154 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



was nothing phenomenal in the great age of the mammoth Sequoias, as 

 other trees on the Pacific coast exhibited great age." 



In order to ascertain if more than one circle is found in a year, he 

 tested the matter in various ways. A pine or spruce would make an 

 average growth of a foot a year up to fifteen years old ; from that on, 

 G inches ; after that a stage was reached where the erect growth, 

 ceased to any considerable extent, and the growth force seemed to turn 

 towards the lateral branches. In the pine forests of the Pacific coast 

 there was no danger of error in fixing the age of the average tree of 

 60 feet high at about fifty years, and the circles or rings in those cut 

 down would be found to correspond so nearly that it was quite safe to 

 assume a siugle circle for a year. The remarkable uniformity in the di- 

 ameter of the annual growths would also enable one to tell the age 

 sufficiently accurate for general purposes. Trees growing on very rich 

 soil have less circles to the inch, often as few as four, but six to the inch 

 is quite a safe rule to be governed by of this species. At Harrisburg, 

 in latitude 58°, a Sitka spruce gave 149 rings. This was an average of 

 about 8 to the inch. At Wrangel, in latitude 56° 30', a Western hem- 

 lock gave 18 to the inch. It was 6 feet in diameter at the base. At 

 132 feet the trunk had been broken off; here it measured 4 feet in di- 

 ameter. At Kaigan Harbor, latitude 55°, the Sitka spruce is very large 

 and of great height. Two of the largest measured 21 feet in circum- 

 ference, and he thinks that trees in these latitudes in Alaska would 

 easily have a life of five hundred years. 



In the Atlantic States two hundred years is the term of life for its for- 

 est trees, with the exception of the plane, which is the longest lived of 

 all. Trees famous for longevity in Europe are comparatively short- 

 lived here. Illustrations can be seen in the Bartram Garden near Phila- 

 delphia. The cause of this difference is doubtless owing to the humidity 

 of the atmosphere, for while some species of trees will endure a tempera- 

 ture of 25° below the freezing point in Great Britain, they are killed by 

 10° in Philadelphia, and it is believed that tX# dry atmosphere causes a 

 heavy drain of moisture from the trees, making the cold more effective. 



The climate of Alaska is similar to that of Great Britain. At Sitka, 

 in latitude 57°, the rainfall was 100 inches in a year, and the harbor 

 rarely frozen over, some winters there being no ice. But, barring acci- 

 dents, and with soil properties being constantly kept up, the life of a 

 tree is well-nigh without end. 



RAPID DESTRUCTION OF THE FORESTS. 



The reports of the Agents of the Bureau confirm the Census reports 

 as to the rapidity with which the forests of the country are being de- 

 stroyed by the axe of the lumberman and the miner, and by forest fires. 

 Corroborative evidence is also furnished by the reports of Boards of 

 Trade and by the statements made from time to time by various periodi- 

 cals published in the interest of lumber manufacturers. It is presumable 

 that the figures given by these papers and by Boards of Trade are at 

 least approximately correct, and that they do not exaggerate in their 

 statements. There is no reason, it would seem, for their doing so. How 

 much of the consumption of our forests they fail to take account of be- 

 cause the work of the smaller saw-mills or the felling of trees a few at a 

 time in thousands of places is not reported, we do not know. But tak- 

 ing the statistics as we find them, they make an exhibition which is 

 startling. 



