Florida has furnished the world with red cedar for lead pencils for years, and it is said that during the Civil War, when the whole southern coast was blockaded, the European manufacturers were obliged to scour the world to find a substitute for the Florida cedar.
CHAPTER XI
THE BIG TREES
Fig. 131. Big Trees scarred by Fire at the Base. Redwood Meadow, California
Each section of country has its own peculiar trees, and those described have been mainly representative of the eastern states; but no list of American trees would be complete without the “big trees,” as they are commonly called, of California. The annual rings of these giants show them to be from two thousand to four thousand years old.
Fig. 132. Big Trees, “General Grant” and “General Sherman,” Calaveras County, California