SURGEONS REPORTS — CALIFORNIA NORTHERN DISTRICT. 481 



Quercus agrifolia. — This is a common tree, and rises from fortj' to fifty feet in Leight, and is a 

 foot or more in diameter. 



Quercus tinctoria. — This is also a common tree, and varies but little, if any, from the Q. 

 tinctoria of the Atlantic States. The bark is valuable for tanning-purposes. The acorns are larger 

 than those of the Atlantic variety, and the glands are sometimes more than two-tldrds immersed in 

 the cup, with the upper scales elongated. The largest acorns are an inch and a quarter in length. 



Quercus hindsii. — This is a tall tree, with a trunk varying from one to three feet in diameter; it 

 is common in the valley of the Sacramento, and on the plains in the vicinity of Marysville. It is 

 remarkable for the unusual length of its acorns. These are sometimes two inches in length, taper- 

 ing at the point, or rather obtuse at the summit, and frequently curved. The cup is luberculate, 

 with a thickened scale. These are a staple food with the Indians ; they are first baked, then pul- 

 verized in a stone mortar, and finally moistened and rubbed up with baked or boiled salmon, or 

 other fish, and baked in the ashes, or on a slab of stone or wood. 



Quercus virens — Live-oak. — This is found in great abundance in the valley of the Sacramento, 

 but is not mentioned by Dr. Torrey. It attains the height of eighty to one hundred feet, and is 

 from two to four feet in diameter. The timber is free, excessively hard, tenacious, and durable. 



Populus monili/erus — Spanish Alamo poplar. — This is a common tree, found in low ground?, 

 and on the banks of streams. It is not valuable for timber, as the wood is soft and quickly decays. 

 It is sometimes grown for shade. 



A great variety of willows are found in this district. Salix hindsii grows in great abundance 

 in the valleys of the Sacramento and Feather Rivers. Branches very slender, pale brown, leaves 

 about an inch and a half long and two or three lines wide, thinly pubescent. The charcoal from 

 this tree is well adapted to the manufacture of gunpowder. 



The Spanish madrona and manzanita are indigenous to this district. The first is a tree from 

 forty to fifty feet in height, and from one to two feet in diameter. The bark is remarkable for its rosy 

 flesh color and smoothness. The wood is fine and hard^ and admits of a high polish. It is much 

 used in ornamental work. 



The manzanita is a shrub, which rises some twenty or thirty i'eet in height, with many stems 

 starting from one root, which steins are from three to six inches in diameter. The bark, like that 

 of the madrona, is perfectly smooth, and of a beautiful mahogany color. Both bear fruit resembling 

 the apple in shape, though only a miniature of it in size. 



The madrona fruit is of a beautiful vermilion color; the taste is of a sweetish flavor, with a 

 little astriugency, and it is much valued by the native Indians. The fruit of the manzanita, when 

 ripe, is of a dark purple, quite acid, and is also used bj' the Indians. 



Nearly every variety of known grasses is cultivated here. The wild oat, an indigenous plant, 

 is found everywhere in the valleys and on the mountains ; it is also improved by cultivation, and 

 forms a staple article of hay. 



Of the cereals, Indian corn, barley, wheat, oats, buckwheat, and rye are cultivated success- 

 fully. Potatoes, the common and the Carolina variety ; flax and hemp also are abundant. 



Almost all vegetables known in any pare of the world are grown here, the mountains and val- 

 leys affording the necessary variety of climate. So with fruits, the pear, apple, quince, plum, and 

 cherry, of the northern climate, flourish well. Also the peach, fig, apricot, and pomegranate. 

 Every variety of the grape grows in the greatest profusion. Tobacco of the finest quality has been 

 manufactured from plants grown in the valleys of this district. Perhaps there is no climate in the 

 world better adapted to the growth of this staple than that of the Sacramento Valley. 



Cotton-culture has not thus far been successful ; experiments are still being made, as well as 

 experiments in the cultivation of rice on tulare-lands. 



The soils are mostly as follows : In the valley-bottoms, sandy loam, usually combined with 

 muck, which gives the soil a dark color. On the second table-grounds, white, tenacious clay, sand 

 and clay, and red and yellow clay. On the hills and mountains, red and yellow clay mixed with 

 sand and loam, sand and loam or light siliceous soil. The red and yellow soils of the hills are 

 found to produce grapes of much finer flavor than the bottom-grounds of the valleys. The fruit is 

 smaller, ripens sooner, and is of much higher flavor. 

 01 



