YOUNG ORANGE GROVE IN THE FOOTHILLS NEAR PORTERVILLE, TULARE COUNTY, ONE DISTRICTS OF CENTRAL CALIFORNIA. OF THE THRIVING CITRUS FRUIT Irrigating the San Joaquin horse power, which can be increased at small expense. This line supplies power for mills and factories throughout its length. Of the 1,446,114 acres of land under irrigation in Valley. California, according to the last Government report, 749,917 acres, or something over one-half, were in the San Joaquin Valley alone. This immense area is irrigated in part by canal systems and in part by pumping plants lifting the water from wells which tap the great reservoir of water underlying the entire San Joaquin valley, at depths varying from twenty-five to one hundred and fifty feet. Fertile Delta of the The great dam at La Grange, Stanislaus county, on the Tuolumne river, in the Sierra foothills, is an example of what can be done to harness the waste waters. Here a flow of 75,000 miners' inches is diverted, sufficient to irrigate 375,000 acres. This dam was recently constructed at a cost of over $550,000. In San Joaquin county, the delta county of the valley, there are now two irrigating systems to which a very large alfalfa, dairying and fruit growing area is tributary. The reclaimed lands of this county are irrigated through substantial flood gates built in the levees. In Fresno, Madera, Merced, Kings, Tulare, and Kern counties, an immense district is embraced within a most excellent system of irrigation. Through each county of this valley one may go, pointing out matters of peculiar interest, but space does not permit detailed description of the advantages of the various counties. San Joaquin county alone contains 873,000 acres, and in common phrase is known as "the gateway" of this region. Through it pass most of the travelers going from Sacramento, the capital of California, to the lower counties of the valley, or to Los Angeles. San Joaquin county alone is a principality made up of San Joaquin a most enterprising population. The delta or tule lands consist of about 150,000 acres, originally classed as swamp or overflowed lands, and covered with a dense growth of flags or tules. A large portion of these lands consists of islands embraced by channels and connecting forks of the San Joaquin river. They have Fertile Islands of the been reclaimed by dyking in large areas, and within the past few years have been developed by intensive agriculture to rank as the most productive lands of the county. In this area are found large tracts of peat lands, which are devoted to asparagus, celery, potatoes, onions, chicory, beans, and other vegetables; black loam of unfathomed depth, made from the accumulation of decayed vegetable matter during past centuries; sandy loam, in which the detritus brought from the mountains by floods is blended with the vegetable mold of the tules; and alluvium, consisting of patches and zones of extremely rich and gritless deposits washed from the Sierra. The best known of the delta lands are: Bouldin San Joaquin. Island, where there is an asparagus farm of 1,700 acres. from which two great canneries put up each season 100,000 cases of asparagus for which the world's epicures pay half a million dollars; Staten Island, largely devoted to stock raising on its evergreen pasture, but where also fortunes have been made during the past few years in growing potatoes; Rough and Ready Island, where some of the finest cherries, apricots and peaches of the State are grown; Roberts Island, an extensive tract, on which are produced the heaviest crops of wheat and barley, the most abundant yields of potatoes, beans and onions and the only chicory grown on the Coast; Union Island, similar to Roberts Island in the variety and quantity of its vegetable productions. North of Stockton, along the Calaveras and Mokelumne rivers, the soil is a rich, black, sandy loam. Here are many of the vineyards, orchards, small truck gardens and dairies of the county. In this section from ten to thirty acres are found to be a sufficient holding to enable the owner to support his family and at the same Ten to Thirty time accumulate a bank account. The newcomer, as a Enough. rule, engages in general farming and truck gardening, finding that with a few cows, chickens and an alfalfa patch an income is assured from the start. Acres In the immediate vicinity of Stockton is found a rich black soil that produces heavy crops of grain, produce and fruits. Southward from the city is a region whose soil is |