14 



THE REDWOOD. 



REPRODUCTION BY SUCKERS AND BY SEEDLINGS. 



Careful examination has proved that sucker and seedling share in 

 the reproduction of the Redwood forest; but they share unequally, for 

 the proportion of suckers to seedlings is as 100 to 1. The limited 

 number of seedlings is due both to the quality of the seed and to the 

 opportunities for germination afforded it. The habit of perpetuating 

 itself by sprouts seems to have weakened the vitality of the Redwood's 

 seed. Mr. P. Rock, of the horticultural staff at Golden Gate Park, 

 sa,js that under the best conditions only 15 to 25 per cent of Redwood 

 seed will germinate. The seed requires more light than the forest 

 usually affords it, and suckers cast so dense a shade as to crowd it out 

 even when it does germinate. 



Plates IV and V show how quickly Redwood will reproduce itself 

 from sprouts. In PI. IV, fig. 1, is represented the growth of the first 

 few months after the slashing was logged and burned. Such shoots 

 are as soft and juicy as asparagus. In PI. IV, fig. 2, is seen the size 

 and development reached in six to eight years. In PL V, fig. 1, are 

 shown suckers which have passed the age of twenty-five j'ears, and 

 which have begun to take on a forest form. The parent stump is 

 visible in the rear. PI. V, fig. 2, shows a characteristic clump of 

 mature Redwoods, surrounding and concealing the parent stem, but 

 revealing unmistakably their identity as sprouts. 



YIELD OF REDWOOD STANDS. 



The yield of virgin Redwoods on the northern flats is from 125,000 

 to 150,000 board feet per acre. Farther south it is much less. About 

 Humboldt Bay it is from 50,000 to 76,000 feet per acre; and on slopes 

 like those in Sonoma County, from 20,000 to 30,000 feet. The amount 

 of timber got out of a Redwood forest is only a small proportion of 

 what the stand contained. At least a quarter of the timber is destroyed 

 in felling and in the burning that follows, and of what remains all the 

 broken and misshapen logs are left on the ground. 



TOLERANCE, OR SHADE-ENDURING QUALITIES. 



The seed of the Redwood will not germinate in shaded places; the 

 small seedling demands plenty of light. The crown is almost as thin 

 and open as that of the larch — another sign that the tree is not natur- 

 ally shade-enduring. In a mixed stand the Redwood's branches die 

 off more rapidlv than those of its companions, and the crown bends 

 eagerly to the places where the light enters the forest canopy. But 

 in spite of these signs of its sensitiveness to hght, the Re.dwood forms 

 one of the densest forests that grow. 



The reason for this is that the stand is chiefly maintained by sucker- 

 ing from old trees. Supported and nourished by full-grown roots and 

 stems, young trees grow under shade that would kill the small seedling. 



