CENTRAL STATION TREE-PLANTING ON A HILLTOP. 117 



on a northern slope, on heavy adobe soil, with native vegetation of 

 clover, wild oats, foxtail, etc. It girths 42 inches near the ground. 

 The main stems girth 27 and 30 inches. The height of the tree is 

 30 feet. Cattle have destroyed all the lower branches. Trees of Acacia 

 decurrens in the main grove, surrounded by eucalypti and oaks, girth 

 from 38 to 40 inches (single stems). 



The amount of firewood per acre furnished under these conditions by 

 Acacia decurrens is greater than that from E. corynocalyx, but is less 

 than that from E. globulus. In fuel value the acacia wood is estimated 

 to rank higher than that of either eucalyptus. But the chief value of 

 Acacia decurrens, its yield of tan bark, deserves especial consideration. 

 Planted in a grove on such land as this, the yield of bark in, say, eight 

 years, would be considerable. It should be fully twice as much per 



PLATE 20. ENGLISH OAKS ON HILLTOP. 



acre as from the lighter and more arid Santa Monica grove (see report 

 for 1897-8, pp. 227-230). Wattle barks, as therein reported by an 

 expert tanner after practical tests, are "as good value at $28 a ton as 

 oak bark at $18 a ton." 



Acacia pycnantha has not been tested on this hill-top. A. mollissima, 

 as well as A. decurrens and some of the ornamental species, were planted 

 in the southeastern portion of the tract, on a slope near Strawberry 

 Creek, at an elevation of about 427 feet. Here the growth of the wattle 

 acacias was very rapid, girths of from 4 to 5 feet being reached in fifteen 

 years from planting. In this location the acacias showed considerable 

 power of reproduction from sprouts when trees were cut and from self- 

 sown seeds. 



Oaks. The oaks, planted in 1887 on the hilltop, elevation 800 feet, 

 consisted of about one hundred and twenty English ( Quercus pedunculata) 

 and twenty cork oaks (Q. suber). At the present time, ninety-eight 



