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the character of the trees and plants which we saw in the 

 gardens and streets. Instead of the ehns, maples, &c., 

 which prevail at the East, we saw the Cape of Good Hope, 

 Mexican, and some other semi-tropical trees and plants. 

 These trees are everywhere planted as common, and they 

 grow as easily as willows do with ns. So rapid is their 

 development that we saw an Australian Eucalyptus tree 

 which was fifty feet in height, five feet in circumference of 

 trunk, and only six years old ; and a Pinus Insignis six 

 years old, forty feet high. We also saw fuchsias (ladies' 

 ear-drop) ten feet high, with heads of four to six feet 

 broad ; beds of scarlet geranium of immense size and ten; 

 feet high, and in many instances trained to reach the second 

 story windows of the house ; in one garden a fuchsia 

 hedge of eight feet in height, with stems as large as a. 

 man's arm ; such tender trees and plants as we grow under 

 glass arc here found in open ground for ornament. 



The Collector of the Port of San Francisco, Mr. Phelps,., 

 very kindly invited us to visit the forts, islands, and other 

 objects of interest in the harbor. On this delightfid ex- 

 cursion we saw some plants well worthy of note. At 

 Black Point, Gen. Ord's quarters, there was a glowing 

 mass of scarlet geraniums, full ten feet high, noticeable 

 fiir out in the bay ; tree mallows and fuchsias of enormous, 

 size. At Fort Alcatraz we saw a trellis of ivy-leaved 

 geranium, six feet high ; a mass of flowers, forming a 

 division fence ; tree heliotropes and fuchsias, seeming 

 more like trees than greenhouse plants. At Angel Island, a. 

 charming spot, we noticed a hedge of rose geranium fifty 

 feet long and nine feet in height ; and this same plant 

 grown as standards, with clean stems and large heads at. 

 least five feet high and four broad. Hoses were every- 

 where seen in gardens, even our delicate Tea and Noi- 

 sette roses, attaining extraordinary size. We beheld fine 

 rose trees six feet high, with stems as large as the arm ; 

 and in some instances climbing to the top of a three-story 

 house. Greenhouse plants, such as are seen in our win- 

 dows for house plants, here in the open air reach eight 



