Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1864-07-12

Much has been written about the Big Tree Of Califor-
ma 6n nothing better tn an the following from the pen Of
rz Hugh Ludlow, In an article pa blished IN tn Atlantic
MoMhy for June.
| find no one on this side the continent who
believes the literal truth which travellers tell
about these marvellous giants. People some
Times think they do, but that is only because they
lill to reillze the proposition. They have NJ
| concrete idea Of how the asserted proportions
| iook. Tell carpenter or any other man at home
with the look Of dimensions, what you have seen
IN the Manposa County groves, and bis eye grows
lncredulous in moment. | freely confess, that,
ihough always thought had believed travellers
n,thelr recltals on this subject, when | saw the
trees found had barganed to credit. no such
story as that, and for a moment felt halfreproach-
ui towards the friends who had cheated me of
my faith under misapprehenson.
lake the dry statistics Of the matter. Out Of
Of one hundred aud thirty.two trees which have
been measured, not cne underruns twenty.eight
feet in circumference five range between thirty
Ho and thlrty-sx feet flty-eight between forty
and fifty feetj thirty four between fifty and sixty
feet, fourteen between seventy and eghtyj two
between eighty and ninety; two between ninety
and one hundred two are Just one hundred, and
ooe is 0 Ie hundred and two This last, before the
storm truncaled il, had hight Of four hundred
net. ! found rough ladder laid against its trunk
for it is prostrate-and climbed upon its side
by that and steps cut in the bark. mounted
the swell Of the trunk 10 the butt and there made
he measurement which ascerlained its diameter
as lhrty'tour feet plus fraction. OF course the
thickness OF the bark IL various, but | cut off
some OF it to foot in depth and there was evil
den;ly plenty more below that.
10 make some rough attempt at a conception
OF what these figures amount to, suppose the tree
allen at the g.be Of an ordinary two-story house.
You propose to cross by a plank laid from your
roof to the upper side Of the tree. That plank
would perceptib.y slope up from your roofpeak.
through another tree, lying PROSTATE also, and
hollow from end to end, our whole cavacade
charged at the full trot for distance oil one hum
dred and fly feet. The entire length of this
tree before truncation had been about three hum
drtd and hfy feet. la the hollow bases of trees
still standing we easily sheltered ourselves and
horses. We tried throwing to the top of some
ol them With ludicrous unsuccess, and finally
came to The monarch OF them all, glorious mon
ster not included IN the above table of dimen-
slons, as most OF those measured are still living,
and all have the ark upon them still, while The
tree is TO some txtent barked and chIrred. When
1t Stood erect in its live wrappngs it measured forty
eet IN dlameter-over one hundred AID twenty
u circumference Estimates grounded on the
weknown principle of yearly cortical increase,
lndlsputably throw back the birth of these
largest giants as. far as 1900 b. &. Thus
their tender sapllngs we're running up Just as the
gates OF Troy were tumbing down, and some Of
them had fulfilled tbe Lifetime OF the late Hart
ford Charter.Oik when Solamon called his mas.
ter masons to relreshment from the building of
the Temple. We cannot realize time images as
wo uan those Of space by reference to dimen.
slons within experience, so that the age OF these
trees still remains to ME an incomprehensible
fact, though with my minds eye continue to see
how mountain ma'sy they look, and now dwarfed
IS the man who leans against them.
We fingered among them half day. the ar
lists making color studies the most picturesque,
he rest OF us izang away at something scientific
Botony Etomology, or Statistics 10 Geology
md Mneralogy there is nothing to do here or in
he Valley-the formation all being typical Sirra
Nevada granite, with no specimens to keep or
problems to solve.
OF course, our artists neither made nor expect
I'd TO make anything like realizing picture Of
.he groves. The marvellous Of size does not go
nto gill franz es. You paint Zig Tree and it
ooks like Common tree in cramped coffin.
10 be sure, you can put live figure against the
'utt for comparison; but unless you take can
lass the alse of Haydon's, your picture is quite
IS likely 70 resemble Homuneuus against an av'
rage timber tree as large man az ainst Ssquoia
rigaRteG WHAT our artists did do was to geta
apiial transcript Of the Big Trees color, beau
fully bright cinnamon brown, which gives q PEE
ullar gayety to the forest, making sunshine 10
he shady places !" also, their typical fgurei
which is very lofty, straight and branchess
iunk, crowned almost at the summit by mass
4 colossal gnarled boughs, slender plumy fronds,
elicate thin leaves, and smooth cones scarce
irger than poyer's egg. Perhaps the best idea
4 their figure may be obtined by ancying an
Italian stone pine grown out Of recollection.