STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



343 



warm stream, and yet being from the mighty expanse of the ocean are 

 pure, and not contaminated, as is too often the case with the warm winds 

 of less favored regions. 



But it must not be supposed that every portion of California is equally 

 fortunate, for strictly speaking there is no such thing as a climate of the 

 State. Within its borders may be found every variety of climate that 

 exists in the United States, from Maine or Minnesota, to Florida or South 

 Carolina. "The winters of the Sierras are severe enough to satisfy the 

 most enthusiastic admirer of the rigors of a northern winter; the summer 

 heat of some of the southern and interior counties is torrid enough to make 

 a visitor from the tropics feel quite at home, while the summer and autumn 

 fogs of San Francisco could be best appreciated by a native of Labrador, 

 or a Massachusetts fisherman who has spent years on the banks of New- 

 foundland." Many people are under the impression that if they but come 

 to California they cannot fail to derive all the benefits of its "glorious" 

 climate. As already shown, such cannot be the case; only in favored por- 

 tions can be enjoyed that which has made the climate of California famous 

 the world over. A necessary element to a proper estimate of the value of 

 a home in California is the length of the productive season. If three crops 

 can be raised in one season on one piece of land it is worth three times as 

 much as that on which one can be raised. Even more than that; the sin- 

 gle crop has to be worked in the short season of growth; the triple crop is 

 worked by one man in the same time or during the year, employing his 

 whole time, whereas two thirds of the vital energy of the worker is lost in 

 the contest with the unproductive cold weather. Here the gain of three 

 years is condensed into one, without the loss of two years of life and the 

 food and energy necessary to live through the unproductive and wasting 

 period. 



With these facts before our readers, we append various tables taken from 

 the official records of this county showing the comparative and absolute 

 rainfall, mean temperature, etc., that our readers may make their own 

 estimates of what is claimed, and justly, for the favored county of San 

 Luis Obispo. 



Comparative Annual Rainfall. 



Rainfall at San Luis Obispo, as compared with other points in California 

 and the United States: 



* Average as taken at San Luis Obispo City for the last seventeen years. 



