THE BIG TREE. 



103 



1,300 years, and its diameter, measured 

 across the stump, 24 feet inside the bark. 

 Another that was cut down in the Kings 

 River Forest was about the same size, 

 but nearly a thousand years older (2,200 

 years), though not a very old-looking 

 tree. It was felled to procure a section 

 for exhibition, and thus an opportunity 

 was given to count its annual rings of 

 growth. The colossal scarred monu- 

 ment in the Kings River Forest men- 

 tioned above is burned half through, and 

 I spent a day in making an estimate of 

 its age, clearing away the charred surface 

 with an axe and carefully counting the 

 annual rings with the aid of a pocket- 

 lens. The wood rings in the section I 

 laid bare was so involved and contorted 

 in some places that I was not able to 

 determine its age exactly, but I counted 

 over4,ooo rings." These estimates are 

 confirmed by the most recent investi- 

 gations on the age of the Big Tree. 



It may be said that the north groves 

 of Big Trees show little or no sign of ex- 

 tending their very limit- 

 Reproduction. ed range, hardly, even, 

 of holding their place 

 except under the most favourable con- 

 ditions. Mr. Sudworth, dendrologist 

 of the Division of Forestry, makes the 

 following statement about the Calave- 

 ras Grove and Stanislaus Grove of Big 

 Trees, which, it is important to notice, 

 have been protected from both fire and 

 grazing for many years: "Unlike the 

 other species of its kind — the Coast 

 Redwood- — the Big Tree reproduces 

 itself so slowly and with such uncertain- 

 ty as to be practically at a standstill in 

 these groves, A few seedlings took root 



in 1853— 1855 in the Calaveras Grove, 

 and are now 2 or 3 feet in diameter. 

 There is no other evidence of increase 

 in this grove, although the large trees 

 are in a thriving state. The forest is not 

 well watered, and the humus is too dry 

 to encourage the reproduction of the 

 species. Pines, Firs, and Cedars appear 

 better able to propagate themselves on 



the same ground. On the borders of 

 the grove the soil is so constantly dry 

 and exposed to the trampling of grazing 

 herds as to allow no reproduction out- 

 side of the forest. Moreover, the small, 

 heavy seeds are not carried far bv the 

 winds, as in the case of the Pines, Firs, 

 and Cedars. But if the reproduction of 

 the Big Tree were the best conceivable, 



