January 23, 1895.] 



Garden and Forest. 



39 



with tiie western shore of Lake Tahoe, and fairly witliiii the 

 limits of the state of California. 



Timbers, Uimber and wood have been chiefly supplied in late 

 years to tlie Comstocl^ mines from tlie soutliern portion of tlie 

 Lake Talioe basin, on tlie California side of the state line. The 

 wood and logs are first transported about twelve miles by rail 

 to the lake-shore at Bijou, the railroad extending- over piles 

 1,700 feet out into the lake to a depth of water where the 

 steamers and barges can moor alongside of the track. The 

 wood is unloaded from the cars on barges, which have a car- 

 rying capacity of from 75 to 140 cords each. The logs are 

 dumped from the cars into the lake and enclosed in boom- 

 timbers, forming immense rafts, and then towed by powerful 

 steamers to the eastern shore of the lake. At this point the logs 

 are sawed into timbers and lumber, which, with the fire-wood, 

 are reloaded on cars and transported up a long incline to the 

 summit over another railroad about ten miles long. At the 

 summit it is unloaded and is conveyed through a flume about 

 twelve miles to the wood and lumber yards at Carson City, 

 Nevada, and from there it is taken by rail twenty miles to the 

 mines, making a total distance of sixty-five miles from the 

 forest, over two rugged mountain chains. From the forest to 

 the mines the timber, lumber and wood are necessarily handled 

 thirteen times, but the arrangements are so methodical and 

 complete that the whole system is operated with mechanical 

 regularity and precision. The flume is V-shaped, with a car- 

 rying capacity of 600 cords of wood a day, and it will transport 

 the heaviest mining timbers as well as lumber and cord-wood. 

 To the present time 120,000 acres of the Sierra Nevada's 

 choicest forests around Lake Tahoe and 75,000 acres around 

 the headwaters of the Carson River have been denuded to 

 operate the mines. This area was practically all heavily tim- 

 bered, and when it is considered that it equals an expanse of 

 land three hundred and five miles long by one mile wide it 

 will be apprehended that there is good reason for calling the 

 Comstock " The Tomb of the Sierras." 



From January ist, 1880, to January ist, 1891, 249,756,000 feet 

 of timber and lumber were shipped to and used in and about 

 the Comstock mines. During the same period, 100,776,440 

 cubic feet of wood were consumed, and to the latter amount 

 should be added 11,264,000 cubic feet consumed by the Carson 

 River mills, auxiliary to the mines, making a total of 875,316 

 cords. For the decade commencing January ist, 1870, and 

 ending January 1st, 1880, the timber, lumber and wood used 

 cannot be ascertained with exactness, but a conservative esti- 

 mate by men most familiar with the facts fixes the figures at 

 425,000,000 feet of timber and lumber and 268,800,000 culiic 

 feet of wood, to which should be added 10,240,000 cubic feet 

 used in and about Carson River mills. 



A moderate estimate of the average price paid at the mines 

 for timber and lumber since 1870 is twenty-three dollars a 

 thousand feet and for wood ten dollars a cord, so that the 

 Comstock mines since 1870 have used wood and timber to the 

 total value of $46,072,548. 



The consumption of forest-products by the mines for the 

 period between the discovery of the Comstock lode and 1870 

 can hardly be approximated, as there are no data for that time 

 obtainable, but $55,000,000 is probably a moderate estimate of 

 the entire cost of timbers, lumber and wood used in and about 

 the Comstock mines from the date of their discovery until the 

 present time. 



The seemingly endless labyrinths of timbers in the Com- 

 stock mines, when ignited and beyond control, make a sub- 

 terranean fire which burns and smolders for years. Many 

 lives have been lost in the mines by reason of these fires, but 

 none are recorded as having been lost because of any inherent 

 defect in the timbers or system of timbering. The size of the 

 timbers used varies from the huge pieces sixteen inches 

 square and twenty-four feet long, to the smaller pieces eight 

 inches square, used in cribbing. The species used are chiefly 

 Yellow Pine, Pinus ponderosa. Fir, Picea magnifica, and 

 Cedar, Thuya gigantea, of which the latter is found in such 

 small quantities as to be hardly worth considering. Fully two- 

 thirds of the whole amount used is yellow pine, about one- 

 third fir, and less than one per cent, is cedar. Yellow pine is 

 a favorite timber with mine carpenters on account of its ex- 

 actitude in joining. Cedar is inferior to no known timber, not 

 even excepting Redwood, for its lasting qualities under- 

 ground. Yellow pine has been taken from the lower levels of 

 these mines so compacted by the enormous pressure it has 

 withstood as to have a density and weight exceeding those of 

 Lignum-vitse, and has been made into paper-weights and 

 other beautiful ornaments. None of the timbers in the Com- 

 stock mines have yet badly decayed, and their life there can- 

 not be accurately determined. The heat and vapors of the 



mines surcharged with mineral atoms appear to have a de- 

 cidedly preservative effect upon the timbers. 



The area upon which the forest has been cut off" to supply 

 the mines is now growing up, principally in Pine, but the 

 second growth is so slow that it will require many years 

 for it to attain a size sutficient for mining timber. The 

 new growth is very thick, and on some of the lower slopes 

 of the mountains where it is over twenty years old there are 

 few trees ten inches in diameter, and the average diameter will 

 not exceed six inches. In the Tahoe basin, which has been 

 cut over principally within the last ten years, the young 

 trees are about five feet high and will average about four 

 inches in diameter. In the Sierra Nevada Fir predominates 

 on the north slopes where the snow remains the longest and 

 the sun shines the least. On the other slopes Pine largely 

 predominates. 



Recent Publications. 



The Book of the Rose. By Rev. A. Foster-Melliar, ]\LA. 

 Macmillan & Co., New York. 1894. 



This title seems rather too ambitious in view of the fact 

 that only certain classes of Roses are treated, and their 

 cultivation for but a single purpose is described. The 

 author does not consider the Rose as a decorative plant, 

 its value, in his view, consisting solely in the perfection of 

 its individual flowers. The smgle-flowered species are, 

 therefore, dismissed with scant attention, since no one 

 ever won a silver cup at a Rose-show with an individual 

 flower of a single Rose. Half a dozen lines are given to 

 Rosa rugosa, and one line to our Prairie Rose, R. setigera, 

 which the author calls the Bramble-leaved Rose. This, 

 and many others which he does not name, he declares 

 have only a botanical interest, making no mention of so 

 good a plant as R. Wichuraiana or of R. lutea, besides 

 many other useful single Roses. The Sweetbrier, so lono- 

 celebrated in English poetry, has secured brief mention, 

 chiefly because Lord Penzance has been hybridizing the 

 plant with the view of getting some double-fJowered varie- 

 ties, and the author is forced to grieve because these efforts 

 have been only partially successful, semi-double varieties 

 alone having been obtained. From all this it will be seen 

 that the book is prepared chiefly for enthusiasts who culti- 

 vate Roses for the purpose of securing exhibition flowers, 

 and for such specialists it will afford the keenest pleasure. 



The book opens with the usual chapters on the history 

 and classification of the Rose, which tell nothing particu- 

 larly new, and these are followed by notes on soil and 

 situation, laying out of beds, fertilizing, pruning, stocks, 

 propagating, etc., with directions which are mostly adapted 

 to the English climate, and are, therefore, not very useful 

 to Americans. Nor will American readers find much 

 assistance in the chapter on Roses under Glass, because 

 our own growers excel their English brethren in this mat- 

 ter, although it is by no means possible to raise such 

 beautiful roses here in the open air as can be done in 

 England. The chapter on Exhibiting is most interesting. 

 We can hardly expect that Rose-shows will be such impor- 

 tant events in this country as they have been in England ; 

 nevertheless one cannot but admire the wonderful care and 

 pains which are taken in order to present the individual 

 flowers, if not exactly at their best, at least in such a con- 

 dition that they will be considered best by the judges who 

 have an ideal of their own. We are told how to remove 

 the buds, and which buds are to be chosen, if we are to 

 secure the coveted prize ; why different treatment should 

 be accorded to different varieties in order to prevent some 

 flowers from becoming too coarse or too full, or from being 

 too long in opening ; why some varieties should only have 

 one bud on a single -stem, and what precaution should be 

 taken in such cases to prevent malformation ; how " pro- 

 tectors " should be prepared and when they should bo 

 removed; why and when the buds should be shaded : how 

 to paper and dress them, and how to exercise generalship 

 and legitimate maneuvering for the last hour before the 

 judges enter — -all this is told with great skill and knowledge, 

 and is certainly very amusing, and is instructive, too, in 



