692 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 
the Smith River, Douglas fir begins to prevail, the redwoods becoming gradually 
fewer and smaller; and the last ones were seen twelve miles inland at about 1000 
feet elevation. 
The prevailing formation in the redwood belt is sandstone; and the tree 
attains its maximum either on deep sandy loam or on gravel full of moisture. The 
climate is remarkably even and moderate, with warm days, cool nights, and scarcely 
any frost even in winter ; while the air is charged with humidity, and the annual 
rainfall amounts to from 60 to 80 inches. The following observations, taken in 1900 
at Crescent City, show the nature of the climate in which the redwood thrives :— 
Rainfall Temperature, Fahrenheit. 
in Inches. Maximum. Minimum. 
January. ’ ; > Cit 64° ao" 
February . : ; ~ so Gi” 25° 
March ‘ : : : 6 63° 36° 
April. ‘ : ; : 6 70° 42° 
May . 5 63° 39° 
June. : : : , : 2 67° 41 
July . : : : : . we 67° 40° 
August. : : ; : : 03 eke 40° 
September : ; ; : : 0.6 76° Ar” 
October . : : ; ; . Il 70° 37° 
November : : : : : 6 fe 33° 
December . ; . . : ‘ 8 61° 29° 
Total rainfall ; : . 65.9 
The tree is not found in the interior valleys to the east of the coast range, 
where the summer is comparatively hot and dry, and only a moderate amount of 
rain falls in winter. 
Dr. Mayr,! reproduces a sketch of the largest redwood he saw in December 
1885 near Santa Cruz. The mean of three measurements made it 308 feet high 
by 46 feet in girth at 64 feet from the ground, above the swollen base. The first 
large green branches were at 230 feet up. This tree was still standing in 1903. 
He also gives an excellent illustration’ of the appearance of a redwood forest after 
lumbering and fire have devastated it, which reminds me strongly of similar scenes 
in the Douglas fir forests of Oregon and Washington. 
Fisher gives several tables showing the composition of the species and the size 
of the trees in the redwood belt. At Scotia, on an alluvial flat, there are 100 
redwoods to the acre, no other species being present, and of these thirty-six were 
over 20 inches, and averaged 76 inches in diameter. Mayr’ gives the following 
figures for the best pure stand which he measured :—57 trees to the acre, averaging 
275 feet in timber height and 23 feet in girth; total cubic contents, exclusive of 
branches, 199,000 cubic feet per acre. The tallest redwood recorded*® was measured 
in 1896 by Professor Sargent. This tree grew on the Eel River, and was 662 
i 2 . 
ee. Wald- u. Parkbaume, tt. 19, 20 (1906) ; cf. also Waldungen, p. 268 and frontispiece 
Waldungen von Nordamerika, 267 (1900). 3 Garden and Forest, 1897, p. 42 
