134 



CALIFORNIA. 



C 



CALIFORNIA, cue of the Pacific States of 

 the Union, extending from Lower California on 

 the sooth to Oregon on the north, and from 

 the Pacific on the west to Arizona and Nevada 

 on the east. It is nearly ten degrees of latitude 

 in length, extending from 32 20' to 42, and 

 about ten degrees of longitude in its extreme 

 breadth, lying between the meridians of 37 18' 

 and 47 23' W. from ^fVasbington. Its area is 

 158,687 square miles, 101,689,688 acres. Its 

 present population is estimated at 500,000. Its 

 capital is Sacramento City. It was admitted 

 into the Union September 9, 1850. The num- 

 ber of organized counties in the State is 49. 



In previous volumes of the ANNUAL CYCLO- 

 PAEDIA there have been given statistics of the 

 climate, soil, and productions of this State. Its 

 climate in the south is semi-tropical, while in the 

 north, or the mountainous districts of the inte- 

 rior, it belongs to the colder zone of the temper- 

 ate regions. On the coast, however, the range of 

 the thermometer is far less than on the Atlan- 

 tic slope. It is, in the main, a very dry climate, 

 though the wintry rains are often copious and 

 destructive. In most sections, during the long, 

 dry, and warm season, the soil becomes so hard 

 that it cannot be broken up easily with the 

 plough until the first rains have softened it. 

 The soil, where it is tillable, is a deep rich loam, 

 and almost everywhere needs only irrigation to 

 make it abundantly productive. The principal 

 farming crops are wheat, barley, hay, and the root 

 crops. The wheat of California is of excellent 

 quality, containing a larger quantity of gluten 

 than that of any other portion of the globe. 

 There is no distinction of spring and winter 

 wheat in the State, the time of sowing being in 

 December and January, after the November 

 rains have moistened the earth. The counties 

 in the immediate vicinity of San Francisco bay 

 are those most largely engaged in the produc- 

 tion of wheat. Barley is an important crop in 

 California, yielding largely, and the volunteer 

 crop, self sown, of the second year, is often al- 

 most an average crop. The common oats do 

 not succeed well, on account of the dryness of 

 the climate, but a wild variety grows abundant- 

 ly and furnishes the hay crop of California, ex- 

 cept in a few of the northern counties where 

 timothy is grown. The grasses generally do not 

 succeed well. Corn is not ordinarily a success- 

 ful crop, and can be raised with profit only in 

 the southernmost of the coast counties. In the 

 valleys of the Sacramento and the San Joaquin 

 the nights are too cool for its rapid or successful 

 growth. In root crops California stands pre- 

 eminent. Nowhere else do they attain such a 

 size, or such excellent qualities. The country 

 is admirably adapted for stock-raising, large 

 portions of its territory being unfit for the 

 plough, but nowhere surpassed for grazing. The 



grasses, or rather the wild oats, and mast, fur- 

 nish abundant pasturage for the winter months, 

 and the stock-grower can dispense almost en- 

 tirely with winter feeding. The forest trees of 

 California are for the most part evergreens, and 

 of great size and height. There is some cotton- 

 wood and oak along the streams, but the cedar, 

 of several new species, the redwood, a tree of 

 the cedar family, numerous species of pine, in- 

 cluding the gigantic Sequoia, spruce, etc., are 

 the principal trees of the forest. 



Agriculturally, however, the State is best 

 adapted to the growth of fruit of almost every 

 variety. The apricot, qnince, cherry, plum, 

 pear, peach, apple, nectarine, prune, pineapple, 

 pomegranate, gooseberry, the olive, aloe (agave), 

 orange, lemon, and citron are also raised in 

 great perfection. The strawberry, raspberry, 

 and grape are among its most abundant creep- 

 ing plants. In former volumes of the ANNUAL 

 CYCLOPAEDIA, and in the article AGRICULTURE, 

 in the present volume, the extent of the grape 

 culture in California is noticed. The rapidity 

 of the increase of vineyards, and the great va- 

 riety of their product (every European grape 

 being grown in the open air successfully), seem 

 to justify the belief confidently entertained by 

 the citizens of the State, that ere many years 

 California will be the vineyard of the world. 

 The grape crop never fails here as it does in 

 Europe, or in the East often, and its yield is 

 fully twice that of any other country, while the 

 rich and aromatic character of the soil gives to 

 the grape a richer flavor than it attains else- 

 where. Two hundred pounds of grapes, per 

 vine, is about the average yield ; and in particu- 

 lar instances, vines but five years old have 

 yielded over 800 pounds. In 1864 there were 

 12,592,688 vines growing in California, and 

 nearly four millions more were set in 1865. 

 The California wines and brandy already enjoy 

 a high and increasing reputation in the Eastern 

 markets. 



Fruits of almost all kinds are sold by the 

 pound, and bring highly remunerative prices. 

 At the close of 1865, apples were sold at four 

 to eight cents per pound, pears from four to ten 

 cents according to the variety, strawberries fifty 

 cents per pound, Lawton blackberries twenty 

 to twenty-five cents, apricots four to ten cents, 

 figs eight to fifteen cents, peaches four to ten 

 cents, limes thirty-seven and a half cents a dozen, 

 oranges $6 icT^Y per hundred, lemons $6 to $8 

 per hundred, pineapples, each fifty cents to $1, 

 bananas, the bunch or hand, $2.50 to $5, grapes, 

 common, three to eight cents per pound, foreign 

 varieties from ten to twenty-five cents per 

 pound, plums eight to fifteen cents, prunes 

 twelve to fifteen cents, watermelons twenty to 

 thirty cents each. 



During the past two years efforts have "been 



