KAURI, THE WORLD'S LARGEST TIMBHER-TREE. 45 
CALIFORNIAN GIANT TREES. 
“ Big Tree,” or Wellingtonia.—Exaggerated basal measurements are 
often recorded for the Californian ‘‘ Big trees.’’ Says U.S.A. Bulletin 95, 
“Commercial Woods of the U.S.A.,”’ speaking of the Californian Big 
tree Sequoia gigantea, *‘ Mature trees attain heights of from 200 ft. to 
350 ft. and diameters of more than 25ft. Including the great swelled 
bases, specimens have been measured nearly or quite 40 ft. in diameter.”’ 
The largest authentic diameter for a Wellingtonia (Sequoia gigantea), 
clear of the root-bulge, is 27 ft. (Elliott, 1912, ‘‘ Important Trees of 
the U.S5.A.”’) Sudworth in ‘‘ Forest Trees of the Pacific Slope”’ 
quotes 27 ft. as the maximum diameter, and adds, ‘‘ The height and 
diameter of the trees is popularly much overestimated.’’ Deducting 
one-twelfth of the diameter for the very. thick bark, there is thus 
little difference between the real basal diameter of the Californian ‘‘ Bi 
tree’’ and the New Zealand Kauri. It seems possible that before the 
advent of the Maoris or their predecessors, with their bush-fires, the 
log basal diameters of the giant Kauri trees of those days may also 
have been the largest in the world. As is well known, the mound of 
resin-soaked bark (‘‘ bukau’’) at the base of all old Kauris and their 
naked live bark make them peeuliarly susceptible to fire, while the thick- 
barked Wellingtonias are fire-resistant. Thus, without going into 
figures, there is a strong presumptive case of Kauri being the biggest 
timber-tree in the world. The basal diameter of its bole is little less 
than the Californian “‘ Big tree,’’ the height of its bole is not greatly 
less, while the ‘‘ form-factor ’’ (representing the shape of the bole) is 
about 95 for the old Kauri trees and about 45 or 55 for the Californian 
“ Big trees,’’ a cylinder being 100. Happily, however, exact figures of 
the comparative timber-yields of the two trees are available, 
In Professor Sargent’s great work, ‘‘ Silva of North America,’’ 
it is stated that the tallest living Sequoia that has been measured was 
found to be 325 ft. high: it is one of the ‘‘ Three Sisters ’’ standing 
in the Calaveras Groves; the other two also exceeding 300 ft. in height. 
In 1912 an Act of Congress was passed securing for the nation the 
Calaveras Groves. A previous Act for the same purpose, passed five 
years earlier, had proved inoperative. When the Government was con- 
sidering the acquisition of the two Calaveras Groves the Sequoia trees 
in the groves were counted and measured. The measuring was done by 
the United States Forest Service, and the method followed is detailed 
in an official bulletin, No. 397, ‘‘ Calaveras Big Tree National Forest.’’ 
The area of the two groves is 491 acres. The twenty largest trees con- 
tained an average of 21,386 sup. ft. each of merchantable timber, or 
one-tenth of the giant Kauri, with 213,333 board feet. 
The largest fallen tree in South Grove is “ Old Goliath,’ which has a eTOss 
volume of 127,892 board feet. The largest at North Grove is “ Father of the 
Forest,” and through its hollow trunk one may ride horseback, The largest 
standing tree in South Grove is “ Louis Agassiz,”* which before being hollowed by 
fires probably had a gross volume of 124,163 board feet. In North Grove the 
‘* Mother of the Forest” probably had a gross yolume of 140,619 ft. It is dead, 
but standing, The taper of the big trees varies from 3in. to 12 in. for a 12 ft. 
log, and will average between 6in. and 7in. The maximum thickness of the bark 
is 24in. . . . the thickness of bark will average one-twelfth of the outside 
diameter, (Calaveras Big Tree Bull. of 1912.) 
The largest of the ‘‘ Big trees,’’ ‘‘ Mother of the Forest,’’ with a Toss 
volume of 140,679 board feet, may be compared with the largest Kauri 
in the Tutamoe Forest, which, as below, had a quarter-girth volume of 
