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Garden and Forest. 



[Number 169. 



North of San Francisco the first great forest is reached at 

 the mouth of Russian River. Here is the southern border of 

 that great Redwood forest which extends, without a break, 

 through Sonoma, Mendocino, Humboldt, and Del Norte Coun- 

 ties, narrowing all the time until it ceases near the Oregon 

 line. On the Russian River were some of the finest Redwoods 

 on the coast. Accurate figures of the yield of Redwood forest 

 per acre are hard to obtain, but here, at Guerneville, Mr. 

 Guerne, the principal mill-owner, cut 24,000,000 feet of Red- 

 wood lumber, of first and second quality, from 160 acres, an 

 average actual output of 150,000 board feet per acre. Mr. 

 Guerne paid $2.50 per 1,000 stumpage, or $60,000 for the 160 

 acres. It is probable that this is as large an amount of red- 

 wood as has ever been cut on tin equal area. Even at Guerne- 

 ville, famous as it was for fine timber, there were not over 

 500 acres of timber approaching this productiveness, while of 

 the Redwood lands remaining uncut now, such quarter sec- 

 tions as will yield 50,000 board feet per acre are considered 

 exceptionally good. 



North of the Russian River the Redwood forest widens, 

 reaching its greatest width of twenty-two miles at a point west 

 of Ukiah, Mendocino County. This section is one of very 

 steep mountains and deep cafions, and nearly all of the Red- 

 woods are on the rugged slopes, which even a good moun- 

 taineer would consider hard climbing. The river-bottoms or 

 flats are insignificant throughout this region, an'd a forty-acre 

 piece of level or nearly level land is unusual, and can only be 

 found in narrow strips from which rise the steep, wooded hills. 

 The streams, after a short course, at most forty or fifty miles, 

 flow into the ocean, with deeply cut tidal estuaries. With 

 reasonable accuracy it can be said the entire Redwood belt is 

 included within the basins of these streams. At the mouth of 

 nearly every considerable stream 'a saw-mill is located. The 

 cutting capacity of the sixteen Mendocino County mills varies 

 from 30,000 to 100,000 feet per day. The mill companies own 

 Redwood lands at different portions of the river-courses. 

 Logging is done at various places during summer, and the 

 logs are rolled into the dry channels to await the winter floods, 

 or, where the tide runs up a river, they are floated directly to 

 the mill. Railroads are also built up the canons, and make 

 some of the mills independent of high water. These railroads 

 are standard gauge, and from five to fifteen miles in length, 

 and nearly every large mill company has its railroad, which is 

 extended as the timber is cut. Spurs from the main roads are 

 run up lateral canons, so that the haul by oxen is shortened, 

 and it is all down-hill. 



The mills find easy shipping facilities from either a wharf, 

 where the river has no bar, or by chutes, which are, perhaps, 

 peculiar to this high, rock-bound coast. From some bluff a 

 trestle-wharf is thrown to a rock adjacent to deep water, high 

 above the surf. From the end of this wharf an inclined way 

 slants to the deck of the vessel. This slide is upheld by a sort 

 of derrick, and can be lowered to the vessel or raised out of 

 the reach of the waves. The lumber is let down this chute 

 piece by piece, a breaker at the bottom stopping the headway. 

 A line of men stow it away. Passengers and freight are loaded 

 or unloaded by way of these chutes. Steam schooners, of a 

 capacity of 200,000 to 300,000 feet, do most of the carrying 

 trade. On about 100 miles of coast-line belonging to Mendo- 

 cino County there are twenty-three chutes and ports. In times 

 of extensive railroad-building the Redwood region is the scene 

 of a great railroad-tie industry, and millions are hewn. For 

 this work only the best splitting trees are used, and waste is 

 great. The ties are nearly all cut from the higher ridges and 

 mountains, and hauled by wagon to the coast. Great quantities 

 of the finest timber have thus been cut and half-used. Even in 

 ordinary times no inconsiderable number of ties and posts is 

 cut, and the ridges are cleared far in advance of the operations 

 of the saw-mills. 



Northward from Mendocino County the next lumbering 

 centre is at Humboldt Bay, where the output of eight large 

 saw-mills, each cutting from 40,000 to 80,000 a day, is shipped. 

 More of the forest in this region is on flats and lighter slopes, 

 and will average one-third heavier than the Mendocino woods. 

 The last port from which redwood is shipped is Crescent City, 

 near the Oregon line. 



The total area of Redwood lands is about 1,450,000 acres, of 

 which five per cent., perhaps, has been cut. The average net 

 yield per acre of redwood under the saw is not easily arrived 

 at, since scaling standing trees will, of course, give gross re- 

 turns of yield. Such figures are of little practical value, on 

 account of a large percentage of loss by breakage in felling 

 and from unsound trees. This liability to loss is much larger 

 proportionately in very heavy timber, so much so that experts 



dislike to figure on heavy timber. The most accurate figures 

 I have been able to get are based on estimates made by scal- 

 ing tree by tree, and rectifying the result by comparison with 

 actual returns from the saw of timber so scaled previously. 

 In other words, not the amount of timber standing on an acre, 

 but the amount which can be actually taken off in merchantable 

 grades. All figures are in board feet. It is to be remembered 

 that, as there is no market for wood or for short lengths, the 

 amount of waste on heavy lands is very large. The Redwood 

 is very brittle, and often a tree shatters into short lengths 

 when felled. By these measurements we find that a very 

 good quality of hill-land will cut 50,000 per acre, with perhaps 

 35,000 as an all-around average for Redwood lands. Single 

 acres may be scaled which will figure prodigious quantities. 

 In one instance an acre was picked on what is known as the 

 Montgomery tract, near Hot Springs, Mendocino County, which 

 is a narrow creek-flat of perhaps forty acres, and considered 

 the finest small piece in Mendocino County. On the acre se- 

 lected there were forty-seven trees which would probably cut 

 1,500,000 feet of sawed lumber. 



Not far from here a tree actually cut 49,500 feet of good lum- 

 ber. At Westport a considerable area of what is considered 

 excellent Redwood, cut 57,000 feet an acre. On Humboldt 

 Bay as high as 250,000 an acre has been cut, but only on lim- 

 ited areas. 



Ukiah, Cai. Carl Purdy. 



Correspondence. 



Wild Asparagus. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — In a recent journey along the shores of Chesapeake 

 Bay I observed that the wild Asparagus which is found grow- 

 ing along the sandy beaches of that region is used quite 

 extensively. The young tops are collected and bunched for 

 sale, and by some are preferred to the cultivated plants, 

 although only the tips are soft enough to be eaten. In his 

 " Field, Forest and Garden Botany," Gray notes that it is 

 " spontaneous about gardens," and in the last edition of his 

 manual it is called " frequent escape from gardens." It grows 

 so abundantly along the western and southern shores of Mary- 

 land that it seems to justify the use of the term "naturalized." 

 I observed it also a mile or two inland along the borders of 

 the woods. I find a record of the use of "Sparagus" in "A Per- 

 fect Description of Virginia" (1649, p. 4). As a justification 

 for the preference of the wild Asparagus over the cultivated 

 plant, Pomponius, a Roman writer of the second century, says : 

 " Duo genera asparagi, hortense et silvestre, sed incultum 

 gratius est, quod Corrudam." . 



Framingham, Mass. E. Lewis Sturtevailt. 



Water in " Pot-holes." 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — In your column of notes, page 204, I am quoted as 

 saying that cutting away timber causes more rapid accumu- 

 lation of water in " pot-holes." What I did say was, that on 

 denuded land there is a more rapid accumulation of water in 

 these hollows. Cutting is not denudation, nor does denudation 

 necessarily follow cutting. In the case observed there had 

 been no cutting within twenty miles. 



Washington, D. c. H. B. Ayres. 



Watering Trees. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — I am much interested in a large Oak-tree which we 

 moved last autumn. The soil is very dry now, and I wish you 

 would tell me whether the tree should be thoroughly watered 

 and mulched. There seems to be a difference of opinion as 

 to the benefits to be derived from watering at this season of 

 the year. 



Ayer, Mass. -£•• ■>-. 



[A tree moved last autumn, and therefore with roots 

 which are still working imperfectly, would be greatly bene- 

 fited, probably, by a thorough watering if the ground is 

 dry, as it is in almost all parts of the country this spring. 

 One thorough watering is better than half a dozen partial 

 ones, however, it must be remembered. The best plan in 

 such cases is to make a dish about the stem of the tree two 

 or three feet wide, by drawing the loam back with a rake, 

 and then fill this basin with water. When the water is all 

 soaked away it can be filled again, and this can be done 



