THE BIG TREES 127 
West Indies, these hoary old trees were twenty-five hun- 
dred years old. They should be sacred to every Ameri- 
can, and not one should ever be cut down for lumber. 
There are two distinct kinds of big trees, the redwood 
and the so-called “big trees,” which are the largest trees 
in the world. They both belong to the cone-bearing 
(coniferous) group, and the needles are only three quar- 
ters of an inch long and the little cones an inch. 
The wood is reddish, as the name implies, not unlike 
red cedar, but is softer and is used for many purposes 
on the Pacific coast. 
The big trees are now carefully guarded by the 
government. One grove alone which contains seven 
hundred of these fine trees, called the Mariposa Grove, 
has been reserved as a national park, and is watched 
carefully to keep out forest fires, etc. 
Many of the best known of these trees are given 
names. One is called “ Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” because of 
a peculiar opening at the base. 
The most famous perhaps is the “Grizzly Giant.” 
This one is ninety-three feet in circumference at the 
ground, and its first branch is two hundred feet above 
the earth and eight feet in diameter. It is considered 
the largest tree in the world. 
We can get some idea of what these figures represent 
when we know that it takes five men three weeks to 
