FOREST GIANTS

Evening Star, Issue 22450, 22 September 1936, Page 12

FOREST GIANTS

OLDEST AND TALLEST TREES ■ Greater perhaps than any growing tiling, and reigning queen of the vegetable kingdom, is the giant cypress tree in Santa Maria del Tide, near Oxaca, in Southern Mexico. This giant sabiua, as it is called locally, rises to a Height of 140 ft, and has a trunk 110 ft round. Its top branches stretch 200 ft across, and its trunk is knotted and gnarled with age; its bark is cracked and rough, and roots stick out of tho ground like elbows. Cortez described it in a letter to his king 400 years ago, Baron Humboldt, in his famous scientific travels through Mexico in 1803 visited the famous cypress, and is acusod of graving his name and sentiments on the rough bark. The ‘ Gardener’s Chronicle ’ informs us that in 1908 Mr C. J. Chamberlain, of Chicago University, saw the tree, and it was then in perfect health, not a dead twig in sight. Tw-o other sabinas believed to be child and grandchild of the great mother tree, grow near by, and would be considered giants if they stood alone. The great size of the tree sets every visitor wondering as to its' age; one colonial history claims that it is 6,000 years old, or dating back to the Flood. Professor Conzati, of Mexico, some years ago made a scientific examination of the tree, and gave about 2,000 years. Another—and possibly a better—claim for the greatest ago is made on behalf, of the tree known as the “General Sherman,” and growing in the Sequioa National Park, California. Though slightly less in girth (102.8 ft), its height of 279.9 ft is nearly twice that of the Oaxaca Sabina. Some authorities claim that this mighty Seqnioa is 3,500 years old. As one writer puts it, age is a disputable thing in many cases, and, in regard to trees, can only be approximately estimated when they are cut down, and the usual method of counting the annual rings is restorted to. Some _ scientists _ are of the opinion that the living Sequioas, or Redwoods, are descendants or survivors of tho ice age, from the fact that many petrified trees of this family exist in the Sonoma country, and that there are remains of them still to be found in old rocks. . The foresters of most countries have found larger fallen trees than any of the trees existing at the present day. One in California was found with 4,000 rings of growth. Tho Sequioas are called after Sequoyah, a Cherokeo Indian of mixed blood, who constructed an alphabet and a useful written language for his tribe, still in use. These giant trees, of ’ which there are over 3,000, many of them being more than 300 ft high —are limited in range to California, and occur in groves. _ Though the somewhat smaller specimens at Santa Cruz'in'Southern California were previously known, it was not till 1852 that the big trees were discovered in the , north by a surveyor hunting for fresh meat to feed bis men. Both groves now belong to the nation, are effectively patrolled by troops, and are a great attraction for tourists. A flourishing tree known as “ Wamona,” in the Mariposa -grove, is pierced by ap archway through which a stage coach can pass, and which in these days the motor car also passes through. A six-horse coach witn 16 passengers can with ease be driven on.the “Fallen Monarch” in the same grove. It has been estimated in regard to this old tree that, as it lies, it weighs roughly about three million pounds, with 50,000 cubic feet of lumber in it, all quite sound, sufficient to supply 24 miles of 6ft high fencing boards. The exact dimensions of a smaller tree have been worked out, and the plan shows that the timber in it would be sufficient to build 22 average-sized homes. As to tlie tallest trees, America must again take precedence. The tallest tree in the world is a Sequioa, 390 ft high. The tallest in Australia is 326 ft (Euc. regnans), in Gippsland, Victoria, while in New South Wales our highest is 300 ft, a manna gum in the Tumut district. _ , . Mr Lane Poole (Inspector-General of Forests for the Commonwealth) doubts from more recent investigations made by him and his officers, whether Australia has now any trees of 300 ft or more in length. Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania have no trees taller than Victoria. _ Western Australia has some massive trees or jarrah and karri, though not up to tho height and girth measurements of the American giants. One karri tree was 265 ft, with a girth of 33ft round the centre, of which, leaving out the stump, six logs weighing approximately 20 tons each were loaded into trucks. In Western Australia there is a forest belt stretching from the Leeuwin north to the Murchison River and east to Albany. Jarrah forests extend eastward from tbe Barling Range. Victoria, on account of its mountain territory and its ample rainfall, is the best wooded of Australian States.