BOTANY. 363 



measuring one hundred and twenty-five feet from side to side. 

 The trunk, which occasionally grows to be eight feet through, 

 throws out large horizontal boughs within ten feet of the 

 ground, and above that point the trunk is soon lost among 

 the large branches. The tree furnishes no straight timber, and 

 the wood is so soft and brittle as to be of no use in the arts ; 

 whereas the white oak of the Mississippi Valley is a most 

 valuable tree, with a trunk so tall and straight, that sills and 

 beams of it sixty feet long are common, and with a wood so 

 tough, that it supplies all the axles and plough-beams of the 

 country. The Californian white oak is not even fit for fence- 

 rails. The tree, however, is very beautiful and majestic, and 

 the open groves of it in the valleys and foot-hills, form, as 

 Dr. Newberry says, " the most important element in those 

 scenes of quiet beauty which so often excite the admiration of 

 the traveler in California." The tree bears much resemblance 

 in form and size to the oak x>f England, the groves of it appear- 

 ing like the English parks. At the ends of the large boughs 

 are branches which hang down like vines giving the tree a 

 weeping character; and one tree in Napa Valley is very 

 strongly marked in that respect. The acorns are large, some- 

 times two and a half inches long. They once formed the chief 

 article of food of the Californian Indians. 



The fulvous oak ( Quercus fulvescens) is a deciduous tree 

 that grows about thirty feet high, with leaves somewhat like 

 those of the Western chinquapin. The acorn, when young, is 

 concealed in the cup, the two together resembling a little 

 wheel ; but the acorn, when mature, is an inch and a half 

 long, and projects considerably beyond the cup. The wood is 

 tougher than that of most of the oaks of California. 



Kellogg's oak (Quercus kellogyii) is a large deciduous tree, 

 found only in California. Its leaves are deeply sinuate, with 

 three principal lobes on each side, terminating in several acute 

 points. It bears fruit only in alternate years, or at least most 

 abundantly every other year. An idea prevails that the acorns 

 give to swine a disease of the kidneys. 



