HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 341 



ment. But this is said to be a democratic country and we are 

 all Jeifersonians. 



Eight p, M. finds us back at headquarters at San Francisco, 

 where, upon our arrival, we find that we are under marching or- 

 ders for to-morrow morning. An excursion had been planned to 

 carry us up through the Santa Eosa valley and also for a steam- 

 boat ride out through the Golden Gate the next day. Our equip- 

 ments were at hand early the next morning and we took the boat 

 across the bay to where the train was waiting to convey us north 

 as far as the great redwood forests, where are seen some of the 

 largest trees in the world only excepting those of a similar species, 

 the Sequoi Gigantea, found growing in Miraposa county. Some 

 of those trees are between two hundred and three hundred feet 

 high, without any large sized branches, and as straight as an 

 arrow. The stump from which the plank was made and which 

 was exhibited at the centennial in 1876 we found to measure 

 twenty-one feet in diameter clear of the bark. Under the brave 

 leadership of the ladies in command we soon had stormed its 

 heights and stood conquerors triumphant beneath the banners, 

 and in the name of the American Horticultural Society. 



We now return to Santa Rosa where carriages, a banquet and 

 a host of friends are waiting to extend a hearty welcome; but I 

 will not particularize. Our line of march has been one constant 

 innovation; the ladies have done themselves i^roud; our victories 

 have been comj)lete, and we have carried away many trophies 

 which we shall hold in lasting remembrance. 



We go to San Francisco for the night, but to-morrow morning 

 return to San Raphael upon the invitation of Hon, Wm. T. Cole- 

 man, at whose hands a bull's head breakfast is to be served com- 

 plimentary to ourselves and in remembrance of the days of the 

 old regular forty-niners. What a bull's head breakfast was, 

 anyway, no one could even guess, and we felt the more anxious 

 to lay ourselves open for an attack. The early morn again found 

 us in line, and by forced marches we were soon upon the ground 

 where carriages, hacks, what-nots, and everything that could be 

 called into requisition were in readiness to convey us wherever 

 our presence was most needed. We formed in procession and 

 commenced our march with Mr. Coleman in the lead, who 

 seemed anxious to show it all. So we rode around to the east 

 side of the town all the forenoon, and those of us who had come 

 expecting a ten o'clock breakfast were a little disappointed to 

 find that the morning ride had occupied the time till one o'clock. 



