18 FOREST TREES OF CALIFORNIA. 



for hollow wood-ware, when bound with brazen hoops, 

 exceedingly neat and lasting. It should be observed, how- 

 ever, that it is to be avoided for most cabinet work, i. e. 

 where delicate linen and the like are kept, on account of the 

 volatile resin per meati 1112; and discoloring all such like goods, 

 and that to such degree as to utterly ruin them ; also, smooth 

 and hard bodies condense it rapidly, and are soon all 

 gummed over with dewy, and ever increasing dots, or rubied 

 or wine-colored resin, that tarnishes to an intolerable nuis- 

 ance, to say the least. For shingles, this with redwood and 

 incense cedars, and the like, the State and coast has the 

 amplest supply, besides that vast sylvan mine of the Great 

 Sequoias. 



A tree so choice for rural adornment requires a word of 

 caution concerning its culture. Perhaps one of the greatest 

 and most radical faults in the propagation of these and 

 similar trees, is that of covering the seed with soil. In na- 

 ture, they germinate on the surface, root down, and shoot 

 up from that point, so that the pith is never below the 

 moistened earth-level whence they spring, therefore they 

 never sicken, sour, and in their agony, succor abnormally, 

 become stinted and precocious, crippled from the cradle, 

 but go on in the harmony and order of nature, prospering 

 and to prosper. True, this is hidden to all but the intelligent 

 eye until the charm of their youth is gone. A hint to the 

 wise in passing must suffice. Having so often seen the ill 

 effects of a contrary course, as duty demands we enter our 

 protest against the profanity that ignores the sacred lessons 

 inscribed on every page of the great Book of Nature. Easy 

 would it be to point out the rationale on physiological 

 grounds, but this must be left to the inquiry and intuitions of 

 those whom it may most concern. There are many other 

 important points of interest, best known to cultivators, that 

 require to be observed in treating trees, especially those de- 

 signed for a hardy endurance of severe climes.* This beau- 

 tiful wintergreen conifer is found on the Coast and Sierra 

 connecting ranges of mountains of Northern California, 

 in the Shasta and Scott mountain ranges, only a few rarely 

 straggling along south. • 



-Naturally the lower limbs of trees subserve the fundamental use of accumulat- 

 ing base material for future prosperity and endurance, as bulbs do from former leaf- 

 growth, storing up their early acquisitions as frugal deposits, in anticipation of final 

 flowers and fruits of more mature age. This principle is even more manifest in 

 Agaves and the like, which fail to thrive — never flower or fruit if deprived of their 

 lower leaves. 



