unbroken their line of descent from a past when dinosaurs and 
other strange reptiles shared the world with them. Gone are 
the brontosaurus and the dinotherium; gone are the saber- 
toothed tiger, the mastodon, and the three-toed horse — 
swallowed up by a geological antiquity so deep and vast that 
ordinary time periods are as useful to measure it as a boy's 
kite-string is to reach the sun. Yet the Sequoias are still 
here and perhaps the only plant which has kept them company 
through that long past is the luxuriant Fern growth about 
their feet. Not even in a tropical jungle could one hope to 
see a more glorious wealth and variety of Ferns than that 
which carpets the floor of these Redwood forests. An acre or 
two of these ferneries, even without the trees, would make the 
fame of any park. But here are twenty thousand acres of them, 
and the trees — the most stupendous plant miracle of all — are 
the very condition of their life by immeasurable ages of 
friendly association. 
Not only does the sylvan twilight of these forests furnish 
a practical example of the kind of filtered sunlight desired 
by many of our native Ferns, but the conditions of soil and 
moisture also are worthy of study by cultivators of forest 
gardens. There are not many showy flowering plants that 
are naturally associated with Ferns in such an environment. But 
a visitor to these Redwoods during June will find patches of 
the forest floor carpeted by myriads of the large rose-colored 
blossoms of Oxalis oregana. This Redwood Sorrel is one of 
the most striking of our shade plants and the profusion with 
which it grows in the Redwood twilight suggests effective uses 
in shady borders under heavy canopies of foliage. Equally 
striking are the starlike white blossoms of Montias and 
Dentarias that nod above the green carpet into which the 
wanderer's foot sinks as noiselessly as into a bed of feathers. 
Long shafts of sunlight striking aslant through the plumy tops 
of the trees and lighting upon bunches of red Clintonia 
blossoms (Clintonia Andrew siana) give one a wholly new 
conception of their decorative character. Novel effects also are 
produced in mid-summer when indigo blue berries have taken 
the place of the flowers. 
The writer feels convinced that landscape gardeners and 
lovers of forest gardens have much to learn from the plant 
associations and color effects found in the Redwood belt of 
California. It may be difficult to reproduce the shade and 
moisture conditions of a dense forest in which many trees are 
three hundred feet in height and some approach, if they do 
not equal, an altitude of four hundred feet. But the amazing 
natural garden effects found upon the Redwood forest floors 
of Humboldt County are a challenge to every garden enthusiast. 
William Frederic Bade. 
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