USA > California > Tulare County > History of Tulare County, California with biographical sketches > Part 27
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FOREST AND TIMBER TREES.
SEQUOIA GIGANTEA, "Big Trees," a division of the Coniferæe or Pine family. Fresno County contains more of these than all the rest of the State. On the north side of King's River they occur only in isolated groves, always among other trecs, notably on Dinkcy Creek, and on Fresno River. On the south side the growth is more general, in some places forming a prin- cipal part of the forest, including all sizes, from the giant of over a hundred feet circumference, with a height of from 350 to 400 feet, down to the clustered seedlings of a single year's growth. The wood is of a dull red or purplish color, soft and easily split, but is almost indestructible in its resistance to rot. It is of very even grain, giving it that sonorous quality so necessary in woods used in the construction of pianos, organs, etc. They grow at an altitude of about 5,000 fcet on the Sierras, in a region of heavy snows, and freezing during a long winter, adapting them to growth for shade, ornament or timber, over the large area south of the Ohio River.
SUGAR PINE, Pinus Lambertiana, is found with the Sequoias, and is of more general growth throughout the mountains. A tree of gigantic dimensions, 150 to 300 feet high, and 10 to 20 feet in diameter, with light-brown, smooth- ish bark. From this tree is obtained most of our rived lum- ber, including shingles, shakes, pickets, etc. An exudation from the wood of partially burned trees possesses a sweetness like sugar, whence the common name of the tree. This "sugar" is an active cathartic.
YELLOW PINE, Pinus Ponderosa, the most plentiful of our mountain pines, cqualing the sugar pine in size, but distin- guishable from it by its longer leaves, and the broader divisions of its bark. Valuable for sawed lumber. but not easily split.
DIGGER PINE, Pinus Sabiniana, the pine found in the Sierra foot-hills, an open-branched trce, sometimes attaining a diameter of five feet, with leaves ten to twelve inches long, is of no commercial value except for fuel and manufacture of charcoal. The nuts which it produces, constitute one of the articles of Indian food. The " Nut Pinc " of the Coast Range foot-hills is Pinus Coulteri; closely resembles the preceding.
The so-called TAMARACK in the Sierras found along creeks at altitudes of from 4,000 to 8,000 feet, is Pinus Contort , var. Murrayana of our botanies. The tall, straight, strong trunks of the small trees grown in thick groves are valuable. Pinus monticola, Pinus fecilis, Pinus Balfouranu, and I'. Jeffreyi, are found in the high Sierras, but are at present. of no commercial value. A HEMLOCK, Tsuga Pattoniana, is found sparingly in the high Sierras. The DOUGLAS SPRUCE, Pseudotsuga Douglasii, is found with the preceding. FIRS grow in the same locality. The RED FIR, Abies Magnifica, WHITE FIR, Abies concolor, are both large timber trees. The latter extends into the lower mountain forests. The CEDAR of the Sierras, Libocedrus decurrens, is found in its perfection, froin the higher foot-hills up to 8,000 feet altitude. It somie- times attains a height of 200 feet. There are two distinct varie- ties, the one of them found only in the lower mountains, has red wood of great durability, and where standing alone, has a growth of dense-foliaged limbs from the ground to the top. 'Tis one of the most valuable trees that can be grown for shade ornament or production of timber. "Fis a rapid grower, grows readily from seed, and no other tree of equal beauty possesses as great ability to stand drought, heat, or frost. The white- wooded variety has a long, tapering, limbless trunk. It is wholly unfit to grow for shade or ornament. Its timber is not valuable.
ARBOR VITAE, Thuja gigantea, a tall, graceful tree found sparingly in the high Sierras, resembles the preceding, but distinguishable by the seeds, which are but one-fourth of an inch long, while those of Libocedrus are a half-inch in length. JUNIPER, Juniperus Californica, is the small evergreen tree found so abundantly in the Coast Range in our county. YEW, Taxus brevifolia, is found sparingly in the Sierras; the Nur- MEG TREE, Torreya Californica, is also similarly found. "YEL- LOW WOOD," known to exist in the Sierras, on upper King's River only by its timber having been found in the piles of floodwood, is supposed to be allied to one of the two preceding.
OAKS .-- Eight species of oaks are found in this county. FOOT-HILL OAK, Quercus Douglasii, is the common scrubby oak of the foot-hills. BURR OAK, Q. Lobutu, is the large oak with drooping limbs, common in the valley along creek and river bottoms. Both of the above yield great quantities of acorns, valuable for feed. Q. Breweri and Q. dumosa are the shrubby oaks, from two to ten feet tall. of the higher foot-hills, sometimes produces acorns as large as a Guinea hen's egg. Q chrysolepis has ash-gray bark, and dense evergreen, foliag. .
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BOTANICAL FEATURES OF THE COUNTY.
Wood is hard and valuable. A desirable tree for shade or ornament. Q. agrifolia, is the common black live oak of the foot-hills. Good for fuel only. Q. Wislizeni, an evergreen, resembles the preceding, but is found only at altitudes above it, and is a larger tree with valuable wood. Q. Kellogii, resem- bles the preceding, except that it is deciduous.
WILLOWS .- At least ten species of willows grow in this county. The largest, Salix levigata, common on all the river banks sometimes attains a height of sixty feet, with three feet diameter of trunk. There are two or three varieties of this species. S. sessilifolia, is the cottony-leafed willow of the rivers. Sometimes in dense groves, the slim, smooth trunks reach a height of forty feet. Both of these are valuable for trunks on which to bud or graft the weeping willow. By this mneans, in a single season, beautiful drooping tops, a dozen feet across, can be made on trunks anywhere from ten to thirty feet in height. S. lasiandra, with long, narrow-pointed leaves; S. Cordata, with pointed leaves, some of them approaching to heart-shape, are found along mountain creeks. S. Monica, and S. arctica, are small shrubs found among the highest Sierras; the latter is a creeping shrub, and is often found covering large areas.
POPLARS, Cottonwoods. Three species of these are found. Populus tremuloides, "Quaking Asp," is the poplar found in the Sierras, on marshy ground at from 4,000 to 8,500 feet alti- tude: it has very white bark. P. trichocarpa, is the cotton- wood. with smooth bark, found in the mountains. P. Fre- monti, is the large tree with gray, cracked bark, found spar- ingly along Wautokee Creek, and constituting the chief amount of timber along the Posé Chiné.
SYCAMORE, Platanus racemosa, is common along most of the rivers and creeks in the valley portion of the county. ASH, Fraxinus Oregana, (Spanish name, " Fresno,") the tree from which that county and one of its rivers take their names, is com- nion along the banks of streams; is a small tree with tough, hard, valuable wood. ALDER, Alnus rhombifolia, is generally found with the preceding ; it sometimes reaches a height of fifty feet and three feet in diameter. DOGWOOD, two species of this, Cornus Californica and C. pubescens, are found along the inountain creeks at 2,000 to 5,000 feet altitude. They are shrubs twelve to twenty feet in height, with large, white flowers, and very hard wood. MAPLE, only one of these, and that but sparingly, Accr macrophyllum, a tree sixty feet in height, is found along the upper course of the San Joaquin and King's Rivers. BUCKEYE, Esculus Californica, common over all the foot-hills, is sometimes a broad-topped tree forty to fifty feet in height. In May, when in full flower, they are beautiful, but as they shed their leaves in summer, they are not desir- able for shade or ornament. Wood of little value. MADROÑA, Arbutus Menziesii, a tree with large leaves, and bark resem- bling a manzanita; rare in our mountains.
MANZANITA, Arctostaphyllos. At least seven species of this beautiful heath are indigenous to this section. A. glanco., sometimes twenty-five feet in height, found in the Coast Range; fruit three-fourth of an inch in diameter, seeds con- solidated into a globose woody stone. A. Andersonii, ten feet tall, pale bark, Coast Range canons. A. tomentosa, ten feet in height, common found on all foot-hills. A. pungens, larger than the preceding where found growing with it, but becom- ing quite small on the high Sierras. A. Uva-ursi, a creeping, smooth-leaf variety on the high Sierras. A. pumila, similar to preceding but erect; Coast Range cañons; very rare. A. bicolor, stems ncarly bare of leaves, which are found only at the end of the branches; three to four feet in height; fruit yel- low, size of a pca.
BIRCH, Betula occidentalis, a single species in the high Sierra cañons, at 10,000 feet altitude. A small tree twenty feet in height, broad, thin, oval leaves. FREMONTIA CALIFORNICA, a branching tree, twenty-five feet tall, one foot through at base, hard wood, yellow flowers, a hands-breadth across, in early spring: leaves thick, hairy, rusty beneath, usually three-lobed. Bark possesses the same qualities as "slippery elm." Grows on the high foot-hills near the lower range of yellow pine. MOUNT- AIN LAUREL, Umbellularia Californica, a tree sometimes fifty feet tall, with green, shining, lance-shaped leaves four to five inches long. Wood, bark, leaves and flowers are aromatic. It belongs to the same family as the Camphor, Cinnamon, and Sassafras trees.
It is found at an altitude of 1,000 to 2,000 feet on both the Sierras and Coast Range. CERCOCARPUS PARVIFOLIUS, locally known here as " Mahogany," is found growing with the preced- ing. It is an arborescent shrub, ten to twenty feet in height, leaves hairy or silky above, one-half to one and a half inches long, veins prominent bencath. It has a hard, heavy, dark- colored wood, susceptible of a fine polish.
Of NATURALIZED TREES I would not speak but for the reason that some are so perfectly adapted to growth here, and are being raised by tens of thousands, so that their abundance and size in future years will cause a doubt as to whether they are not native to the soil. BLACK WALNUTS have grown over twenty feet in height, and over a foot in diameter, and have borne a crop of nuts, at five years old from seed. Chestnuts have also borne a crop of nuts at five years of age. Pecans and Maderanut trees make nearly as great a growth, as also do Basswood (Tilia Americana), Elms of several varieties, Mulberries, red, white and black, White Ash, Tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera), Soft Maple, Box Elder, Catalpa, Ailantus, Lombardy Poplar, while the Carolina Poplar (Populus monilifera), surpasses them all in growth, having grown here on my place, symmetrical trees over thirty feet in height in three years from cuttings. Different species of Eucalyptus also make an enormous growth, from eight to fifteen fect in height per year, but they are not hardy enough to stand the
139
BOTANICAL FEATURES OF THE COUNTY.
frost in most parts of the county. Locusts, black, honey and yellow, have also been successfully grown, also some varietics of Acacia, as well as Osage Orange, and several exotic Pines, Cypresses, etc. This list though but partial, I trust contains many naturalized trees that will largely supersede the indig- enous varieties within the coming fifty years.
BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS.
This is pre-eminently the land of flowers. Nearly half the year the landscape is covered with a beauty rivalling the most brilliant cloud in magnificence, of purple, gold and crim- son, flecked here and there with touches of heaven's deep bluc. Would you study these flowers; do you wish to know their interior beauties; would you penctrate the mysteries of their growth ? You must know them by their names, that you may study in botanies what science has learned concerning theni, and to this end, come with me,-let us take each other by the hand that we may the better obcy the command of Wisdom, "Consider ye the lilics of the field."
NEMOPHILA INSIGNIS, a terrible name for our first flower of winter, the blue "Baby Eyes" of our plains! But all these long names have a meaning. This comes from Greek, nemos, grove, and philos, lover, "Grove-lover," so called from the origi- nal type of this family, found abundantly in the Southern States, always growing in the shade of dense groves of trees. Another flower of this family, NEMOPHILA MACULATA is found on the creek near Behring's store, and generally along creeks in the mountains at altitudes ranging from 4,000 to 8,000 feet. It grows six to ten inches in height, and has blossoms an inch in diameter, white or rose color, blotched with spots of brilliant dark purple.
ERITRICHIUM CHORISIANUM, " Woolweed," is the second flower that blooms in winter. It grows a foot in height, has hairy stems and leaves, and small, white, fragrant heliotrope-like blossonis It is valuable for fecd for stock, also makes good greens or salad for the table.
DODECATHEON MEADIA, "Johnny-jump-up," of the clayey foot-hills, blooms at same time. These are followed by myriads of flowers, among which are : ESCHSCHOLTZIA CALIFORNICA, the large yellow or Fremont Poppy, with flowers from two to four inches across, usually consisting of four bright orange petals, satin-glossed. Also of the poppy family we have PLATYSTEMON CALIFORNICUS, "Cream Cups," little cream or lemon-colored flowers, often double, each on the top of a hairy stem a foot or two tall; common in old fields; and MECONOPSIS HETEROPHYLLA, a beautiful poppy-like flower of our Sierra foot-hills; not common.
GILEAS in places cover the landscape. At least seventeen species of these are found here. G. dichotoma, with slender black stems a foot in height, and pearly white blossoms nearly an inch in diameter. G. tri-color, with branching stems a foot or two tall, filled with blossoms a half inch across, somewhat
cup-shaped, and variegated with purple, rosc and lavender. G. pusilla, two to six inches high, covering the ground in places with a mat of hair-like stems, blossoms abundant, deli- cate, purple, rose or white, a half inch or less in diameter. G. androsacea, a foot in height; small, rose or white flowers, clustered on a prickly head; Sierra foot-hills. G. Viscidula, like preceding but smaller, flowers briglit bluc or yellow; clay lands, lower foot-hills and plains. G. Capitata, " Blueheads," in sandy hollows, stems one to three feet, few leaves, flowers sky-blue, clustered in leads or tassels. G. achilleæfolia, like preceding but stouter; flowers larger, less compact. The other species are less common. CLARKIA ELEGANS, brushy Sierra foot-hill; stem two to four fect, usually branched ; flowers composed of four petals, showy; purple or violet; nodding in the bud. PHACELIA TANECETIFOLIA, covering the ground in places; tansy-like Icaves, stems two to four feet, flowers abun- dant, small, arranged along the curling ends of the branches; light violet or bluish. CALANDRINIA MENZIESII, a low succulent plant, resembling portulacca; flowers a half inch or more across, ranging in color in different varieties from bright crimson to purple ; a valuable feed plant. Abounds on Jackson's place near Centerville. C. pygmaen, a species with large fusiform roots, red flowers; Sierras, 8,000 feet. Of LUPINES our county has fourteen specics, mostly shrubby ; palmate leaves; bcan- like flowers and secds. L. arboreus, in foot-hills, notably about Auberry Valley, two to ten feet tall, flowers yellow. L. rivu- laris, flowers blue or violet ; above Jackson's on King's River. L. albicaulis, small; common on the plains east of Selma. L. confertus, flowers rose-color; Sierra foot-hills. L. aridus, dwarf shrub; high Sierras. L. leptophyllus, on King's River ; flowers bluish-lilac, with crimson spot. L. sparsiflorus, small, slender; flowers violet, very small. The others are unimpor- tant. The JUDAS TREE, "Red-bud," is a common arborescent shrub usually growing in bunches along crceks in the foot-hills conspicuous from its abundance of red bean-like flowers, which cover the branches in spring before the leaves appear.
Two COLLINSIAS, a large variegated purple one is found in the foot-hills, and a small white one on sandy places on the plains. An ORTHOCARPUS, "Owl clover," is common; another orthocarpus, not resembling the above, that from the peculiar form of its petals, is called " Yellow-puffs," grows about River- dale. The so-called "Buttercups" of the plains are not but- tercups at all, but are EVENING PRIMROSES. Here are also three species of red or purple primroses. In the Sierra foot- ' hills are two species of HONEYSUCKLE, both climbers, with woody stems; a CLEMATIS (Virgin's Bower), also a climber, is found among the shrubby woods of the higher foot-hills. It is recognizable by the hair-like appendages to its seeds. Of flowers on tall, leafless, flower-stalks, with succulent, grass-like leaves at their base, and growing from bulbs, we have BLOOM- ERIA AUREA, yellow, six-pointed, abundant on Sayle's Creek in early spring. BRODIE GRANDIFLORA, three to six feet, flowers
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BOTANICAL FEATURES OF THE COUNTY.
varying from rose to purple ; brushlands of Sierra foot-hills. B. MINOR, similar to the above, but only a foot in height. B. CAPITATA, the funnel-shaped, so-called "Bluc lily" of the plains. B. BRIDGESII, similar to preceding, but darker blue, and found only on clayey soil. B. LAXA, the most common species; heads of small, clustered flowers. Of Lilies, the WASHINGTONIANUM is found in abundance in several isolated meadows in the Sierras. L. Parryi, L. parvum, L. purda- linum, are also found here. Calochortus luteus, " Butterfly Tulip," is abundant along the Sierra foot-hills.
One YUCCA, Y. Whipplei, is found in the southwestern part of the county, near the Hot Springs. Caudex, ten to twenty feet tall, the upper half of it covered with large white or cream-colored, lily-like blossoms, during spring.
THE SUNFLOWER family has so many representatives here that we can give only the more conspicuous a passing notice. LAYIA PLATYGLOSSA, "Tidy-tips," is the common little yel- lowish sunflower, two inches across, with petals white or white- tipped. L. pentachata, a foot or two in height ; common, golden yellow. CH.ENACTIS glabriuscula, is the branching, profuse-flowering plant, a foot tall; flowers an inch or two across, each a collection of closely-set small flowers. MALA- COLTHRIX CALIFORNICA, is the beautiful, aster-like flower, two or three inches across, with a purple spot in center. TROXIMON CHILENSE, closely resembles the dandelion, which is not found in our county. SONCHUS ASPER, "Milk thistle," plentiful below Centerville. GOLDENROD, we have two of these: Solidago Californica, growing on dry ground, and S. elon- gata, growing in damp eañons and meadows. One ASTER, A. salsuginosis, with flowers one to two inches in diameter, is found in the Sierras at 6,000 to 10,000 feet. ERIGERON, Cana- dense (horseweed), constitutes the principal growth along irri- gating ditches. Of COCKLEBUR we have two species: Xan- thium strumurium, the common species, and X. spinosum, found sparingly on King's River bottoms. We have also two SUNFLOWERS, Helianthus annus, the common, branching, rank- growing, noisome weed, and H. Californicus, similar[in appear- ance; more rare; damp places; large tubcrous rootstock. One LEPTOSYNE, L. Stillmani, is common; yellow cup-like flower, an inch across, on single stems of a foot or two length, upper half generally leafless; grows in clayey hollows where water stands in winter. Several species and varieties of TARWEED grow here, the most common of which is Madia elegans, too well known to nced description. BÆRIA chrysostoma, the lit- tlc sunflower that grows so abundantly in deserted shcep corrals.
Our wild wormwood on the river is the ARTEMISIA VUL- GARIS of botanists. HEMIZONIA PLUMOSA (formerly Calyca- denia plumosa) is the last of the sunflower family to blossom in spring. Stems two to three feet, very much branched, flowers numerous, three-fourths of an inch in diameter, lemon- colorcd. Formerly covered large areas of the plains; remains in bloom till mid-summer.
ECONOMIC BOTANY.
The most valuable advice to all dwellers on the " Plains " is, PLANT TREES. They add to salubrity of climate by protect- ing the earth from sun, licat, and drying winds, also by bring- ing up moisture by their roots from great depths, and evapo- rating it through their leaves. In winter, too, they modify the degree of cold. Plants do not frost-kill as early in winter, nor as badly, near timber as elsewhere. Douglas, the Illinois nurseryman, announced twenty years ago that fruits and plants can be grown in a climate muchi colder than is natural to them by planting within enclosing shelter-belts of lofty evergreens. That predietion is a verified fact in thousands of orchards on the western prairies to-day. Fruits are being grown within surrounding shelter-belts of evergreens hundreds of miles north of where they could be grown without protec- tion.
Never plant evergreen trees when the ground is cold. The best time to plant them is early spring. The sap of these trecs consists of a watery juice and a pitehy or resinous matter com- bined. The compound is the same whether found in the trunk, the large roots, or the small, hair-like, fibrous roots. The exposure of these very delicate root-fibers to the heat of the sun, or the equally drying action of the wind for only a few minutes, may cause the watery part of the sap to evaporate, leaving only the pitchy portion. This can never again, by any amount of moisture or scaking, be made to circulate, or perform the functions of sap in the tree, which must inevitably dic as a result. Trecs gather food from the earth through their spongioles or minute mnouths found at the ends of the hair-like root fibres. Be careful then to preserve the little hair-like roots-preserve them to their ends, for in the ends of these is the life of the tree. It is for the purpose of causing these " fecders " to form in masses near the base of the tree that nurserymen so often transplant evergreens, to insure an unchecked growth after the removal.
The LIBOCEDRUS is the most desirable evergreen for all parts of our county. No other tree equals it in ability to stand heat, drought and frost. Its roots run very deep into the earth, thereby making it stand firmly in the most exposed situations, and leaving the earth right about its very base in condition to produce anything that you may ever wish to cultivate under the shade of the trees. By a tall inclosing " shelter belt" of these trees, and a few piles of manure within, wetted so as to heat and steam during frosty weather, the most tender tropical plants may be grown anywhere in the great valley of Cali- fornia. Eucalyptus are desirable only in the foot-hills, where there are no injurious frosts. DECIDUOUS trees should consti- tute most of your planting. They are preferable for shade about one's residence, as they do not exclude the sunlight in winter when it is needed; also for shade, so necessary here for all kinds of live-stock : as also to protect from sun and wind
SILVER SPRAY FALLS. IST- FALL 200 FEET. 2AND FALL 150 FEET. 3RD FALL JOO FEET.
PHOTO BY QUE NY
TALIA FETTO. .
ELLIOTT. LITH, 421 MOI17. ST.
ELLIOTT LITH. 421 MONT. ST.
·DINKEY.SUMMER RESIDENCE OF FRANK DUSY.
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BOTANICAL FEATURES OF THE COUNTY.
wagons, mowers, etc., they are best-even better than a wooden building, which neither shuts out nor counteracts the drying winds, besides its liability to fire, from which these shade trees are exempt. The Carolina poplar is most desirable for the above use, because its growth is most rapid and symmetrical, besides it can be bent and pruned so as to produce any form or density of shade desired. Of other trees that you should plant along ditches, roadsides-everywhere where trees can be made to grow, walnut, chestnut, Madeiranut, pecan-all nut trees of easy culture and rapid growth, are most desirable. In addi- tion to value of timber produced, their yearly crop of nuts will bring you a large suin. I have black walnut and chestnut trees only five years old from seed now bearing a crop of nuts. In the raising of FRUITS your object should be to have the earliest, the latest, and the best in its season, of every vari- ety. As success in tree culture demands so widely different practices in different localities, I give from my experience of over twenty years in tree-growing, by irrigation in the hot elimate of interior California, the following directions for
CULTURE OF FRUIT TREES.
Plow your ground very deep in February. Then plow out your ditches for irrigation. Fill them with water to settle the ground. and get the water-level. Turn off the water, and let the ground dry till in proper condition to dig easily. Then set your trees by digging a hole sufficiently large to spread out the roots in their natural position. Tread the earth firmly around your tree, leaving the collet at the surface of the ground six inches above the water level of your ditch, so that water inay never afterward stand against the body of your tree. Remember that the life of this, and all other trees, is in their little hair-like roots. If any of these are cut off. which is necessarily the case in removing all but the very smallest trees, you should always cut off the top and limbs of the tree to correspond. Trees are never injured by too close pruning when transplanted, but if not top-pruned, a loss of root-feeders will kill the tree or very much enfeeble its growth.
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