16 THE REDWOOD. 



Complete recovery from such a fire is slow. The leaf mold is burned 

 ofi* and the soil is made naked as a road. The large Redwoods will 

 sprout again from their stumps; but the rest of the space, once occu- 

 pied by Fir and Oak, will be covered first by buck brush and blue 

 blossom, until, after years, the Fir and Oak return. 



The common cause of fire in the forest is the carelessness of campers 

 and settlers, who leave their camp fires burning. Sparks from the 

 brush fires of logging camps occasionally start a blaze in the timber, 

 and lightning may be responsible for a few forest fires. 



WIND SELDOM UPROOTS THE REDWOOD. 



AVhen a strong- wind follows a long rainy season, Redwoods exposed 

 on high ridges may sometimes be blown down, but no considerable 

 tracts of forest are ever overthrown. 



SPECIES IN MIXTURE. 



Of the trees which grow with the Redwood in the forest the follow- 

 ing are the most important: 



Red Fir, Pseudotsuga taxifolia (Lam.) Britt. 



Tanbark Oak, Quercu.^ densiflora Hook. & Arn. 



Sitka Spruce, Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Trautv. & Mayer. 



Port Orford Cedar, Chamaecyparis lawsoniana (Murr. ) Pari. 



Giant Arborvitae, "Red Cedar," Thuja plicata Don. 



Western Hemlock, Tsuga heterophyUa (Raf. ) Sargent. 



Lowland Fir, ^ ^ White Fir, ^^ Abies grandisJ^indl. 



Pacific Yew, Taxus brevifoHa Nutt. 



California Torreya, Tumion californicum (Torr. ) Greene. 



Knobcone Pine, Pinus contorta Loud. 



California Laurel, "Pepper wood," Umbelhdaria ccdifornlca (Hook. & Arn.) 



Nutt. 

 Madrona, Arbutus menziesii Pursh. 



Cascara Buckthorn, "Cascara Sagrada," Bhamnus purshiana de C. 

 Red Alder, Alnus oregona Nutt. 

 Gowen Cypress, Cupressus goveniana Gord. 



These trees are usually beaten in the struggle for growing space by 

 the Redwood, which is climatically the most favored, but each species 

 finds places here and there where the conditions enable it to hold its 

 own. Red Fir, or Oregon Pine, the most abundant and important of 

 the trees in mixture, occurs with Redwood ever}^ where except on damp 

 flats and in gulches. It grows best on medium soil, on ridges and 

 high flats where the forest is comparativelv open. On some fine tracts, 

 as in Del Norte County, it constitutes 75 per cent of the stand. Next 

 to Redwood, it is the most used of the timber trees on the coast, and 

 in Mendocino County forms from 10 to 20 per cent of the output of 

 the mills. 



