The Big Trees of California.
PROF. BREWER points out two errors that are current about them, one relating to their hight, and the other to their age. The “Father of the Forest” is generally said to have been 450 feet high when in his glory. The fact is, no one knows how high it was. When the grove was first seen by white men, the prostrate tree was already part rotten, and the whole top burned away. The highest tree in the Calaveras grove is 225 feet, and the highest in the Mariposa 272 feet. The highest in the Kings River grove is 300 feet. As to their age, there is no reason to believe that even the eldest began its growth “long before David reigned in Israel,” as people are fond of asserting. One of these trees was felled in 1853, and found to be sound to the core. Its age is known to within a few years, and it began its growth more than 2,500 years after David died. It is possible that some of the oldest trees of this species may have begun its growth 2,000 years ago, but not at all probable that any reached back to within a thousand years of the time of the Jewish king.—Silver State.