20 



the Ferry Building, San Francisco. Both these public agencies have 

 gathered a fund of detailed information which is free to all who 

 may apply. The College of Agriculture of the University of Cali- 

 fornia may, through its several stations and employees in different 

 parts of the state, be of service to those who desire to obtain a 

 home on the land. Many of the counties maintain, through public 

 taxation, boards of trade or chambers of commerce. If one has decided, 

 through information received from other sources, to locate in a given 

 county, assistance in locating within the county may be obtained 

 usually by addressing a letter to the secretary of the board of trade 

 at the county seat of the county. A number of counties also maintain 

 a county commissioner of horticulture, who has intimate knowledge 

 of fruit growing within his county and may usually be addressed at 

 the county seat. 



There are, including branch and deposit stations, and excluding 

 professional libraries, about 950 libraries in California. Most of them 

 are open to the public for reference purposes. All these libraries 

 receive the publications of the California Agricultural Experiment 

 Station and some of them contain other references on agriculture. 

 By consulting the librarian, suitable references concerning the lead- 

 ing features and methods may be obtained. If you want the help 

 which books can give you ask the librarian to assist you. No one who 

 comes to California to locate upon the land need go without reasonable 

 authoritative and accurate knowledge, if he consults the various sources 

 of information which have been mentioned and which are ready 

 without a charge to serve the prospective settler. 



CLIMATE AS AFFECTING CROP PRODUCTION* 

 Owing to its topography, prevailing winds and proximity to the 

 ocean, California is subject to a very wide range of rainfall, tempera- 

 ture and humidity, and owing to the same reasons the entire range of 

 these phases of climate may be comprehended in the several large 

 divisions into which the state may be divided. 



To those coming from regions east of the Mississippi Valley two 

 features of the climate of California will be noticeable: First, the 

 season of greatest rainfall is in the winter months, the months of June, 

 July, and August being almost devoid of rainfall. Second, the lines 

 of equal temperature run for the most part north and south, rather 

 than east and west. 



So far as climate in its bearing on crop production is concerned, 

 the state may be divided into five sections, but even in these divisions 

 there will be some climatic features common to all. 



* By E. J. WICKSON, Professor of Horticulture. 



