Vol. III. MAY, 1887. No. 25. 



THE OAKS OF SOUTHERN AND LOWER CALI- 

 FORNIA. 



The oak, the chestnut and the beech belong- to a family which 

 furnishes some of the most insignificant and worthless shrubs, and 

 some of the grandest and most useful of trees. The family is 

 easily distinguished by nut acorns in cups and simple, alter- 

 nate leaves. 



This genus contains some 250 species distributed throughout the 

 temperate and warm regions of the northern hemisphere, and are 

 especially abundant in Eastern Asia and in Mexico. The wood 

 of the genus is mostly hard and durable, rendering it valuable 

 for economic uses, while the bark, from the amount of tannin it 

 contains, is extensively used in the manufacture of leather. 

 Quercus agrifolia, the maritime live oak of California, furnishes 

 the tanners at San Diego with their main supply of bark for 

 tannin purposes. The bark of another oak, Q. suber, of South- 

 ern Europe and North Africa, supplies the world with the cork of 

 commerce. The cork oak flourishes finely in California, and has 

 proved of rapid growth at Fresno, Santa Barbara and elsewhere. 



Of the forty kinds of oak found wild within the limits of the 

 United States, fifteen are residents of California, eight or nine of 

 these growing in the region included in the title of this sketch, 

 and all but one or two of them are peculiar to the West Coast. 



The true forests of San Diego County, and of the northern 

 part of the Californian Peninsula, are confined to the mountains 

 of an altitude of four to ten thousand feet Three distinct areas 

 in this county are covered with forests of oak and pine, centering 

 around the peaks of San Jacinto, Palomar and Cuyamaca, while 

 in Lower California are found the famous forests of the graceful 

 pinyone pine and the grand old pineries around Hanson's ranch 

 and on grim old San Pedro Mountain. These mountain glades 

 and forests are delightful places for camping in the clear, bracing 

 air that comes sw^et from pines and cedars, and laden with a 

 grateful fragrance, 



