The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 19, 1897, Page 10

10 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1897 HER TREES AND SHRUBS. By CHARLES_ H. SHINN. HE story of California and a prophecy of its development might easily be written from the standpoint of soil and climate, as exemplified by our native and exotic plants, shrubs and trees. The final test is the test of actual culture. Trees of every available species, planted, reg- istered and studied, confirm an exact soil analysis, explain the records of rain gauges, anemometers and thermo- graphs, and make a mote perfect union between the people and their domain, ‘Wherever the tea rose thrives, says the legend, men and women reach their greatest physical perfection. It must be remembered that as soon as one or two specimens of a valuable shrub or tree have been established and reached such maturity that seeds ripen for further distribution, by far the greatest preliminary step has been taken; after this, great and profitable industries can often be developed by the natural process of local seed dis- tributions. The cork oak, for instance, is only propagated by acorns. These can be brought from Spain in barrels of charcoal, at great expense, but usu- ally only one or two in a hundred will grow. After much wouble, years of effort and many successive distribu- tions of small oak trees by the agri- cultural department of the university, and by the department at Washing- ton, we now have bearing trees in Cali- fornia. Hereafter we can plant fresh acorns, 99 per cent of which will grow; hence we are at last ready to estab- lish cork oak forests, to furnish the stoppers for our wine bottles, floats for our fish nets and cork dust in which te ship our Almeria grapes. A hundred years from now California can have its great cork oak forests, whose in- come will establish the fortunes of families. As I have said, we have the cork oak. The English oak, so important for its timber, is also established; so is the camphor, valuable for its wood, as well as for the distilled products of its leaves and branches. One or two of the cinnamons are following in the same course, are established, but have not yet fruited. The beautiful calisburia and the lovely deciduous cypress of the Southern States have fruited here, Thriving, but not yet bearing seed, we have the acacias, which yield gum ara- bic and the famous koa acacia of the Hawaiian Islands. People sometimes say that every- thing grows in California. Of course this is far from the truth, for it is im- possible, for instance, to grow trees of the warm, moist tropics, except in con- servatories. Coffee, cinchona, and many other plants need a very differ- ent atmosphere. But no country in the world can grow a greater variety The needs of California in the way of shrubs and trees are chiefly as fol- lows, named somewhat in order of im- portance: 1. Trees yielding valuable hardwoods. Here we place the ashes, especially the Arizona species, and ¢he European; the best of the rarer Eucalypts, such as E. polythema, E. leucoxylon and E. si- derophloia; also the newly introduced Zelkova of Japan, many leguminous trees, and the best of the oaks. 2. Trees of value for fuel and cheap timber; for growth on alkali soils; for the coast sand dunes; for the inland barrens; in brief, for special uses. Here we have a long list, and of increasing importance. The Oriental Plane thrives in black alkali, so do the Ailanthus, the Carob, and the common Locust. Pines of different species can be chosen to suit inland or coast barrens. Casuar- inas, a very valuable group of trees, are often better than pines, possess much tolerance of alkali, furnish ex- cellent timber, and grow rapidly. Some species of Eucalypts take high place in this category. 3. Trees and shrubs of value for shade and ornament. Here the rose- flowered, the scarlet and other beauti- ful Eucalypts belong; also the finer Acacias, the Jacaranda (for frostless locations), the Sterculias, the Edward- sias and hundreds of shrubs and small trees from countries possessing similar climates. In this department addi- tions are being made daily, and there is already a maddening variety to choose from. 4. Trees and shrubs of real promise and importance for economic uses, for fibers, for medicines, for gums, ex- tracts, essential oils, and other spe- cial products. Here again we are lay- ing broad foundations on which new industries may be established, as popu- lation increases. Some of the Euca- lypts, Acacia decurrens and other tan- bark trees, the Argan tree of Morocco, the Caesalpina tinctoria of Chili, the famous Cedrelas—these are only a few of the species that belong in this group. Many others, tested from year to year on a small scale by the university or by private experimenters, will in the end afford employment for our people. Even the neglected European willows, grown on a large scale, cut, prepared, woven, into fruit baskets, wine hamp- ers, etc., would help to lessen the de- mand upon our disappearing forests. The growth of the better Eucalypts, on a large scale, would also give us cheap paving material. Everywhere throughout California there is room for intelligent tree plant- ing. This work should properly include the lining of every mile of country road with deciduous trees for firewood and timber for shade and beauty. From the standpoint of tree culture, however, the greatest need of this State is a Botanic Garden sufficiently collect, grow, care for, study and dis- tribute plants and trees from all parts of the world. Its endowment, however, should not be less than a million dol- lars, besides its buildings and land. It should be entirely free from politics, and from the necessity of spasmodic legislative aid; its trustees, as well as its botanists, chemists, teachers and other officers, should be pre-eminently fit, in every sense of the word, to cre- ate one of the great botanic centers of the civilized world. It is not impossible that one of our millionaires will some time choose to win a fame as durable as that of James Lick by endowing such an institution, whether independ- ent or affiliated with some existing uni- versity. HER FISH INDUSTRY. By R. X. RY@AN. HERE are many who take great | delight in fishing. There are meny more who would if they had anopportunity. The few who decry fishing have never been beside a mountain brook and plucked from the whirling ripples or shady pool a gamey and vigorous trout. In the early days of this country, and up to some years ago, the rivers, lakes and streams teemed with various kinds | of fish. The tremendous increase in population during the present century, with its corresponding demand for the product of the water for food, together with the wasteful and destructive methods of the fishermen for the mar- ket, has practically depleted the waters of this country. The value of fish as a food product is known to all. Its want began to be felt, and the United ,States Govern- ment, as well as the various State governments, took in hand the prop- agation of fish for. the rehabilitation of the various waters of the country. Following the artificial propagation of fish begun in many places was a rigid enforcement of the laws for the pro- tection of the fish planted in the var- ious lakes and streams. Results in other States have been phenomenal. Our State, through its Fish Commis- sion, has been establishing hatcheries within our own borders, and is very ef- ficient in its endeavor to renew the act- ive life of our streams. California, in its topography, is well adapted for fish life, particularly for the most gamey and toothsome of all fish, the trout. The many mountain ranges, high and low, are intersected with numerous canyons, through which constantly flow waters from springs and melting snow, in which cooling waters the trout is at its best. Adjacent to San Francisco, perhaps the best watered section of the Pacific Coast is in Marin, Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake counties. Here there are over 6000 miles of water length, besides a number of lakes. Over 300 streams rush into the Eel, Russian and other rivers. Through the kind and efficient aid of the California State Fish Com- mission, the San Francisco and North Pacific Railway, which traverses this section, has during the past few years been stocking these waters. It soon realized that the few hundred thousand fish received from the commission each year were not sufficient for the capa- city of the streams, and therefore established its own hatchery, in order that yearly it may place millions, in- stead of thousands, in the various streams. Outside of those who have given the subject thought, the com- munity has not realized the great bene- fit the rehabilitation of this immense area of water will be to the public at large. Artificlal propagation is more efficient than natural propagation. Owing to the destruction by numerous enemies of the eggs deposited in the streams, the percentage of development is ex- ceedingly small. In the case of trout it is estimated that but one-half of one per cent ever come to maturity. With eggs developed in the hatchery there is practically no loss. The young fish are kept in the hatchery until they are two or three months old and then placed in the streams, when they are strong enough to look out for them- selves. The result is a million eggs placed in the hatchery means practi- cally a million fish placed in the streams, very nearly all of whom live and thrive. The hatchery of the San Francisco and North Pacific Railway is located in Gibson Canyon, about one mile from the court house in Ukiah, the county seat of Mendocino, and 113 miles frbm San Francisco. This hatchery, with ite weird and romantic surroundings, is a most interesting and instructive ex- hibit. During the season, to view the eggs 1n the various stages of develop- ment, and see the immense number of iittle trout filing the troughs, is a sur- prise and a pleasure. It is seldom that hatcheries are located so convenient to the general public as the one at Ukiah, as the water required for the hatching of trout must never exceed 60 degrees 'Fahrenheit, which, during our warm summer months, can seldom be found | except in the mountain regions, inac- el. In order to furnish eggs for the hatchery, the railroad company has opened a spawning station on Eel river in Mendocino County, some thirty miles north of Ukiah, the purpose being to get these eggs from the earliest spawn- ing portion of the State, so that the fry can be liberated in the streams in the early spring and have a full year's well endowed with mo: and lands to HER FARMING | growth before the advent of the fisher- FMETHODS. By E. W. HILGARD, University of California. NUMBER of causes have con- tributed toward the modification of Eastern and Old World farm- ing practices in California. Ear- liest among these causes was the high price of labor, so that the replacement of hand labor by automatic or rapid- working devices became one of the first requirements both of agriculture and of housekeeping. The regularity of the winds made the use of windmills one obvious labor-saving appliance, which, together with the elevated tank and supporting frame, replaced the “old oaken bucket” and windlass or sweep, even in pioneer settlements, at once relieving the family from the on- erous work elsewhere connected with the water supply, and encouraging the much-needed irrigation of the kitchen and flower garden. In the utilization of springs and streams for similar pur- poses, California at once took a posi- tion alongside of the oldest countries of the world. In a large measure the rapid adop- tion of advanced agricultural, as well as industrial, methods in this State has been due to the rare medley of nation- alities attracted at first by the gold ex- citement, all of which were in the main men of more than usual energy, such as was required in the mere undertak- ing of the voyage, together with an exceptional proportion of the well-edu- cated. Thus the habits and practices of many peoples were introduced into the State, and among these those that suited the conditions best in a new country were apt to be adopted with little delay by all; and all new sugges- tions and devices were likely to be test- ed, if not carried out, to their last con- sequences. The predominant treelessness of the lands first occupied for agriculture caused the need of quicker methods of land-clearing than grubbing to be lit- tle felt for a time; but when it came to occupying woodlands, the energy of the California settler would not brook the delays and waste of work involved in the Eastern practice of “girdling,” which renders pioneer settlements so unattractive. The miner had early taught the use and merits of giant powder; the farmer soon found that the same powerful agent would per- form the clearing of land more cheaply and satisfactorily than the hired man. He noted, too, that, unlike the excava- tions of the grubber, the blast-holes would not become water puddles, and this quickly suggested that in close and ill-drained lands, giant powder, with perhaps a little black powder on top, might advantageously replace the tree- hole digger also. And nowadays this “farming with dynamite,” at first con- sidered as a joke, has become a regular practice in portions of the State where close subsoils or hardpan inconven- ience the orchardist. After clearing comes plowing; and here the old-time single “prairie plow” soon gave way before the gang plow; not always, it must be confessed, to the advantage of the depth and thorough- ness of tillage, since in the frequent at- tempt to make the same team do dou- ble duty, the turning-over of a mere surface crust was the actual outcome. As it happens, the light and pervious nature of most of our soils render this practice much less harmful than it would be in the East, where its long continuance would produce a “plow- sole,” most injurious to crops by pre- venting root penetration beyond the reach of our summer’s heat and drought. This difference in our favor is hardly yet fully appreciated by our farmers, most of whom are still more or less under the influence of Eastern experience, according to which the plowing up of “raw subsoil” will spoil the crops of several succeeding years. Most of our soils are almost un- changed to the depth of several feet, and may fearlessly be plowed as deep as may be desired. This is a matter of especial import- ance in the case of the sugar beet. In the matter of seeding and culti- vation, our farmers have followed the most advanced practice of the East in the employment of labor-saving imple- ments. In the harvesting of grain. the “Combined Harvester and Thrasher,” invented and first manufactured at Stockton, has far outdone any other appliance of the kind for quick work with the aid of the fewest men. The usefulness of this remarkable machine may be terminated by the abandon- ment of wholesale wheat-farming for a more diversified agriculture in Califors nia, but will find its thousand-acre fields in Argentina, and perhaps in Si- beria, for many years to come. Another point in general agriculture in which California farmers are con- siderably in advance of their brethren in other States of corresponding or even greater age, is that of fertiliza- tion. In the Middle West it has ordi- narily taken forty or fifty years to con- vince the farming population that if productive agriculture is to continue, returps to the soil in the shape of fer- tilizers must be made. In California, on the contrary, the farmers have taken fertilization by the forelock, and have been, and are now, fertilizing lands freshly taken into cul- tivation, and of enormous native fer- tility, because at times these lands would not produce the wished-for crops. This is an inheritance from the experience of the East, where crop shortage is, as a rule, an unfailing sign that fertilization is called for. great number of cases, and almost in- variably in new lands, simply a sigd that some physical disability, usually in the substrata, prevents the utiliza- tion of the soil's richness, so that to add more is wholly ineffective. This “fertilizing mania” causes the useless expenditure of a great deal of money, but is greatly preferable to the “skin- ning of the land” that has actually de- vastated some of the finest agricultur- | al regions, notably of the cotton States. The most thorough misapplication of fertilization, in the ordinary sense, oc- curs in the case of alkali lands, which suffer from excess rather than from | lack of plant food, and require a wholly different mode of treatmerit, which has been carefully developed by the Cali- fornia Experiment Station. It has been shown that by the use of a proper amount of gypsum on black ture, most of these lands can be made enormously and lastingly productive, and can in all cases be made to pro- duce an abundance of valuable forage by planting the Australian saltbush. In the matter of the repression of in- sect pests, California fruit growers have been most energetic, as their ex- posure to the direct importation of all the world’s pests required, and the spray-pump is nowhere, probably, in such universal use. Where sprays failed, fumigation in the gas-tent has become an accepted fact; and the de- mand for colonies of insect-destroying beetles and parasites, both animal and vegetable, is a steady one; as, indeed, is that for improved processes of all kinds. Altogether, progressive farming is in California, despite many new and un- tried conditions, at least on a level with its Eastern sister States, and seems likely to more than keep pace with the foremost of these. HER WILD FLOWERS. By CARL PURDY. OR one who loves to search mountain and valley, canyon and seashore, for nature's beau- tiful blossoms, California is a highly favored field. From the Pacific's shore, where beautiful plants cling to the bluffs and are bathed in the spray, to Sierra's pinnacles, where the snowy mantle is lifted for a very brief sea- son and reveals lovely rock gardens, or the deserts which, wild and barren as they usually are, have their short but brilliant season when a wealth of showy blossoms fairly dazzle the eyes of the few chance visitors, every part of the empire which we call California has its beautiful flora and in its sea- son vies for floral pre-eminence. The wonderful varieties of soils, cli- mates and situations with which Cali- fornia is endowed are extremely fa- vorable to the development of plant species, and in no other part of the world is there a greater variety in the same area. For one who loves flowers for their beauty, the field within this State is unlimited, and a lifetime might be spent within California’s confines with- out monotony. If to a love of flowers a taste for sci- ence is added, the field is no less invit- ing, for as yet it is imperfectly worked over By botanists, and a search on al- most any mountain may be rewarded by finding some rare or unnamed spe- cies. To even mention the beautiful wild flowers of California would fill a book, and in this brief article I can only speak of a very few. On the foothills of our great valleys there is a bulbous plant belonging to the lily family, having grassy leaves and slender, erect stems a foot or so high, which bear beautiful cup-shaped flowers. In many sections the flowers are marked brilliantly with lines and dots and eye-like spots, very suggest- ive of a butterfly’s wings. Our Spanish predecessors saw the resemblance and called them Mariposas, their name for the butterfly. Botanists know them as calochortus, but the Spanish name so well deserved has clung to them, and they are known the world over as mar- iposa or butterfly tulips. Scarcely any section of California is destitute of some sort of mariposa tu- lips, and the colors of the rainbow have been exhausted in tinting them. In some places they are yellow, in others red. Purples, lilacs, lavenders and pinks are found. In the deserts one is to be seen with flowers of the most in- tense glowing vermilion, and in some places nature has fairly run riot in color and nearly every shade can be found in one field. I well remember a spot in the upper yellow pine belt of El Dorado County where they covered acres almost solidly with hundreds of thousands of specimens. The cups were from two or four inches across, and in every shade from white, through lilac to purple, and through pink to claret and deep red. The markings were as remarkable. All had a dark eye and delicate pencilings, and in some there was added a blotch at the top as if a drop of blood had fallen upon the petal. In still others this blotch was gold, or the whole top of the petal flushed or rayed with gold. A thousand flowers could have been picked without dupli- cation, and no orchid could excel them in beauty. In true lilies California is rich, for no less than eleven sorts are to be found within our borders, numbering some of the finest in the world, yet I doubt if one in ten of our people has seen one of them, for in California the | men. 3 ; In California such shortage is, in a I lilies grow in the mountains away from alkali lands, and deep and careful cul- | the most traveled routes, and escape observation. The best known of our lilies is Lilium paradalinum, the leopard lily. It Is commonly called the tiger lily in this State. The true tiger lily is a native of China, and is a very different and coarser thing than this California one. The leopard lily is one we may well proud of and should be known by its right name. Throughout California it is found along stream banks in moist places, growing to five or six feet in height and bearing many large flowers, which have an orange ground and red tips and are thickly dotted with dark brown. I once saw a mass of this lily in Lake County’s mountains which contained fully five hundred stalks six to eight feet in height and in full flow- er. It was a great mass of orange and red, a glorious flower show in itself, in which a tall man would be lost. High up in the Sierras, where the snow lies until midsummer, another and more beautiful lily grows, the Washington lily. Its home is the pine woods or the chaparral thickets, where it towers above the underbrush and frequently reaches a height of seven to nine feet. The leaves are arranged in many circles and frequently twenty or thirty pure white, trumpet shaped flowers crown the stalk. They have a delightful fragrance and perfume the air for rods about. A near relative of the Washington lily is the ruby lily of the coast ranges north of the bay. This rare and beau- tiful flower finds a home in the red- woods and on the high chaparral ridges. Its flowers are smaller than those of the other, but with the same delightful fragrance. At first they are white, but they soon begin to turn pink, and then purple, and on a single stalk can be found all of the shades. from white to purple. The most curious of our plants is the Darlingtonia, or insect trap. It is not uncommon in boggy places in the Northern Sierra, and is what its name implies, a trap. It grows in boggy ground with a carpet of mosses and aquatics about it, and very successfully decoys a great variety of insects. The leaves are the traps, and are hollow, funnel-shaped tubes, with a hood at the top. This hood is brightly colored, to attract insects, and there is a honey- bearing patch inside. Around and be- low this honeyed patch are sharp hairs all pointing downward. The insect is attracted by the scent and bright color; it lights and tastes the honey, when it at once begins to slide, with no chance of recovery. At the bottom of the tube it finds a watery grave and goes to feed its captor. I have frequently seen leaves of this carnivorous plant with a solid mass two inches deep at the bottom of the trap, consisting of the more solid parts of the insects that it had captured. The pride of Southern California is the great bush poppy, Romneya coul- terii, with flowers of great size and tis- sue paper appearance. The Romneya is never plentiful in its wild state, but is successfully cultivated, and fine bushes can be seen in the Golden Gate Park. Catifornia has but one true primrose, and it is one of the rarest as well as the most beautiful flowers within its limits. High in the Sierras, where the snow sometimes lies unmelted the sea- son through, it finds its home, and on the north side of a few high peaks there are acres of it. Its leafy stems run along the ground and form solid mats, from which slender stems arise with umbels of flowers of the softest of rose pink, with yellow eyes. It is as sweet as the old garden favorite. The Pentstemons are among the showiest, as well as the most widely spread, flowers in California. They aré blooms of the dry, gravelly and rocky places, and revel in heat and sunshine. The flowers are not unlike the snap- dragons in our mothers’ .garden in shape, and are of various shades of blue, purple and red. They form mat- ted clumps and flower after most things have gone, with a perfect blaze of bloom. Perhaps the finest of these is Pentstemon spectabilis, of the region about Los Angeles, a species with bril- liant red flowers. I chanced upon a little heath near Donner Lake this season which de- serves mention among our floral treas- ures. A little bush fairly covered with little bells looking like tiny lily of the valley blossoms and as white and sweet. It is well worth a hunt to en- joy its dainty blossoms. Not all of our choicest flowers are borne on plants, for California has few finer things than the Fremontia, a large shrub with thick, leathery leaves and large yellow blossoms spreading widely, like the flowers of a magnolia, or the great flowering dogwood of the forests of Northern California, with its large white flower. Then, too, there are the Ceanothus, or mountain lilacs, in endless variety, and a host of other shrubs. But my space is used, and I have scarcely touched the vast weaith of plant and bulb, of bush, vine and tree with which our grand State fairly teems. —_—— Perhaps the most wonderful book in the world is one which is neither writ- ten nor printed. Every letter is cut into the leaf; and as the letters are al- ternately blue and white, it is as eas- ily read as the best of printing. The labor required to cut each letter may be imagined. The work is done so perfectly that it seems as though done by machinery—yet every charac- ter was made by hand. The book is entitled “The Passion of Christ.” It is a very old volume, and was a curious- ity as long ago as 1640. It belongs to the family of the Prince de Ligne and is now in France. 2