gated, and their valuable timber and rapid growth, will doubtless give them great value cultivation in the future. Of more present value is the red-wood, (Sequoia sempervireua,) which only grows very near the sca, between latitude 36° and 43°, and on portions of this coast forms forests riValing, if indeed not exceeding, any found elsewhere on the earth. The trees are often ten, and sometimes exceed more than twenty feet in diameter, very straight, 200 to 300 feet high; and the wood, which is light, is straight-grained, very durable, and adapted to many uses. It is extensively cut, and the lum ber shipped to South America, the Pacific islands, China, and even to New Zealand. It is rapidly diminishing in quantity, and the only slight compensation is that when cut a new growth sprouts from the stump, which is not true of any other timber tree belonging to the Coniferce. California cedar (Librocedrus decur rens) occurs in the mountains of large size. Several species of cypress, (Cupressqs,) the Cali fornia nutmeg, ( Torreya.) and cedars of smaller size abound. Among the broad leaved trees there are many of great beauty, but there is a great lack of hard woods. The laurel, (Tetran thera Californica,) has been sparingly used in ship building; an ash, one maple, (neither abun dant,) and some of the oaks do service where smaller hard woods are needed, but the supply is deficient. But among these trees are some of marvelous beauty, particularly among the oaks. Two cottonwoods, two sycamores, the Madrona, (Arbutus Menztesii,) and other trees are not rare.
The liata for Alaska are insufficient to construct a map of distribution and density of timber with reasonable accuracy; so the attempt is not made. Some portions of that extensive territory are heavily wooded, other portions are treeless, and there is every gradation, but the relative areas of each, and their boundaries, are un known. Official reports speak of the forests as being really magnificent, covering the lower hills and uplands with dense masses of pine, spruce, fir, hemlock, cedar, and other valuable timber, principally evergreens. Again, that the forests extend almost to the water's edge along the southern shores, but north and east of the Alaskan peninsula they exist only in the in terior, except at the heads of bays and sounds, while the inland forests are abundant, extending to within a short distance of the Arctic Ocean. In establishing the United States military post of Fort Tongas, in clearing the timber for this post, a magnificent growth of yellow cedar trees, eight feet in diameter and 150 feet in height was found. Nearly the whole of the Yukon district is well supplied with timber; and much more appears to the same effect. Of the species on the Yukon, Mr. Dall states that the white spruce, (Abies alba,) is the largest and most valuable tree found in the Yukon district. The next in importance is the birch (Rtula glandulosa). Various other species are mentioned.