March 12, 1890.] 



Garden and Forest. 



123 



chosen many considerations were involved. There were val- 

 leys, east of the Coast Range, warm and well watered, that 

 offered magnificent situations, but they were too far from San 

 Francisco, the commercial centre. Berkeley, fronting the 

 Golden Gate, with the Contra Costa Mountains behind it, com- 

 bined the greatest number of advantages. Here, too, small 

 but beautiful streams, flowing from deep, rocky and wooded 

 canons, united at the edge of the valley ; here were copses of 

 Laurel and Alder, and noble groups of Sycamore Maple and 

 Live Oak ; here was a large extent of rolling upland, sloping 

 to the bay on the west, and rising on the east into rugged 

 mountains. Every botanist and landscape-gardener who saw 

 the place was charmed with its possibilities. Frederick Law 

 Olmstead was asked to make a plan for the University grounds 

 and the adjacent town. This plan was subsequently stolen or 

 destroyed, and every effort to secure capable landscape-gar- 

 dening was for some time frustrated. A man who had mil- 

 lions of Eucalyptus globulus seedlings managed to sell several 

 hundred thousand of them to the University authorities, and 

 they were planted everywhere. Instead of the garden art that 

 every educated Californian wanted to see, Berkeley became 

 for years a wilderness of tall, crowded Eucalypti, and all its 

 natural beauties were obscured. A broad avenue winding 

 about the base of the hills for miles, which had appeared in 

 Mr. Olmstead's plan, was almost entirely lost. Even the town 

 yielded to the prevailing Eucalyptus craze, and soon rivaled 

 the University in its stiffness. 



The great Oaks were still left below the University building 

 and along Strawberry Creek, and, ten years later, as wiser 

 counsels prevailed, the Eucalypti were thinned out and left 

 for a background and for occasional masses on the hills. Part 

 of the warmest ravine and plateau south of the main creek 

 had been sold, unwisely, and against the advice of those who 

 wished to see a botanic garden established. But at the north 

 side of the University tract was a low hill-slope, with southern 

 exposure, and a few acres of rich bottom-land along the creek 

 below. Here propagation houses were built, and the long task 

 of substituting valuable and beautiful plants for the foolish 

 monotony of surplus Eucalyptus-trees was begun by the Agri- 

 cultural Department. 



The evil of the past is now nearly obliterated. English and 

 other Oaks form one plantation. Some of the most beautiful 

 Australian Acacias are grouped among the California conifers. 

 Sheltered south of a belt of Live Oaks are Palms in great va- 

 riety, and there are great masses of Bamboos. The experi- 

 mental orchard and vineyard are on a hill-slope, with the 

 economic garden south-west on the plain. Steadily, persist- 

 ently, the work of covering the hundred or more acres of 

 available land with rare and valuable plants goes on under 

 Professor Hilgard's supervision. 



My own memories of the University gardens go back to 1876, 

 when I used to spend Saturday afternoons in the plant-houses 

 helping a good-natured gardener, and taking my pay in seeds 

 and cuttings of whatever happened to strike my fancy. It was 

 an amateur sort of a place in those days, however, with very 

 little that the florists did not have, and no system worth men- 

 tioning. The most brilliant event of that decade was to plant 

 thousands of white and red Mesembryanthemums on the hot 

 hill-slopes and around the University buildings, which the 

 irreverent students presently named '* Faculty Onions," and 

 laughed to scorn, rightly preferring turf, or even Wild Oats. 



By 1880, after the work of propagation had been well sys- 

 tematized under the direct supervision of Mr. W G. Klee, a 

 great many valuable trees and shrubs were distributed over 

 California besides the specimens that found place in the 

 grounds. Among them were five species of Cinchona — C. 

 Calisaya, C. succirubra, C. condaminea, C. officinalis and a 

 hybrid from India. 



The winter of 1887-88 killed all the Cinchonas, although 

 C. officinalis and the hybrid had withstood all former winters 

 by means of slight protection, and were nearly ready to bloom. 

 All the distributed trees, excepting those at Mrs. Whitney's, 

 San Diego, also died. The regions in this state adapted to this 

 tree are evidently limited. The warmest mesa lands of the ex- 

 treme southern part of the state promise a moderate success. 



The Carob (Ceratonia Siliqua) is quite hardy, as is also the 

 Caper (Capparis spinosa). The Japan Vegetable Wax {Rhus 

 succedanea), also R. vernicifera, are free growers and orna- 

 mental, and, with the R. Coriaria, perfectly adapted to Califor- 

 nia. Anona muricata, the Sour Sop, was a failure, and A. 

 Cherimolya, only suited to greenhouse culture at Berkeley, 

 thrives in the southern parts of the state. The Tamarind-tree 

 is very tender and a slow grower. Among other trees planted 

 and doing well are the Argania Sideroxylon of north Africa, 

 and the Berberis heteropoda of Turkistan. 



The experiments with Oaks deserve especial attention. The 

 eastern species, such as Quercus nigra, Q. coccinea, Q. alba 

 and others, are slow growers. The English Q. Robur is a great 

 success, surpassing in rapidity of growth all other sorts two or 

 three times over. Acorns planted in 1878 are now large trees. 

 This species of Oak is recommended by the University for 

 planting in all parts of California. The Cork Oak has been dis- 

 tributed for the past two seasons, and reports indicate its 

 adaptation to a very large area, but more especially to the foot- 

 hills of the Sierra Nevada. 



The growth of the Wild Cherry {Prunus serotina) and of the 

 Box Elder (Negundo aceroides) has been all that could be de- 

 sired, but the two Hickories tested, Hicoria glabra and H. 

 alba, have been extremely slow, and will not pay to plant 

 here. A Japanese tree, the Zelkowa Keaki, makes a fine 

 growth. 



Since 1880 the work of the University gardens has been 

 broadened in many directions. Carob-trees sent out are 

 growing in Napa, Colusa, Los Angeles and other parts of the 

 state. The largest Carob-trees in California are near Los 

 Gatos, on the farm of Mrs. Arnerich, the widow of a Dalma- 

 tian who planted seeds in 1873 producing some twenty-five 

 trees, now fifteen feet high, with trunks nine inches through. 

 Trees of equal age, though not so large, are in bearing on the 

 farm of James Shinn, Niles. The Carob seems to be perfectly 

 at home on the California hill-sides. 



The yellow Guava, Psidium pyriferum, only succeeds in 

 sheltered spots in the southern counties and in the Sierra foot- 

 hills. P. Cattleyanwn proves hardy at Berkeley, on the Oak- 

 land foot-hills, and in many places throughout the state. The 

 Melon-tree (Carica Papaya) failed in most places. At last a 

 small plant was sent to Mrs. Whitney, of National City, San 

 Diego, and in three years it grew to a height of twelve feet, 

 and has borne fruit every season since. The Pistachias, both 

 Pistachia vera and P. Terebinthus, are being planted in many 

 places. The latter grows rapidly and is hardy; the former is 

 a slow grower, but promises well. The largest in the state are 

 at Niles. 



The Camphor, Campkora officinalis, is an entire success. 

 On the Hayward estate, San Mateo, are trees forty-five feet 

 high, with trunks three feet in diameter. The Camphor thrives 

 here wherever a Peach or Pear will grow, and hundreds of 

 trees are now planted on every kind of soil. It promises to 

 become one of the great avenue trees of the future. One of 

 the Cinnamons, the Cinnamomum glaucu?n, seems to be as 

 hardy here as the Camphor. 



Among the rare Chilian shrubs growing at the University 

 are the handsome-leaved Boldoa fragransy the Per sea lingua, 

 whose timber is used for cabinet work ; the thorny hedge 

 plant, Espino, and the Psoralea glandulosa, which is 

 used to some extent for planting on drifting sands. The Acacia 

 that has been most widely distributed is the A. decurrens, or 

 Black Wattle, which proves of rapid and easy growth from 

 Shasta south. A. dealbata and A. melanoxylon are equally 

 fast growers. The only possible objection to the Acacias is 

 that the forests are liable to become infested with the Cottony 

 scale. Mr. Klee tells me that since the introduction of the 

 Australian Lady-bird, which feeds on the Cottony scale, he 

 considers all danger to the Acacias from this source over, and 

 thinks they cannot be recommended too highly. The famous 

 Jarrah, Eucalyptus marginatus , is hardy in many places about 

 Berkeley. 



Of Olives, two valuable varieties introduced by the Univer- 

 sity from Spain are the Manzanillo and the Nevadillo Blanco. 

 They have been widely distributed, the latter proving the most 

 vigorous grower of any Olive yet in the state, although perhaps 

 not so hardy as some others. A number of varieties of Mul- 

 berries, including the best Japanese, have been distributed at 

 the various stations. They have done remarkably well. At 

 Paso Robles they have resisted the hot and dry weather better 

 than any other deciduous trees. 



The Huasco raisin Grape, from Chili, has been distributed 

 widely, and during the last two years has fruited in many parts 

 of California. In appearance it seems impossible to distin- 

 guish it from the Muscat of Alexandria, but it shows less ten- 

 dency to " coulure " in localities where this is caused by the north- 

 ers, and hence may prove more valuable in certain regions. 



Of new hardy Palms, the Erythea edulis is an attractive 

 Pacific Coast species, similar in growth to the Washingtonia 

 filifera, of a darker green, and without filaments. It has 

 proved as good a grower and fully as hardy, having fruited 

 for the past two seasons at Berkeley. The Chilian Coquito 

 (Jubtza spectabilis) is much like the true Date Palm in appear- 

 ance, but is of a more robust habit, and a darker green. It is 

 also hardy here, and exhibits in Berkeley fully as good a 



