the floors of open valleys, usually growing singly or in small groves, often mixed with Pinus ponderosa and black oak.
Henry saw it in Oregon on the eastern spurs of the coast range near Kerby; and found it common on the road from there south-west across the Siskiyou range into Northern California, where it grew near Gasquet's Inn, about twenty miles inland from Crescent City on the coast. In these localities it occurred scattered on dry, sunny hills, in situations similar to that of Pinus ponderosa, at 2000 to 3000 feet altitude, and was not seen in shaded, moist ravines. The trees here are broadly pyramidal in habit, not assuming the columnar form of English cultivated trees, and of no great size, the largest measured being 123 feet by 11 feet 1 inch.
Plummer, in his report on the Cascade Forest Reserve, where a good illustration is given, on p. 102, of a grove of this tree, says:—"The incense cedar is almost always hollow-trunked or dry-rotted at the heart, even though the tree may have every outward appearance of perfect health. The wood has been very little used for any purpose but fuel or fencing, and is not cut when better is obtainable. It is said by Rothwell and Rix to ascend the mountains as high as 5750 feet."
Sudworth in his report on the Stanislaus and Lake Tahoe forest reserves[1] says that it is here an abundant tree at between 3500 and 5500 feet, but extends from 2000 to 7000 feet. Mature trees are from 80 to 100 feet high, and 4 to 7 feet in diameter, attaining these dimensions in from 100 to 200 years. Large trees, as shown by a photograph (plate cxiii. of Sudworth), are almost always rotten at heart. Reproduction by seed is good and abundant almost everywhere, especially in the drier situations.
The largest trees I have seen were on the lower slope of Mount Shasta at about 4000 feet, where I measured a tree 130 feet by 12 feet 7 inches which had been left standing when the surrounding forest was cut. Here it grew in company with Douglas fir, Abies concolor, and A. magnifica, on dry soil, and though the fruit on ist September was fully formed the seeds were not ripe. The average size of the trees here was go to 100 by 8 or 9 feet. Prof. Sheldon says that it attains 100 to 150 feet high by 3 to 7 feet diameter, but such dimensions are not common.
Cultivation
When raised from seed it is somewhat slow in growth at first, but in good nursery soil soon makes a well-rooted plant, which is proof against the worst spring and winter frosts, and seems hardy on heavy soil and in damp situations, where Thuya plicata is sometimes injured when young. It produces very little seed in this country, and these do not always mature, and in consequence is usually propagated by cuttings.
Though it seems doubtful at present whether this tree can be looked on as a timber tree in England, yet on account of its rather stiff and formal habit it is well suited for the formation of small avenues, and when planted close together, as at Ashridge Park, forms a dense shelter without any clipping.
- ↑ Washington, 1900.
