174 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



factor in the future history of forestry in California. The 

 forestry meeting followed a large out-of-door meeting 

 presided over by President Benjamin Ide Wheeler, held 

 by the College of Agriculture, in dedication of Hilgard 

 Hall, at which the life and work of Dr. Hilgard and his 

 influence on the agriculture of California were depicted 

 in several interesting addresses. During the day, the en- 

 tire building was open to visitors, each of the seven di- 

 visions occupying the building, displaying its apparatus 

 pnd method of work in the new quarters. 



It is singularly fitting that forestry should be housed 

 in a building named for Dr. Eugene Waldemar Hilgard. 

 for thirty years Dean of the College of Agriculture. He 

 was called to the University of California in 1875 and 

 established here the first Agricultural Experiment Sta- 

 tion in the United States. Although his interest centered 

 in the study of 

 soils, in which 

 subject he be- 

 came the coun- 

 trv's leading au- 

 thority, he was 

 always interest- 

 ed in trees and 

 their propaga- 

 tion and many 

 of the trees on 

 the campus were 

 planted either by 

 himself or un- 

 der his supervis- 

 ion. He intro- 

 duced and ex- 

 perimented with 

 the Cork oak of 

 Spain (Quercus 

 suber), the Eng- 

 lish oak (Quer- 

 cus robus), sev- 

 eral species of 

 Eucalyptus and 

 other exotics. 

 His faith that 

 trees could be 

 successfully grown in the semi-arid Berkeley Hills has 

 been justified, not only by the- large number of trees 

 which now beautify the campus, but by several thousand 

 acres of successful watershed plantings which clothe the 

 hills from Richmond to Redwood Peak. A plantation 

 of Blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus) which stands just 

 south of the new building as a living monument to his 

 interest in trees, is now 35 years old, and though but 

 eight-tenths of an acre in area, contains over 200 cords 

 of wood. So it is that the Forestry Division feels very 

 much at home in a building with the name of Hilgard 

 above the door. 



Hilgard Hall occupies the most prominent position on 

 the campus with respect to the City of Berkeley and is 

 in several ways an unique building. It is one of four 



This gives a good idea of the size and equipment of each of the other three research 

 though this one has been temporarily fittei 

 Forestry Club. 



up as a 



buildings presented to the University by the people of 

 California, by a vote of $1,800,000 of State bonds, in 

 November, 1914, and is the second of three buildings 

 which will some day form the complete agricultural 

 quadrangle. The structure is one of the few buildings 

 in the United States to be decorated in colors by means 

 of Sgraffita work, an Italian method of decoration ob- 

 tained by means of sculptured colored layers of plaster 

 one over the other. The ornamental designs thus brought 

 out in shades of old rose and brown against the grey 

 plaster finish, are symbolic of various agricultural ac- 

 tivities. The sheaf of wheat, the flail and basket, the 

 bull's head and fruits predominate in the design, while 

 forestry is represented by sprays of oak leaves and acorns. 

 The building is, roughly, 300 feet long by 60 feet wide, 

 but has four distinct turnings to conform to the archi- 

 tectural plan for 

 the Agricultural 

 group of build- 

 ings which calls 

 for an inner 

 court, following 

 the plan of old 

 Tuscan farms. 

 The principal 

 facade, 180 feet 

 in length, faces 

 the west and its 

 ten massive col- 

 umns are sur- 

 mounted by an 

 attic wall bear- 

 ing in large 

 s c u 1 ptured let- 

 ters the inscrip- 

 tion which typi- 

 fies the aim of 

 the institution, 

 "To Rescue for 

 Human Society 

 the Native Val- 

 ues of Rural 

 Life." From the 

 top of this wall 

 a splendid view of San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate 

 and Mount Tamalpais, unfolds to the west, while the soft 

 browns of the Berkeley Hills to the east, broken here and 

 there by the green of plantations, completes a fascinat- 

 ing panorama. The building is roofed in red tile and in 

 arrangement and appearance is of the same general type 

 as all the newer campus buildings, having three main 

 floors and a basement floor. Its erection marks another 

 step toward completion of the Phoebe Apperson Hearst 

 plan for the development of the campus, which is pro- 

 gressing under the direction of Mr. John Galen Howard, 

 the supervising architect. 



Hilgard Hall cost $350,000 to build, and an additional 

 $25,000 was expended for its equipment. Six divisions 

 of the College of Agriculture, besides Forestry, are 



ONE OF THE RESEARCH LABORATORIES 



laboratories, al- 

 club room and reading room for the men of the 



