If that is the tallest redvroodi the record for tali trees will have to 

 go to "the fir-«trees dark and hi^." in 1900 a CoTo^las fir ^^as cut do\Tn and 

 measured '.7ith a steel tape* And it measured 380 feet. That was a real tall 

 tree I 



But if the measurements are to be relied upon, that tree was topped by 

 a Dou'^las fir, felled near Vancouver, British Columbia, 15 to 20 years a^o. 

 That tree was said to have been 417 feet high v/ith a stump diameter of 25 

 feet. Tliat stump diameter is all right. There is a photograph by which that 

 has been checked. But that height figure has not been positively established. 

 If it is correct, it is by far the tallest tree on record. 



Redwoods have a bigger diameter at the base than do other big trees, as 

 a rule. T7e have redwoods living now with a 30 feet diameter at the ground. 

 That is exceptional, however, and redwoods have a big root swelling which/S§st-^ 

 surements misleading. 



A red'/ood felled in 1853 measured 25 feet in diameter inside the bark 

 6 feet above the ground. Forty-nine people danced on the stump of that tree 

 at one time, and I venture to say some of our young folks today could not only 

 squeeze on a partner for that odd dancer, but might even add a few more couples. 

 Big as it was at the ground, that redwood was just 302 feet high. That other 

 fallen tree in that same grove, the tree which was called the "Father of the 

 Forest" is estimated to have been 400 feet high, but there are no accurate 

 measurements to back up the story. And when you speak of treee being 400 to 

 500 feet high, these scientific foresters are a bit skeptical. They want the 

 proof . 



But the redwood and the firs are not the only sizable trees. The great 

 cypress at St. 1/^ria del Tule, Mexico, has a diameter of 40 feet at the ground, 

 and 35 feet five feet above the ground. As cypresses grow, it is pretty tall 

 too. It is about 150 feet high. 



And speaking of cypresses. Extension Forester Robert Moore of Louisiana 

 State University recently reports that one was recently cut in Amite River 

 Swamp, in Livingston Parish, Louisiana, which measures some 7 feet 9 inches 

 across the stump, and h-as a saleable length of only 86 feet 8 inches. 



How lonr do you suppose it took to grow that tree? The foresters 

 counted the annual rings in the stump of that cypress. By starting at the 

 bark and couriting the rings in to the center, they could calcualte the a-iC, 

 with a fair degree of accuracy. And they found it was some 1,300 years old. 

 You see, these giant trees don't grow to their tremendous size in a few years. 

 That tree was considerable of a giant when Coltunbus discovered America, Fact 

 is, it rai,';ht be interesting to get out your histories, and trace back the course 

 of events p-.id notice just wliat was happonir^ in the Old World when that young 

 Louisiana cyoress was getting its start. And some of our redwoods now stp.nding 

 were a thousand years old or more when that particular cypress was a seedling. 



However, we were talking about the size not the .-vjo. i-Iext to firs and 

 redwoods, the eucal;^tus trees of Australia seem to tower highest-, Tlicrc are 

 some growing nov vrhich measiiro 300 to 310 feet in height. The tallest Vmown 

 eucalyptus of authentic measuroraent was 346 feet high. Tlie Australian 

 eucalyptus, horrever, are very slender. Thoy are seldom more than from 8 to 

 12 feet in dirjiieter. 



