V 



328 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT STATION. 



E. CHICO FORESTRY SUBSTATION, SACRAMENTO VALLEY. 



(One mile east of Chico, and one and a half miles from the foothills of the Sierras. 



Elevation, 230 feet. 



The Chico forestry station was originally a part of the famous Rancho 

 Chico (26,000 acres ), belonging to the late General John Bidwell. This 

 great estate contains some of the finest oak groves known to exist in 

 California. Portions of it still remain as wild as when the Sacramento 

 Valley was discovered, and have been the delight of such botanists as 

 the late Dr. C. C. Parry, the late Professor Asa Gray, and Sir Joseph 

 Hooker. 



TREE GROWTH ON RANCHO CHICO. 



General Bidwell began to plant native California trees as early as 

 1856, and added to his arboretum many of the finer exotics, until his 

 collection is in some important particulars one of the finest on the 

 Pacific Coast. The most of his tree-planting was done in 1868, but 

 has been continued at intervals ever since. Many specimens of Pinyx 

 sabiniana and Pinus ponderosa planted in 1856 now have trunks of frop: 

 8 feet 10 inches to 11 feet in circumference, and are more than 100 f< ; 

 high. Of Sequoia gigantea and S. sempervirens there are many spe- 

 mens 80 and 90 feet high and girthing from 4 to 5-| feet. A native cot- 

 ton wood (Populus Fremontii), which has grown to its present size since 

 1856, measures 16 feet in circumference of trunk, and is 100 feet high. 

 Among trees planted about 1868 are the following: Quercus robur, 50 

 feet high, girth 25 inches; Quercus cerris, 45 feet high, girth 22 inches; 

 Juglans Calif ornica, 80 feet high, girth 13 feet; Salisburia adianti folia, 

 40 feet high, girth 3 feet 3 inches: Camphora officinalis, height 70 feet, 

 girth 6 feet 4 inches. Another camphor girths 9 feet, but is of more 

 spreading habit. The growth of many American oaks, of pecans and 

 hickories, of the Liriodendron, the European linden, elms, and other 

 deciduous trees, has been surprisingly rapid. At the same time the 

 finer spruces, firs, cryptomerias, and other conifers have done quite as 

 well as the deciduous trees. There is as yet no complete catalogue of 

 the native and exotic trees on Rancho Chico, but the station is accumu- 

 lating data for such a publication at some future period. 



Native Oak Groves. One of the most remarkable features of Rancho 

 Chico and the surrounding district, from a forestry standpoint, consists 

 of very fine and large groves of second-growth white oak (Q. lobata). 

 These have grown since the valley was occupied by .white men and are 

 undoubtedly the best young oak groves in California. Several of them, 

 covering areas of from twenty to forty acres, were recently photographed 

 for the Division of Forestry, at Washington, and the station is collecting 

 statistics regarding the rate of growth, yield per acre, and value of the 

 crop. .,, , 



FOKJESTRY FINtfca& ^ND HISTORY. 



Several important ;clja^gfiS', ty&ye ;take r ri 'place at the Forestry Station 

 since the date of 'the compilation- <>f'^the" last report (see volume for 

 1896-7, pages 406-412). Considering the very small sum now spent on 



