STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. '■','■)') 



the damage done in your section, and consequently made no reference to 

 Marysville or vicinity at all. If, as I hope it be proved, that Marysville is 

 less affected than the central part of the valley, and generally more frost- 

 free, as, indeed, your large orange trees seem to prove, then there must be 

 other causes than elevation, such, perhaps, as your position near a large 

 body of water, that have a modifying influence. Apart from this, it is a 

 fact well known that the temperature of towns is generally a little higher 

 than that of the open country adjoining. Sacramento City is favored in 

 this respect, and as the towns of the valley grow and trees are planted, it 

 will, no doubt, be found that the average temperature will be higher. 



As regards my opinion that it would not be wise to undertake orange 

 planting for profit all over the Sacramento Valley, being ill-advised, it may 

 be so, but from my present knowledge I must adhere to it. It would be 

 just as erroneous to claim this as to claim that all parts of the southern 

 counties are adapted to profitable orange growing. 



As a matter of fact, it is becoming understood better and better that 

 gentle sloping mesa lands, or slightly rolling spurs in the valley, are the 

 safest places generally. I said that the cold and its effects were by no 

 means confined to the northern part of the State. Indeed, in the south 

 considerable damage was done to fruit in certain sections. But even here, 

 where I was told that oranges had been frozen solid on the trees, the dam- 

 age to the trees was hardly perceptible, yet the crop was lost. It must be 

 remembered that the tree can be hurt only by a much greater degree of 

 cold than it takes to damage the fruit. Varieties of fruits, however, differ 

 in this respect. Thus I learned that Malta Blood oranges thawed out and 

 seemed but little hurt, while others, such as the Navel, were spoiled. An 

 example as to how much difference a slight elevation makes: I was told 

 by an orange grower at Colton that the temperature in town went down to 

 19° Fahrenheit, the effect of which could be plainly seen on various trees; 

 yet on Colton Terrace, at a slight elevation, and perhaps only a quarter of 

 a mile distant, I found the orange, tree and fruit, unhurt. 



How low it went here I did not learn, but judging from effects, it proba- 

 bly reached but 25°. 



As regards the difference of effect of cold weather on the slopes, and in 

 what has been called thermal belts, compared with low lands and plains, 

 all vine growing countries can testify. The thermal belts, also, may in 

 certain years be badly affected, but in three times out of four, when the 

 low lands suffer, the thermal belts do not; thus for the latter very much 

 decreasing the danger. 



I said that deciduous trees might be seen growing successfully within a 

 short distance of evergreens, yet the two classes would be grown in differ- 

 ent climates. People living in the mountain counties will understand 

 what I mean. Probably my own place in the Santa Cruz Mountains 

 affords for me the best illustration of this. For three years in succession 

 I had a few orange and lemon trees cut down by the frost. These trees 

 were standing at the base of a slope. They were moved about two hun- 

 dred yards further up the slope, giving them an elevation of about fifty to 

 sixty feet higher. Since then, for three years, until the present year, they 

 were not affected by frost, and were bearing fruit when the cold wave of 

 the present year struck them. There is frost noticeable at the lower ele- 

 vation perhaps thirty or forty nights out of the season, when ordinarily 

 three or four nights will be all that it shows at the upper elevation. Again, 

 according to an old settler, in an adjoining valley growing corn there is 

 liable to be killed at any time of its season, yet the rolling hills above the 

 valley never suffer. So I might go on indefinitely with examples. In 



