the Smith River, Douglas fir begins to prevail, the redwoods becoming gradually fewer and smaller; and the last ones were seen twelve miles inland at about 1000 feet elevation.
The prevailing formation in the redwood belt is sandstone; and the tree attains its maximum either on deep sandy loam or on gravel full of moisture. The climate is remarkably even and moderate, with warm days, cool nights, and scarcely any frost even in winter ; while the air is charged with humidity, and the annual rainfall amounts to from 60 to 80 inches. The following observations, taken in 1900 at Crescent City, show the nature of the climate in which the redwood thrives:—
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The tree is not found in the interior valleys to the east of the coast range, where the summer is comparatively hot and dry, and only a moderate amount of rain falls in winter.
Dr. Mayr,! reproduces a sketch of the largest redwood he saw in December 1885 near Santa Cruz. The mean of three measurements made it 308 feet high by 46 feet in girth at 64 feet from the ground, above the swollen base. The first large green branches were at 230 feet up. This tree was still standing in 1903. He also gives an excellent illustration’ of the appearance of a redwood forest after lumbering and fire have devastated it, which reminds me strongly of similar scenes in the Douglas fir forests of Oregon and Washington.
Fisher gives several tables showing the composition of the species and the size of the trees in the redwood belt. At Scotia, on an alluvial flat, there are 100 redwoods to the acre, no other species being present, and of these thirty-six were over 20 inches, and averaged 76 inches in diameter. Mayr’ gives the following figures for the best pure stand which he measured :—57 trees to the acre, averaging 275 feet in timber height and 23 feet in girth; total cubic contents, exclusive of branches, 199,000 cubic feet per acre. The tallest redwood recorded*® was measured in 1896 by Professor Sargent. This tree grew on the Eel River, and was 662
1. Fremdländ. Wald- u. Parkbaume, tt. 19, 20 (1906) ; cf. also Waldungen, p. 268 and frontispiece.
Waldungen von Nordamerika, 267 (1900).
3 Garden and Forest, 1897, p. 42
