20 
IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 
The soil, in which most of these old trees are standing, in many places 
is of nnnsnal richness. In origin it may at bottom be perhaps not un- 
like so much of the soil of the peninsula, rotten granite ; but to this along 
the shore has long ago been added considerable quantities of fine sea 
sand with more or less calcareous matter from ground-up sea shells, etc. 
To this mixture has come, probably from the adjoining higher levels, 
abundance of organic matter; so that, where the trees are finest, the 
soil is surely marked by great fertility. Where the largest trees now 
stand vast quantities of sea-shells in all stages of decomposition are to 
be seen to a depth of two feet or more. Local tradition assigns these 
deposits to food habits of an earlier humanity. However this may be, 
the presence of this material certainly contributes to the character of 
the littoral beds, to make them unlike any other soils farther inland. 
The competition at Cypress Point is with Pinus radiata and the com- 
petition in some places is keen. Young plants of both species, back a 
few rods from the sea, are closely intermingled; on the richer (lower) 
soils the cypress has the best of it ;' immediately the terrene rises, the 
pine prevails. 
At Point Lobos, south of the mouth of the Carmel river, the case is 
essentially the same. The same species are in contact in one part of the 
little grove, the cypress apparently holding its own at lower levels, the 
pines topping the high rocks and cliffs. To the east and south the station 
is checked by a southwest exposure formerly occupied by all sorts of 
xerophytes, Quercus, Ceanothus, lupines, Artemisia, various grasses, etc. 
This territory neither conifer invades. The cypress colony has been 
divided at no very distant date, by erosion of the shore, partly by gnaw- 
ing of the restless sea, partly by cutting back in the surface drainage of 
the land. The trees cut off to the north by this misfortune, cling with 
precarious tenacity to the margins of a deep ravine, an indenture of the 
shore. One such has been often photographed and figured in popular 
accounts of the Monterey cypress. At this point also are to be seen 
scattered specimens higher up on the rocky cliff disputing a dangerous 
foothold with the pines that still o’er-top them. 
Of seedling cypresses at Point Lobos at present I find none. In fact 
the present condition of the grove is bad; very much more hazardous 
than when the writer saw it first some twenty years ago. At that time 
everything was in its primeval state. Nature had reached an equilibrium 
in which the cypress had a part, and the tree seemed likely to endure. 
Since then the grove has been made part of an over-stocked cow-pasture 
and the trees are suffering greatly. The location is one of great natural 
beauty and is made the objective point for picnic excursions. It is 
