WONDERFUL QUALITIES OF CALIFORNIAN REDWOODS

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 3494, 2 November 1926, Page 13

WONDERFUL QUALITIES OF CALIFORNIAN REDWOODS

ADAPTED TO NEW ZEALAND CONDITIONS. VIRTUALLY FIREPROOF. The readiness with which Sequoia Sempcrvirens, to give the famous Redwood its proper title, has already adapted itself to the climate of New Zealand has excited great interest amongst forestry experts, said W. J. Keyes, 8.A., in his radio lecture from IYA (Auckland) the other night. The growth of Redwood in the Dominion exceeds that of its natural Californian habitat. For constructional and furniture purposes the Redwood tree has no equal. The Redwood seems to have been designed by nature to resist every destructive agency. The forest authorities have actually proved that the Redwood can resist fire. This may surprise many who have nOt made a careful study of the extraordinary Redwood qualities. The tree lacks resin and possesses a great amount of moisture in its cells; its bark is unusually thiek, and a large Redwood is virtually fireproof. No forest fire is capable of destroying, or even seriously Injuring a mature Redwood forest, even though it may destroy other species in the forest, and singe or scar the huge boles. So resistant is a Redwood to fire that it is. or has been, the common lumbering practice to burn over a timbered area after the trees have been felled, so as to get rid of the tops, bark, undergrowth, and debris generally in order that the task of getting out the logs may be facilitated. These clearing fires are made just as hot and destructive as possible, but they in no-way affect the quantity or quality of the lumber obtained from the mighty Redwood logs that come through them. No other tree caa stand such a test, and no fire is capable of destroying the vitality of the stumps and roots. A few months after lumbering, the green sprouts of future forest giants are in evidence everywhere; and they unite with bushes and saplings of other timber species to spread quickly a verdant cover of new life in the areas given t& lire. The Redwood is one of the immortals among trees. It flourished in the fargone ages, when man was a puny thing groping in the wilderness, am it will raise Its head triumphant the ages to come.