130 
THE FOREST SCENERY OF CALIFORNIA. 
It is sometimes fed to horses, cows, and swine. | 
It is stated, however, that cattle fed on the green 
herb, are apt to swell and die, but thrive on it 
when dried. 
This millet may be cultivated, in the same 
manner as our broom corn, and on the same 
kind of soil; or it may be sown broadcast, after 
the manner of oats or other kinds of grain. 
THE FOREST SCENERY OF CALIFORNIA. 
I will now proceed to give you an outline of 
the forest scenery of California, so far as I am 
enabled to do after travelling above 500 miles 
on the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers and 
their tributaries. 
In the immediate vicinity of the city of San 
Francisco, their are no trees, the soil being mis¬ 
erably sterile, and supporting only a few de- 
crepid shrubs and scrub oaks. As you ascend 
the extensive bay, you soon perceive the valleys 
and hill sides in many localities sparsely cov¬ 
ered with patches of the evergreen oak, low set 
on short bodies with dense heads, resembling, 
when seen at a distance, our medium-sized apple 
trees. No other tree is seen below the union of 
the Sacramento and San Joaquin, except now and 
then a Californian buckeye which here forms a 
small tree, or rather large shrub, of about 15 
feet in height. After passing the junction 
alluded to, there are no more trees seen while as¬ 
cending the San Joaquin until you arrive at 
Stockton, which is 150 miles from San Francisco, 
and about 100 above the junction, save some 
few marsh willows of pigmy growth; the whole 
intermediate space being one vast marsh of 
“ tula,” or rush, as far as the eye can reach. 
In ascending the Sacramento, and after pass¬ 
ing through a region of tula, the shores abound 
with two species of willow, a few ash, and 
alder trees, some oaks, a species of negundo, 
platanus, cephalanthus, all of moderate stature 
and decrepid appearance, with the wild grape 
overhanging many of the smaller trees and 
sometimes those of 30 feet in height; and the 
misletoe and long moss, pendant from many oak 
trees, the former sometimes growing also on the 
alder. A species of blackberry, and a rose with 
profuse corymbs of 15 to 20 flowers, are seen 
growing on the river banks. The Californian 
white oak, which I shall describe hereafter, is 
the only tree growing at Stockton, and the only 
lofty one besides the platanus, growing at Sac¬ 
ramento City. 
The immense forest region of this section of 
California, lies within 30 or 40 miles of the sum¬ 
mit of the Sierra Nevada, and is comprised prin¬ 
cipally of pines, cedars, and arbor vitae. Many 
of the most majestic pines grow within five 
miles of the loftiest peaks, and are unsurpassed 
and perhaps unequalled in dimensions by any 
species of the same family found in any other 
section of the globe. These resinous trees seem 
only suited to a cool situation, as they nowhere 
arrive at the same dimensions when found grow¬ 
ing in warmer localities, and they are never 
met with at all until you ascend the mountain 
region about 180 miles above San Francisco; 
and the dimensions of the respective trees con¬ 
tinue to be enlarged as you advance, until you 
have reached the very elevated region before 
referred to. The largest coned pine, which is 
called here “ gum or sugar pine,” on account of 
the pitch which exudes from it, and of its sac¬ 
charine flavor, attains a height of 250 to 300 feet 
in the most favorable positions! but in the arid 
regions of the lower ranges of mountains it is 
limited to 100 feet. It spreads its lateral 
branches to a considerable extent, the leaves 
are eight inches long, light-green, and three in 
a sheath; the cones, before opening, are 20 
inches in circumference at the base, and of pro¬ 
portionate length; the seeds similar in size to 
those of the European stone pine, (Pinus pinea ,) 
and equally palatable, and are anxiously sought 
for and eaten by the Indians, and by the Span¬ 
ish inhabitants. The new cones are formed the 
beginning of October, and have the shape of a 
rosette, and the mature ones shed their seeds 
towards the middle of the same month. 
The small-coned pine attains an equal stat¬ 
ure, under the same circumstances, but is of 
spiral growth, the branches extending but a 
moderate distance, and forming a contracted 
pyramid; the leaves are nine inches in length, 
dark-green, and three in a sheath; the cones of 
this species are only one third or one fourth the 
size of those of the preceding species ; the seeds 
are small, and shed at the end of September. 
The young cones are formed in October. 
The Californian cedar, growing on the Snowy 
Mountains, attains a height of 200 to 250 feet, is 
one of the most splendid trees of its class, and 
is found in the loftiest regions, intermingled with 
the two before-named pines. The arbor vitse 
attains a height of about 30 feet on the rivers 
near Sacramento and Stockton, after you have 
ascended the first range of mountains, but on 
the Sierre Nevada it rises to the height of 80 
feet or more, forming a regular and beautiful 
cone. The foliage closely resembles that of the 
Thuja siberica, and is regularly plicate and 
highly ornamental. 
Photinia serrulata is found around the harbor 
of San Francisco, and is also plentiful as soon as 
you ascend the mountainous districts, and it is 
everywhere the most splendid evergreen shrub 
of California, for the beauty of its foliage as 
well as for its flowers, and also when in fruit. 
Its large radiating panicles of blossoms begin 
to expand in June, and continue in succession 
for a lengthened period ; they are white and 
fragrant, and are succeeded by oval orange-col¬ 
ored berries, the size of small currants, in very 
large compound panicles, which are at maturity 
in October, but remain a long time, and are 
highly ornamental. I measured some 'speci¬ 
mens of this shrub, whose main stems were a 
foot in diameter and the branches spreading 
over a circumference of 35 feet. 
The next evergreen in point of beauty, and 
which by many might be deemed superior to 
the preceding on account of its distinctive char¬ 
acter, is a magnificent laurus, or bay tree, which 
attains a height of 20 feet with a diameter of 
four to five inches. It is rather a large shrub 
than a tree, with a profusion of branches thick- 
