I
EIGHT MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE
Sunday, June 16, 1952
Fossil' Trees, 60,000,000 Years Old, Now Grown
Throughout World; Several in Rogue River Valley
u
Metasequoia, Once
Thought Extinct,
Discovered in China
Medford Forester
Raises 8 From Seed
Fossils of past ages provide
the irregular links with what
has gone' before. When a fossil
becomes "alive" after a sleep
of UDwards of 60,000,000 years,
something of a stir is created
in the scientific world.
Such a stir happened in 1945
when a Chinese forester, T.
Wang, found a strange tree, the
metasequoia, and took speci
ments to the head of the Fan
Memorial Institute of Biology
In Peking, China, Dr. h. H. Hu.
The Institute head as a matter
of course sent specimens to Dr.
Elmer P. Morrill, at the Arnold
Arboretum of Harvard univer
sity where he had studied.
Expedition Sent
Correspondence followed in
SeDtember. 1947, Dr. Merrill
sent $250 ($9,750,000 in Chinese
money) to pay the cost of an
exoedition to explore for more
trees and to get seeds for more
planting. On September A, tne
expedition left Nanking by air
and on September 11 was at
Metasequoialand. The party re
turned in December with an am
ple supply of seeds which were
forwarded to Dr.. Morrill on
Jan. 5, 1948, who immediately
sent out over 600 packets and
a large quantity of bulk seeds
all over the world.
The seeds were distributed
with the Idea of finding where
they might thrive in the varied
climates and soils of the earth.
By March, 1948, seedlings were
thriving, among other places, in
British Columbia, Washington,
Oregon, California, New York,
Washington, D. C; Montreal,
Canada; London, England; Edin
burgh, Scotland; Paris, France;
Geneva, Switzerland; Australia,
North 'Africa, parts of Asia,
Columbia, Honduras, and coastal
parts of Nova Scotia.
Reports were received by the
Arnold Arboretum from every
country to which seeds were
ent, except Russia. A recipient
of some of the seeds in the Rogue
river valley was John Gribble,.
139 Kenwood avenue, Medford,
a retired U. S. forest service
acting supervisor, whose hobby
la collecting and raising rare
trees.
Gribble successfully raised
eight seedlings, all but two ot
which have been given to gar
den clubs or individuals. Since
he received his first seeds, Grib
ble has been In constant cor
respondence with Dr. Merrill at
the Arboretum. The local forest
er states that his chief interest
in the metasequoia growth is
to "give credit where it is due."
He cited that certain individuals
have tried to capitalize on the
discovery of the "living fossil,"
but that the Arnold Arboretum
has been the sole force in getting
the seeds out of China and in
distributing them.
Make False Claims
Gribble quoted a letter written
him recently by Dr, Merrill
which says, In part; ", . . certain
palcobotanists who have nothing
whatever to do with the meta
sequoia discovery see an oppor
tunity for institute and personal
publicity and have led the public
with the idea that they or their
Institution brought the first In
troduction of metasequoia Into
the United States. As a matter
of fact, all mctasequoias came
from the one Arnold Arboretum
expedition in 1947, as no bota
nist or collector has visited Meta
sequoialand since that date."
Another common misconcep
tion about the trees, Gribble
said, is that the genua is related
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FOUND IN CHINA The metasequoia, be
lieved extinct for about 60,000,000 years, was
discovered to still be in existence in 1045 by a
Chinese forester who discovered the trees in a
remote valley in China. An expedition in 1947,
financed by Harvard university's Arnold Ar
boretum, went by airplane to the remote valley
called Metasequoialand and found 1,500 of the
"living fossil" trees, some reaching a height of
140 feet and seven feet in diameter. Seeds were
r.' Vf5r saS '.?"s. It' F ' J
PLANTED HERE Pictured
metasequoia tree grown from seed
Kenwood avenue, Medford, which
park. Gribble successfully raised
Arboretum seed sent out alter the
away all except two of the trees
parks and individuals. The tree has grown almost four feet since
the seed was received. They have grown more rapidly In other
climates, with one reaching 124 feet in four years at Chapel
Hill, N C.
to the redwoods. They have in
correctly termed "dawn red
woods." Citing Dr. Merrill's let
ter, Gribble stated that the meta
sequoia is "certainly not in the
ancestry of the redwood and is
regarded as a cousin of the
swamp cypress and resembles
the Larch." He quoted Dr. Mer
rill as saying tne tree's only re
semblance to the sequoia is in
its name.
The tree sheds Its needles In
the spring like the Larch and as
such goes under the botanical
name of glyptostroboides. The
name suggested by Dr. Hu in
China for a new genus is meta
sequoiaceac. The tree's mature size was dis
taken from the trees and have now been planted
in all sections of the world. The tree's rapid
growth and its texture, which resembles white
pine, makes interest in it keen, especially in
England where it is grown commercially. Pic
tured above is a metasequoia in China with
pagan shrines surrounding its base. The natives
of the area worship here and give offerings to
their gods. The tree sheds its needles in the fall
and resembles the swamp cypress and Larch.
above Is a rare three-year-old
by John Gribble (above), 139
is now planted in Hawthorne
eight seedlings from the Arnold
China expedition, and has given
to Rogue valley garden clubs,
1,500 of them were found with
some towering 140 feet In the air
with 7-foot diameters. The age
and magnitude of the trees are
such that the Chinese natives of
Metasequoialand build shrines
at their bases (see picture) where
they make their prayers and
gifts to their pagan gods.
Gribble said the name "liv
ing fossil" stems from the fact
that the trees are almost the
exact counterpart of fossil trees
which flourished in Oregon mil'
lions of years ago. Specimens of
tliosfi trees were uncovered tills
spring in the yard of the high
school at Fossil, Ore., during
excavations which were being
made.
cial features of the tree is its
rapid growth. A specimen given
to the Medford Garden club by
Gribble and planted in Haw
thorne park (see picture) has
grown four feet in three years,
while in other places the tree
growth has been even more
rapid. In Chapel Hill, N. C,
the tallest of 20 metasequoias
reached 12V4 feet this spring
after four years; a tree at Santa
Barbara, Calif., grew five feet
in one year; and a tree in Port
land, Ore., grew 8V4 feet in four
years.
Leo Isaac of the U. S. forest
service, is quoted by the Port
land Oregonian as saying this
growth is faster than that of the
fnoy the convenience
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IATTERIES FOR All AIDS
Too Many Doctors
Seen for America
In Next Few Years
Chicago (U.R) The nation
may have too many doctors with
in a few years, according to the
American Medical Association's
director of economic research.
Dr. Frank G. Dickinson said
that medical training facilities
have been expanding too rapidly.
He said he'd rather see the
money spent for training chem
ists, physicists and teachers.
Own Opinion
Dickinson was interviewed at
the 101st annual convention of
the AMA. He emphasized that
the opinion about the future sup
ply of doctors was his own. The
AMA has no stand on the sub
ject, he said.
Dickinson is not a physician
but a doctor of philosophy. He
taught economics for 25 years
at the University of Illinois. He
said there were many opinions
about how many doctors are
needed in the United States, but
Douglas fir in its natural nam
tat in Oregon.
The largest plantation of tne
trees is found in Shropshire,
England, under the supervision
of Major Ackers, Gloucester,
Gribble said, where 2,000 trees
are set out on 1,000 acres in a
serious commercial venture.
Other large plantations of the
trees are In Wales and South
Africa.
Like White Pine
The wood, according to Dr.
Merrill, resembles that of our
native white pine, and was used
for building purposes in China.
Merrill also states that the tree
may some day be widely planted
in England as a timber tree.
Gribble stated that such wood
"very valuable" as the old
white pine was extremely light,
being known on the rivers as
"cork pine", because it floats so
high in the water.
Dr, Merrill also sent taiwania
seeds, which also grow in China,
to Gribble, but they died. The
latter said he knows of one tree,
eight feet tall, in Golden Gate
park which survived. Seeds of
the cryptomeria, which resem
ble our redwoods and are grown
in Japan, have just been re
ceived by Gribble from 'Dr.
Merrill.
Several Given
Besides two or three indivld
als, Gribble has given metase
quoia seedlings to the Ashland
Garden club (placed in Lithia
park). Grants Pass park, and
Illinois Valley Garden club.
These small trees, if they con
tinue to thrive, will be, in truth,
Dr. Merrill's "living fossils" and
a tangible wooden link with an
age we formerly knew only by
fossil imprints in the rocks of
time.
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he personally feels there may be
enough now. He said the big
problem is their distribution.
"There are too many doctors
in New York and Chicago,"
Dickinson said. "Some of them
should move into other commu.
nities."
Many Erroneous Ideas
Many doctors, he said, have
erroneous ideas about practicing
in the big cities. He cited federal
government figures which show
ed doctors could make more
money in smaller towns.
In 1949, the figures showed
the average physician's income
was $11,058. The highest aver
age was in cities between 50,000
and 500,000 population $12,766
for cities between 250,000 and
500,000. The income started ta
pering off in cities of more than
500,000 population.
"The wives have more to say
about where doctors will prac
tice than the doctors themselves,"
Dickinson said. "They like the
cities. My advice is for internes
to stay single till they can get
located."
Advances Blamed
Dickinson said that technolo
gical advances have had the ef
fect of providing the nation with
more doctors.
"In the last 12 years physi
cians' output has increased one
third," he said. He explained that
doctors now can handle more pa-
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101 S. RIVERSIDE
Higher Priority Urged
For Shipments to Chiang
Washington (U.R) Adm. Ar
thur W. Radford, commander-in-chief
of the Pacific fleet, urged
higher priority Friday for ship
ment of modern military and
naval equipment to Chinese Na
tionalist forces on Formosa.
Radford told reporters at a
news conference that one reason
he came here Sunday is to seek
more of "everything" for Gen
eralissimo Chiang Kai-Shek's
troops.
tients than formerly. Wonder
drugs have speeded recoveries,
expanded transportation facil
ities bringing patients to doctors
rather than doctors to the pa
tients, there are more hospital
beds and doctors are using more
technical assistants, he said.
There are about 210,000 physi
cians in the nation, Dickinson
said, three-quarters of whom are
practicing actively. About 6,000
more will come out of medical
schools this month, he said. By
1960 there will be 30 per cent
more graduates. About 3,700 doc
tors die annually.
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