, 1885-07-02
SOME FAMOUS BIG TREES.
Australian Giants That overtop Those OF
Californis-Eucaiyptus Colossal.

thliiornis- Eucalyptus Colossal.
New York SUM-
''IIere are the extremes Of plant life,
said n botanist, holding a microscopic
slide in one hand and a picture Of a
great tree in the other. This is a
diatom, one Of the smallest vegetable
organisms, invisible to the naked eye,
while this" iourishing the picture, ia
the largest tree as to height in the
world.
Zone of the sequoiasf'
''No,' was the reply. ''Cncle sam
has done pretty well with trees, but
when it comes 10 height the British
Lion takes the belt, rs the loftiest trees
are found in the Australian dominion.
This picture is a photograph Of one
found by a traveller in the Black range
OF Berwick. and il is estimated at 800
feet from the ground to the topmost
branch. Think Of it a moment, " con
tinued the speaker. Five hundred
feet means u good deal. 1t would dwarf
the Bartholdi statue; Trinity would
look like a telegraph pole compared to
it; the Brooklyn bridge would be no
where; Strasburg cathedral, the high
est building on the globe, would
be ffty-four feet below the birds
nests on the top branches, and, if the
giant was placed by the side of the pyr-
amid Of Cheops, the leaves OF the euca
lyptus would still be twenty feet above
IT,. That's the kind Of trees they have
in Australia, and they are undoubtedly
the largest on the globe, though it is
claimed that the California specimens
are more impressive from their greater
bulk.
The gun trees, as the Australian
giants are called, are a comparatively
modern discovery, and for q long time
it was impossible to approach them, but
now roads are broken, and travellers
can ride directly to the foot of several.
One Of the first known, a kanni euca-
lyptus Eucalyptus eolossea) of botan-
lists, was discovered in a glen Of the
Warren river, western Australia. When
found by n party of riders, it was pros
trate upon the ground, and four riders
abreast entered the trunk, that was es-
timatcd at 400 feet IN length. Another
species, T.. Amzgdaiina, measured by
Boyle in the gloomy forest Of Dauden-
ong, was found TO be APO feet long,
while another, now growing on the
Black Spur, ten miles from Healesyille,
is $50 feet high. These measurements,
you see, are far ahead Of the California
trees, one Of the largest, that | think is
known as The Father of the Forest, ,
only measuring 1856 feet, and being ITO
feet in circumference at the base. The
one called Tho Mother of the Forest,
measures SEQ feet in height, with a cir
conference at the base of 40 feet. When
they felled the famous Traveller in
1888, and, by the way, every man that
had a hand in it ought t have been
sent to Dry Tortugas, it took five or six
men nearly a month to bring it to the
ground, and they had all kinds Of tools
to work with, pump augurs, wedges, and
everything you could think Of.
For a good many years the trees
were subjected to all kinds Of indigni-
ties, and | have a list OF oyer thirty
names of so-called civilized human be
ings that | copied from the bark where
they had been carved. Nearly every
body feels called upon to do this; but
the rest, who have no knife or are too
lazy, have contented themselves with
building fires around the roots. Why
continued the excited botanist, upon
my word | would as soon think of cary
ing my name on my great-grandfather's
back, or of burning my grandmother at
the stake, as harminQ these trees