The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1870-12-10
The Big Trees.
BY TIE REV. DIR. NEWMAN.

BY TIE REV. DIR. NEWMAN.
1t is an old saying that traveller should
not relate all that he has seen, for the
faith of the people will not be equal to the
marvelousness of his story. Indeed, it is
almost worth a mans reputation for truth
and veracity to recite the facts of the veg
etable kingdom of the Far West. Yet the
flora of the Pacific slope presents many
striking and original features. The trees,
shrubs, plants, fruits, flowers, MOSES, and
ferns never fail to attract the travellers
attention. The MOSES which cover the
rocks and adorn the limbs of the oak, as
we'll as the flowers by the way-side, are as
beautiful as they are rare. The rapid
growth of vegetables is something remark
able. Within a fortnight the appearance
of a given section of country is so changed
as to surprise the visitor on his RETURN
The fuchsia, which is here cultivated with
so much painstaking, there has a trunk as
large as a mans arm, and climbs on to the
house top. GeranumS make hedges so
as to turn cattle from their attempt to
cross them. The passion flower covers the
house all over, produing thousands of the
most charming blossoms ever S, Ell by NOR
tai eye.
The fruits are the largest and most lus-
cious in the world. Apples are there
raised fifteen and a half inches in circum-
ference; peaches four inches in diameter;
pears three times and plums four times
larger than the largest ever seen in the
east. The pear tree grows to the height of
one of our ordinary forCSt-trees. bears fruit
for seventy years, and each year yields Il
hundred bushels of that delicious fruit
\ single farmer will raise forty thousand
.l,L1.,
found which weigh 4 hundred pounds each;
Il squash will grow as large and weigh as
much as Il barrel of flour; and cabbage
head will grow as big as Eliiah's juniper
tree, and the traveller can sit beneath its
fragrant shade.
But the pride and glory of the flora of
California are the Sequoia Gigantca, or the
famous big trees, In 1912, a trapper was
hunting in the valley of Calaveras, and
accidentally came upon these giants of the
forest. Returning to his companions, he
related his discovery but the story was too
marvellous for them to credit. On his
return from second visit, he assured them
that he had wounded the ''biggest grizzly
bear he had ever seen" and asked their
help. The game was sufficiently tempting
to induce them to accompany him, and
upon arriving at the spot, he pointed to
one of the largest trees, saying: There,
boys, is the biggest grizzly l ever saw
There are seven groves of these mammoth
trees, located in different portions of the
State, two of which visited-the one at
Calavcras, and the other at Tuolumne.-
Taking the stage coach at Calf, we travelled
for one hundred miles over a rough, dusty
prairie, through valleys gloomy with the
shadows of ovcr-hanging cliffs, and over
mountains the prospect from which filed
the mind with delight. The hundred trees
Of Calavcras are in Il beautiful valley, five
Thousand feet above the level of the sea,
surrounded by grand lofty mountains
The soil is soft, deep, and fertile, and
remains moist, as the sunlight rarely pene-
trates the deep surrounding foliage. The
Scquoia GtgdnteH expand greatly at Il +
base, and tree measuring 106 feet in clr-
cumterCncc at its roots, measures but rs
feet at a point not twelve feet from the
ground. The seeds are very small, not
more than half an inch long, the sixth of
an inch wide, and almost as thin as writing
paper. 1t takes fifty thousand of them to
weigh a pound. The wood is soft, elastic,
straight grained, and of Il cinnamon color.
The bark is spongy formed in layers, and
measures eighteen inches thick. The cones
are not larger than hens egg, and the
leaves are small and of a bright green
color. The height of these trees is enor-
mous-some are one hundred feet higher
than the dome of our national Capitol.
AS we entered the grove, we saw on our
left an Octagonal building upon the stump
of tree which was cut down i'll the year
1853. In its prime and glory, that tree
must have been not less than three hundred
feet high and ninety feet i'll circumference.
Within that building and on that stump,
sinners dance on weekdays and saints
worship on Sundays. The building is
sufficiently large for newly married cou-
pie, giving them a comfortable parlor, din
ing-room, kitchen, two bedrooms, IL pan
try, two clothes presses, and room to spare.
1t required five men twenty-five days to fell
that tree. 1t was accomplished by boring
it off with pump-augurs; and yet, such is
the breadth of its base, the body of the
tree remained upright after the stem had
been severed from the trunk. To throw it
over, required three days labor, by insert
| ing wedges driven in with the butts of ordi-
nary trees, when the proud thing trembled
for a moment, and then fell. In the centre
| of the grove is the "Fallen Monarch"
seventy five feet i'll circumference, and
must have been three hundred feet high
We mounted it by means of Il ladder and
| along its massive sides we could have driven
a coach and two. Its name, its proud pro-
portions, its lowly position, filled the mind
with sadness, as it seemed the symbol of
fallen greatness. Not far from it is the
''Father of the Forest the largest tree of
all the grove, which lies half buried in the
| soil. 1t measures at its roots 10 feet in
circumference. 1t is two hundred feet to
the first branch, and when standing must
have been $50 feet high. The whole trunk
| is now hollow and we rode through it on