CHICO FORESTRY SUBSTATION, SACRAMENTO VALLEY. 



331 



The lowest point of 18 was reached April 17, 1883, when the spring 

 growth of many grapevines was killed. It was again reached in the 

 spring of IScSS. The minimum of 20 has been reached on many occa- 

 sions. March 17, 1898, the minimum was 22, and this destroyed a 

 good deal of the fruit crop. Large trees of Eucalyptus globulus, a foot 

 or more in diameter, were killed to the ground in 1883, and others have 

 been injured on several occasions since. The species of eucalyptus 

 described as hardy here have withstood 20 at the station. The extreme 

 maximum of 115 has not yet been recorded at the station (since 1894). 

 The summer heat, while great, is not a moist heat, and is easily endured. 



Climatic Vicissitudes of the Past. The late GeneralJohn Bid well, whose 

 invaluable and characteristic pioneer recollections have been drawn upon 

 by every historian of California, furnished us a very interesting synop- 

 sis of the seasons before 1852, in the Sacramento Valley. The following 

 notes were taken from his conversation on the subject in May, 1898: 



Additions to Arboretum, Etc. In the spring of 1898 many specimen 

 trees, in some cases from ten to one hundred of a sort, were planted in 

 the arboretum or in forest form. The additions include the following 

 oaks: Quercus alba, Q. bicolor, Q. cerris, Q. coccinea, Q. densiflora, Q. 

 Dovglasii, Q. dumnsa, Q. ilex, Q. imbricatia, Q. macrocarpa, Q. nigra, Q. 

 phellos, Q. robur, Q. rubrn, Q. Wixlizeni. 



The other additions were chiefly deciduous, and included Aphanantha 

 aspera, two species of Celtis, three species of Colutea, two of Fraxinus, 

 several of Robinias and Gleditschias, two species of Rhus, economically 

 valuable, and a number of species from the southern Alleghanies, the trees 

 of which region seem to thrive better here than at any other California 

 substation. A dozen fine trees of Arbutus Menziesii (the Madrono) were 

 set in the arboretum. 



