ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



PANORAMIC VIEW OF THE CALI 

 Along the South Fork of the Eel River, Humbold 



of nearly all the Big Trees that have been stud- 

 iedj would record dry seasons and not those of 

 abundant moisture. This theory flatly contra- 

 dicts the evidence recently deduced from a study 

 of the growth rings of these trees with reference 

 to oscillations of climate throughout the North- 

 ern Hemisphere. 



Redwoods of the Coast. 

 The Redwood of the coast, Sequoia sempei- 

 virens — the immortal Sequoia — well deserves its 

 name. Far from being a battered remnant 

 like its ,„usin of the Sierras, whose shattered 

 '•inks remind one of ponderous Roman ruins the 

 Redwood is „ beautiful, cheerful and very brave 

 tree. Burned and hacked and butchered, it 

 sprouts up again with a vitality truly amazing. 

 t IS tins marvellous capacity for new growth 

 from trunk or Iron, root saplings, which is per- 

 haps i the most interesting character of the Red- 

 wood ,„ contrast with the Big Tree, which has 



no such means of regeneration and must depend 

 on its cones for reproduction. 



All the Redwood forests have been more or 



;; S V/T m •' 6re ' ° fteD irately started 



• . the Vermeil to dear awav the slash and 



■-wonderful sight to see a charred iZl 



™. ;* as P«7 of new growth twenty or thir- 



' -e the .round, or a new tree' standing 

 . ' r T 1 "'" 1 bole an d ending its root? 



FORNIA STATE HIGHWAY IN 1919 



County, before lumbering operations were started 



A REDWOOD FOREST 

 Before Cutting 





A REDWOOD FOREST 

 After Cutting 



readjust their root system to the decaying trunk 

 beneath it. 



The vitality of the second growth throws up 

 a circular ring of new and beautiful Redwoods 

 around the parent stump, and these little trees 

 come up again and again if cut. If, however, 

 they are burned several times in succession, this 

 capacity of shoot reproduction appears to be lost 

 and there are cases, notably about fifteen miles 

 nortli of Areata, in Humboldt County, where the 

 highway passes through three or four miles of 

 very large and thickly set burned stumps thai 

 show little or no signs of reforestation, proving 



that there are conditions where human greed 

 and human carelessness make it impossible for 



even the Redwood to survive. 



The age of the Redwood is about half thai of 

 the Sierra Big Tree, and the life of a mature 



Redwood runs from 500 to 1,800 years, in many 

 eases probably rather more. 



The diameter of the larger Redwoods is sixteen 

 feel and over, and the heigh! runs from 100 to 

 840 ,-,.,., Thus, while the diameter is less, the 

 height is far greater than its cousin, the Big 

 Tree, with the result and effect of a graceful 

 beauty rather than vast 80hd%. It » probab 

 that trees will be found which wdl ex eed th, 



maximum altitude, and it is quite possible hat 

 ^ultimate height of 850 feet maj rfc : recorded 

 One would anticipate the discovery oi thi *« 

 est tree on earth either in Bull Creek I lat or 

 along Redwood Creek. 



