which would confuse the ideas of an Atlantic farmer. There are no showers or thunder gusts to throw down the grain, or wet the hay, or impede the reaper. The hay dries in the swath without turning. The grain remains standing in the field awaiting the reaping machine, it may be, for a month after it is ready to cut. And so it remains when cut, awaiting the thresher. When threshed and sacked, the sacks are sometimes piled up in the field a long while before removal. In September and October the great grain-growing valleys may often be seen dotted over with cords of grain in sacks, as secure from damage by weather as if closely housed.

Owing to the absence of severe frosts, the gardens around San Francisco supply fresh vegetables all through the winter. New potatoes often make their appearance in March. In May the potatoes are full grown, and the largest weigh a pound or more. Though shipped and transported hundreds of miles in sacks in the winter season, no one thinks of their freezing. Frozen potatoes are unheard of, but a distinction is made in wet weather by traders, between wet and dry potatoes, accordingly as they have been exposed or not.

A peculiar effect of the climate on fruit trees, is their early and prolific bearing. Apple trees begin to bear when only two or three years old, and they also continue to grow. It is still more remarkable, that the opposite climates of the coast and the interior produce the same results in this respect. One might infer, that the dryness and heat of summer would hasten the ripening of fruits, and cause the flowering and fruiting season to be short. But the fact is precisely opposite. The blossoms, instead of coming forth all at once, continue expanding for weeks, and the fruit ripens slowly and by instalments. It follows that the market season for any kind of fruit, instead of lasting a few weeks, as in the Atlantic States, may continue for months. Cherries, for instance, begin to appear about the middle of May, and are on hand till the middle or last of July. Hence, an extraordinary variety of fruit is in market at the same time. It is probable that no market in the world is equal to that of San Francisco in this respect. Thus, strawberries, which become abundant in April, are brought to market in large quantities for three months, and then disappear, not because the production has ceased, but because people have grown tired of them, and other fruits have made their appearance. When the winter is mild, ripe strawberries may be gathered every month of the year. In favorable localities, cherries, peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines, pears, apples and figs, together with strawberries, raspberries, goose

berries and currants, may often be gathered at the same time, all ripe and in perfect condition.

For the drying of fruit the climate is admirably adapted, and the probability is that immense quantities of dried fruit will be produced in California for export. There can be no failure in the process. All that is requisite, is to expose the fruit in a suitable place, after proper preparation, and leave it there. It needs no covering or care at night, as there is not sufficient dew to harm it.

The perfection and value of fruit are greatly enhanced by the entire absence of those species of the curculio, which sting the fruit in the Atlantic region, and deposits the eggs from which worms are hatched. So far not a single worm of this description has been seen in any variety of fruit in California--an exemption which is no doubt due to the climate.

Other contrasts than those described in the foregoing pages result from the peculiarities of climate. In traveling through the valleys late in summer, or in the autumn, one is painfully impressed with the barrenness of the landscape. Everything is withered and desolate; the streams are all dry, and not a patch of verdure is anywhere to be seen. A few months later, should the December rains prove copious, the streams are full and the whole country is not only verdant, but many parts of it are, perhaps, under water; a most luxuriant vegetation, mixed with millions of wild flowers, everywhere greeting the eye as the spring advances.

The aridity of the dry season is a blessing in disguise. What appears to the traveler a barren waste, is a pasture field. The dried grass is well preserved, after going to seed, and both stalk and seed afford nutritious food to sheep and cattle. Here, then, is a storehouse for stock, which will endure until the first heavy rain. For this reason our agriculturists desire no rain until late in the season, and not then unless sufficient should fall to wet the soil for ploughing, or to start a fresh growth. Anything short of this only spoils the dry pasture, without giving compensation.

Another point is to be considered: that dry and dreary landscape is nature's seed store, where seeds of a hundred species are preserved for next year's use. There they repose for months as safe as if packed in the drawers of a seedsman. In the spring they will germinate by myriads. How well these seeds are preserved, is shown by the multitudes which germinate in a given space.

And now, what wonder that the hills of California are clothed every year with a luxuriant growth of wild oats? And that "volunteer" crops. of barley and wheat, yielding twenty bushels to the acre, spring up in

the valleys from seed scattered in harvesting? It is not unusual to have two good volunteer crops in succession, in as many years. Garden vegetables seed themselves in the same way.

By a curious arrangement, the seeds which are scattered on the ground are often secured most effectually. A large portion of the valley surface is composed of adobe soil; and as soon as the dry weather comes this soil begins to crack in all directions, and when the seed ripens and falls, it is preserved, in these natural receptacles, from the depredations of birds, squirrels and other animals.

The preservation of the pasture by drying, and the shortness of winter and consequent early production of new pasture, have tempted farmers to make little or no provision for their stock, such as is necessary in the same latitude elsewhere. There is a want in the country of barns, and of the means of housing and foddering. When there comes a severe winter, with cold rains and a long suspension of the growth of pasture, the effects are disastrous. Every such season proves fatal to vast numbers of cattle, the mere loss of which should be esteemed of less importance than the torture inflicted on them by cold and starvation. The humane farmer should not trust to the chances of a mild winter.

HEALTH, DOMESTIC ECONOMY, ETC.

An inhabitant of New England, or Canada, coming to California, wears nearly as warm clothing in the month of July in San Francisco as he wore in January in his old home. Even then he shivers with the sea breeze, and sometimes dons an overcoat before sunset. No one thinks of casting off his flannel, or wearing a lighter coat on account of the approach of summer. With the ladies, however, the case is different. The occasional warm mornings of summer allow the exhibition of summer fashions, without prohibiting cloaks and furs. At night it is otherwise, the temperature requiring the use of blankets. Even in the interior, with the thermometer at 100° at noonday, blankets are almost everywhere required before morning. There is no climate in the world in which one sleeps so comfortably all the year round; and it is questionable if there is any other country in the temperate latitudes where people devote so much time to sleep.

The atmosphere is mostly dry, even during the summer mists; vapor never condensing on the walls, nor indicating its presence within doors in any other perceptible manner.

In its relations to the physical development of animals, including man, the climate of California appears to be propitious. Laborers

will toil in the extreme heat, in the interior, and preserve their health and vigor in a remarkable degree. This is partly due to the dryness of the air, which promotes the rapid evaporation of sweat, and partly to the coolness of the nights, which favors rest and recuperation. The climate is remarkably adverse to epidemic diseases. The malignant cholera made a visitation in 1850, but was scarcely felt elsewhere than at Sacramento, where a combination of the most unfavorable circumstances gave it destructive power. Passengers have frequently arrived since that time, after traversing regions where the disease was raging, without introducing it. With the exception just noted, it might be said that no epidemic has prevailed in California since its settlement by Americans. Every summer an influenza prevails with greater or less force, in the bay climate, and in several instances it has extended along the coast into the neighboring region. Many of the interior valleys are subject to malarious fevers, but not generally of a severe type. The various forms of disease which prevail elsewhere are found here, but they present no peculiarities worthy of comment. Insanity, and diseases of the heart and blood vessels, are frequent, but this is due rather to moral and physical causes than to climatic influence.

The relation of the climate to pulmonary affections presents its most important aspect. Many persons threatened with lung disease, or but slightly affected by it, have regained their health completely by immigration. But the benefit is to be ascribed to the sea voyage, and to circumstances incident to change of residence, more than to the curative effect of the climate of the Pacific coast. To individuals in other countries suffering with tubercular disease in its established stages, this country offers no valid prospect of benefit. Consumption is developed in California as it is in most other portions of the temperate zone. The chilly winds of the ocean climate in summer, whilst they will, in many cases, brace the system against debility, and enable it to resist the invasion of disease, depress the vital forces in other cases beneath the power of resistance. On the other hand, the extreme heat of the interior leads to the same injurious results by its exhausting operation. But there is a wide range of climate between the two extremes, more favorable than any other on the Pacific slope to pulmonary patients, and much more favorable, it may be added, than the climate of the Atlantic States, either in summer or winter. The same may be said of the southern section of the State in general. The winter of California everywhere exhibits great uniformity in its relation to pulmonary invalids, and is decidedly superior to the corresponding season on the Atlantic slope.

CHAPTER V.

AGRICULTURE.

AGRICULTURE. Preliminary Observations. The Cereals: Wheat, Barley, Oats, Rice, etc. Grasses: Alfalfa, Clover, etc. Cotton-Flax--The Sugar Beet-Melon Sugar-HopsTobacco-Mustard Seed-The Amole, or Soap Plant-The Tea Plant. Fruits and Nuts: Apples Pears-Peaches - Plums-Cherries-Oranges-Lemons-Limes-BananasOlives-Almonds--Chestnuts, etc. Berries: Strawberries--Raspberries--Blackberries. Dried Fruits Raisins-Currants-Prunes-Figs, etc. Pickles, Preserved Fruits and Vegetables: Orange Marmalade-Quince Jelly-Onions, etc. Potatoes--Large Growths. Dairy Products: Butter-Cheese. Cattle and Horses--Sheep and Wool-Hogs--Bees and Honey--Insects. Wood Planting: Transplanting Trees-The Sirocco. Agricul tural Implements: Steam Ploughs-The California Land Dresser. Irrigation-Under Draining-Famine Years-Late Rains-The Farmer's Troubles in California-Hints to Emigrants-Contrasts-Advantages-The Chinese in California-Farm Labor-Harmony among Producers. VINICULTURE. Grapes-Wine-Brandy-Wine Merchants, etc. SILK CULTURE. Mulberry Trees-Cocoons-Diseases of Silk Worms, etc.

Elsewhere in this work will be found general statements pertaining to the agricultural productions of each county in the State. One of the purposes of this chapter, is to present to inquirers abroad a clear comprehension of what a farmer in the Atlantic States, or in Europe, would desire to know should he contemplate emigrating to California. In endeavoring to do this, we have aimed to answer every question this class of inquirers would be likely to ask, not omitting to mention the disadvantages that exist, so that having the whole subject fairly presented to him he can act intelligently in the premises.

Except in treating of the dairy business, which requires peculiar conditions of climate and situation, we have not directed much attention to localities-for the area is very large from which to choose; and, besides, that is done elsewhere in this volume, where also will be found descriptions of the various soils, and quotations of prices. There is, however, no standard quotation anywhere except around towns, and there it may so change in a year as to mislead. In general terms, land is very rich and very cheap. Improved farms can always be bought of persons ready for a change at moderate prices. It may, also, be said

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