THE LARGEST TREES GROWING 203 
to become familiar in our eyes about the Wellingtonia, 
and that is its thick buttressed trunk. In shape it 
resembles, with its tapering stem, the familiar form 
of that Dairy Company’s milk-can that we all know 
so well and hear so often, to the disquietude of our 
system and the disturbance of our nerves, rolled and 
jangled along the platforms of our island home 
railway stations. The comparatively small branches 
that shoot out from the inordinately thick bole 
make the contrast as between shoot and stem a 
marked feature in its general appearance, and recall 
the nursery children’s description on the dispro- 
portions of the elephant. 
When people call this beast to mind 
They marvel more and more, 
At such a little tail behind 
So large a trunk before, 
Where groves have been dedicated to their preserva- 
tion, we are told that invariably these buttressed 
symptoms decrease, and show signs, as time goes on, 
of a more sylph-like waist measurement. 
The question which is the biggest tree covers a large 
refought, over and over again, battle-field, and con- 
tains the wrangles of many writers. Which is the 
winner of the Champion Cup in this soar to the skies ? 
Aurigation competition depends very much on the 
conditions of the class. If it is for height alone, the 
S. Sempervirens seems to hold the record for live- 
tree height of 340 ft. against the S. Gigantea’s 320 ft. 
But the Sequoia Gigantea has entered for com- 
petition a dead trunk that exceeds it. The question 
arises, Is this to be a disqualification ? A live dog is 
better than a dead lion it may be argued, but, which- 
ever way the stewards of the competition decide, it 
will not alter the fact that the height, or the nearly 
approaching height, of the tallest spire in England 
