46 KAURI, THE WORLD'S LARGEST TIMBER-TREE, 
295,788 board feet of sawable timber. In other words, the largest “ Big 
tree’? of California contained less than half the timber of the largest 
big Kauri of New Zealand. Good pictures of the Californian i‘ Bi 
-trees’’ are given in Professor Huntington's remarkable pamphlet | The 
Secret of the Big Trees’? (Superintendent of Documents, Washington 
D.C.). 
ae of Californta.—According to measurements taken by the 
U.S.A. Forest Service, Redwood is actually the tallest tree on the North 
American Continent, 350 ft., but it is of a comparatively slender, tapering 
form, and is far from carrying the massive timber trunk of either the 
‘“‘ Big tree’’ (Wellingtonia) or the New Zealand Kauri. Diameters up 
to 20 ft. have been measured above the much-swollen base, with 100 ft. 
of bole. (‘‘ Commercial Woods,’’ U.S.A. Bull. 1911.) These are about 
the dimensions of the record Kauri trees, so that the difference between 
the Redwood and the Kauri lies solely in the bark-thickness of 3 ft. or 
4 ft. on to the diameter, and in the tapering form of the Redwood as 
compared with the cylindrical form of the Kauri. 
Douglas-fir.—The third largest timber-tree may be Douglas-fir, for 
which over 8,000 c. ft. has been recorded, or rather more than one-third 
the size of the record big Kauri tree of New Zealand. In that fine 
classic, “‘ Forest Trees of the Pacific Slope ’’—of which there ought to 
be thousands of copies in New Zealand—Sudworth says definitely that 
Douglas-fir is the most gigantic tree after the great Sequoias of California. 
Maximum dimensions are &ft. or 10 ft. in diameter and over 200 ft. 
high. He adds: ‘‘ The Douglas-fir furnishes the finest and largest saw 
timber of any native tree, if not of any trees in the world.’’ What would 
he say to Kauri, with the timber unquestionably superior to Douglas-fir 
(Oregon), and with maximum diameters double those of Douglas-fir ? 
Professor K. W. Woodward, in an article on ‘‘ Tree-growth and 
Climate in the United States’’ (Journ. For., Washington, May, 1917), 
considers that Douglas-fir should be classed as the tallest of American 
trees; and he quotes a tree 23 ft. in diameter at the base; 161 ft. to 
the first limb, where the diameter is 11‘5ft.; the total height of the 
tree being estimated at 300ft. Here again the dimensions are some- 
pe above those of the giant Kauris, but the taper makes it cube 
ess, 
Pinus lambertiana.—This, the largest pine in the world, is a taller 
tree and has a longer bole than the Kauri, but accounts differ as to its 
maximum diameter. Sudworth speaks of diameters up to 7 it, (** Forest 
Trees of the Pacific Slope *’), but ‘‘ Commercial Woods of U.S.A.” speaks 
of reports of trees 20 ft. in diameter, including the thick bark. Like 
the Kauri, it has a bole with httle taper. Kent. in Veitch’s Manual, 
described at as 10-15 ft. in diameter. Sir J. D. Hooker describes it 
as ““ wanting the bulk in proportion to height of a Sequoia,’’ There is, 
I think, no question as to the giant Sequoias containing a greater bulk 
of timber than Sugar-pine: and thus leaving the Kauri with easily 
the largest bulk of timber. 
OTHER Granr TREEs. 
There are other gigantic trees larger in one dimension than Kauri, 
but all yielding less bulk of timber. 
_ Australian Red Cedar .—The Australian Red Cedar (Cedrela australis) 
is frequently quoted for its great diameter and big yields of timber. 
Von Mueller, the Victorian botanist, and not a very reliable authority. 
