CHICO FORESTRY SUBSTATION STUDIES OF TREE GROWTH. Ill 



and are far behind those that were pruned. The latter, now from seven 

 to nine years old from the acorn, stand from 14 to 15 feet high, with 

 trunks that girth from 8 to 15 inches. One tree, which was several 

 years old when sent to the station, and is therefore about twelve years 

 from the acorn, stands 22 feet high, with a trunk circumference of 21 

 inches. This region is one of the best oak districts in the State, and 

 English oaks (Q. robur), or cork oaks (Q. suber), or any other desirable 

 American or European species, can be grown here. 



Quercus lobata has an excellent representative in the celebrated 

 Hooker oak, which stands in the center of a large open glade, about a 

 mile from the substation. This very shapely and beautiful tree, shown 

 in the accompanying illustration (taken by Dr. Loughridge in 1900), 

 was greatly admired by Sir Joseph Hooker when in California. The 

 following are the dimensions as measured in July, 1894, by Mr. Boland, 

 the foreman of the station: 



Circumference of trunk 20 feet. 



Circumference of largest branch ___ 15 " 



Spread of limbs from trunk, on south 73 " 



Spread of limbs from trunk, on north 63 " 



Spread of limbs from east to west _ . 112 " 



Approximate height _ 100 " 



The largest willow trees, S. salmoni, or S. alba salmoni, grown from 

 cuttings planted in .1895, are over 60 feet high, and girth more than 30 

 inches. One of these trees is 68 feet in height, and its trunk is 38 inches 

 around, measuring breast-high. Cuttings of this willow have now been 

 widely distributed; it grows considerably faster than the common Salix 

 alba form. 



THE EUCALYPTS AND ACACIAS. 



Previous reports have described the work done with many sorts of 

 eucalyptus here. Their rapidity of growth is astonishing, and it would 

 seem that profitable plantations of certain species could be planted in 

 the Sacramento Valley. 



The station recommends E. rostrata and E. viminalis as highly desir- 

 able species, whose timber is much more useful than that of E. globulus. 

 Few large trees of E. rostrata exist here, the earlier plantings having 

 been mainly of E. viminalis, but a few are scattered in the earlier plan- 

 tation (established in 1889), and there is no appreciable difference in 

 the growth of the two species. Both are desirable; the wood of E. ros- 

 trata is considered the more useful. 



The following measurements of the older trees, now thirteen or four- 

 teen years from seed, will show how the red gums have increased in this 

 kindly soil and climate. In the old grove, five trees out of twenty- one 

 of E. viminalis were measured, and girthed, respectively, 46, 48, 51, 57, 

 and 61 inches. One girthed almost exactly 6 feet. These trees are 20, 

 30, and 40 feet to a branch. Trees of E. rostrata, of the same age, girthed 

 50, 52, 54, and 64 inches, and one was a little more than 6 feet around. 



A superb grove of mixed species, rostrata, viminalis, amygdalina, and 

 others, averages trees of 50 to 60 inches in girth and something over 100 

 feet high. The largest tree here is 6 feet 6 inches in girth. Many of 

 these stand 8x8 feet apart, but the grove is long and narrow, receiving 

 light on all sides. 



