favorites in 

 European gardens and parks. In the native groves the 

 seedlings do not show the virility of the redwoods, though 

 to the south the range of the species is being gradually 

 extended. No tree is more prodigal in seed production 

 and more indifferent, when mature, to the ills that beset 

 ordinary forest trees; yet government protection must be 

 strengthened, private claims must be bought, and scien- 

 tific forestry maintained in order to prevent the extinction 

 of the species, with the destruction of trees that are, as 

 they stand to-day, the greatest living monuments in the 

 world of plants. 



The Redwood 



S, sempervirens, Endl. 



The redwood comes down to the sea on the western 

 slopes of the Coast Range, from southern Oregon to 

 Monterey County in California, tempting the lumberman 

 by the wonderful wealth and accessibility of these groves 

 of giant trees. The wood is soft, satiny, red, like the 

 thick, fibrous, furrowed bark that clothes the tall, fluted 

 trunks. 



Redwoods are taller than Big Trees, have slenderer 

 trunks and branches and a more light and graceful leaf- 



