330 



UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT STATION. 



and among the species grown there and in lath-covered frames were 

 upward of. forty species of conifers, which were mostly removed to 

 nursery or to plantations, in the winter of 1899. Many of these species 

 are new to California. 



CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. 



As shown in the foregoing pages, the climate of this portion of the 

 Sacramento Valley must be exceedingly favorable to the growth of a 

 great variety of trees. The rainfall is usually abundant and the sum- 

 mers, though hot, are tempered by sea breezes. The most serious diffi- 

 culties are caused by late and often severe frosts. Still the lists of 

 species of trees and shrubs represented at the station and published in 

 previous reports, show that there are gains as well as losses. Many oaks 

 and other hardwood trees grow especially well here. The limitations of 

 the district are more distinctly marked in the case of the eucalypts and 

 acacias than in that of any other class of trees. 



Rainfall. The following table, chiefly compiled from observations 

 made by A. L. Nichols, of Chico, covers fifteen successive seasons: 



RAINFALL AT CHICO SEPTEMBER, 1885, TO JUNE, 1SOO. 



The average annual rainfall, on the basis of this table, is 26.06 inches. 

 In the fifteen years the rainfall twice fell below 15 inches, and four times 

 below 20 inches. Four times, however, it was above 30 inches. 



The total rainfall of the dry season of 1897-8 was distributed as fol- 

 lows: September, .09; October, 3.24; November, 1.27; December, 1.98; 

 January, .73; February, 2.69; March, .13; April, .46. 



The rainfall for December, 1889, which was 12.64 inches, was more 

 than the entire rainfall of the season of 1897-8; and the total of 

 December and January, 1889, was 22.18 inches, which surpasses the 

 rainfall for four of the twelve seasons herein tabulated. 



Temperature. The following temperature statistics are compiled from 

 fifteen years' observations, ending with 1898, and made by the railroad 

 agent at Chico and by various Weather Bureau agents: 



Average winter temperature - 46.9 



Average spring temperature 62.4 



Average summer temperature . 81.1 



Average autumn temperature ^ 64.1 



Average annual temperature 63.6 



Highest temperature 115.0 



Lowest temperature _ - --- 18.0 



