REPORTS — CALIFORNIA MIDDLE DISTRICT. 493 



doiii that tbnuder is heard or liglitniiig seen; high up in the mountains there is occasiouiilly a 

 tliniuler-storm. I have never seen a lightning-rod in the country, and doubt much whellicr sucli a 

 tiling liiis ever been erected. Ilail storms are of rare occurrence, and instead of taldny iilacc in 

 July and August, as is usual in the Eastern States, they happen here only between the months of 

 February and May. 



Tlie aurora borealis has been seldom seen in this State, perhaps not more than half a dozen times 

 within the last ten years. The aurora of the 28th day of August, 1859, seen over a great part of 

 the world, was, however, plainly visible in this State. 



Earthquakes are common in some parts of California, but they are seldom felt in any of the 

 counties comprising this district. 



The great number of cloudless days renders the climate a very dry one. Dew rarely falls, and 

 the earth becomes dry, and baked hard to the depth of many inches, and even feet. The grass and 

 herbage, except near springs or swampy lands, are dried up, and become as brown as the soil upon 

 which they grow. The atmosphere during the summer months becomes exceedingly dry, conse- 

 quently the heat is not nearly so oppressive as in other climates with atmospheres containing a great 

 deal of moisture. 



The botany and zoology of the district are peculiar to this country, and on that account quite 

 interesting, but in this report I can refer only to the more prominent characteristics of the subject 

 without entering into an elaborate description. Our trees are like and yet unlike those of the 

 Atlantic States. We have the oak, pine, spruce, sycamore, and horse-chestnut, yet any observant 

 man sees at a glance that they differ in many important particulars from the trees known by those 

 names elsewhere. California is noted for containing a number of the largest and most beautiful 

 coniferous trees in the world, growing to the height of three hundred feet, with a diameter corre- 

 sponding to their height, which in some instances measures twenty feet and upward. Among these 

 giants of the forest are the sugar-pine, red-fir, yellow-fir, and mammoth trees. Other conifers con- 

 tribute to the maguiflceuce of our forests. 



Thesugiir-i)ine, P/»Hs lambertiana, is preeminently the most magnificent tree of the forest, but 

 does not attain to the immense i)roportious of the mammoth tree. Sequoia gigantea. It strongly 

 resembles the white-pine, Pinus strobus, of the Eastern States. The mature tree sometimes reaches 

 the very great height of three hundred feet, with a diameter of twenty feet. The young trees of the 

 sugar-pine give early promise of a vigorous growth, and of the mnjesty to which they subsequently 

 attain. These trees are remarkably destitute of branches, and the trunk stands a perpendicular 

 cone, with small branches near the top, forming an evergreen wreath, apparently more for orna- 

 ment than for any useful purpose to the tree. The leaves are about three inches long, dark green, 

 and grow in groups of five. The cones are very large, and are sometimes found, under the trees, 

 from twelve to eighteen inches long, and from three to four inches in thickness. The wood is the 

 same as that of other white-pines, soft, homogeneous, straight-grainrd, clear, and free splitting. It 

 furnishes an excellent quality of lumber for inside work of houses, and is used extensively for 

 building-purposes. 



The mammoth tree. Sequoia gigantea, stands the acknowledged monarch of the forest. In a 

 grove of these trees in Calaveras County there are ten, each of which measures thirty feet in 

 diameter, and eighty which are between fifteen and thirty feet. One of these trees, which fell 

 many years ago, must have been at least forty feet in diameter and four hundred feet in height. 

 This tree is found only on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, between latitudes 

 34° and 41°. Its leaves are set in pairs, and are of two kinds, short and long. The coues are 

 small, not being much larger than a hen's egg, and the seeds are about a quarter of an inch in 

 length, and not much thicker than common writing-paper. The wood bears a close resemblance 

 to red-cedar, and is very durable. It grows in deep fertile soil in company with the various species 

 of pine, fir, spruce, and cedar. These groves are exceedingly dense, so much so that the rays of 

 the sun scarcely reach the earth. There is said to be a grove of these trees in Tulare County eight 

 miles in length, and some of the trees, it is said, measure at a height of twelve feet from the ground 

 the great circumference of one hundred and twenty feet. The groves of these trees are not by any 

 means common, and are generally confined to a comparatively small area of land. 



The yellow-pino, Pinus brachiiplnjlla, is a noble tree, and sometimes reaches a diameter of seven 



