194 EESOUECES OF CALIFOENIA. 



deep, light, warm sand, which, to the inexperieneed eye, looks 

 as though it were too poor to produce any valuable vegetable 

 growth. In those places where water runs through it for a 

 few days, all the mould is dissolved and carried off, leaving a 

 white and almost pure sand. The soil is so dry, that cultiva- 

 tion^is possible only with the assistance of irrigation. In So- 

 nora and Napa valleys the vineyards are planted in a red, 

 gravelly clay near the foot of the mountains, or in a light, sandy 

 loam in the centre of the valley. Of late, the vine-growers of 

 these valleys have done without irrigation. In Santa Clara 

 valley most of the vines have been placed in a rich, black 

 loam, but their vineyards are unhealthy. The Sacramento 

 vineyards are planted in sandy loam ; those of the Sierra Ne- 

 vada in sandy loam or in gravelly clay. 



The vine was brought to California by the Spanish mission- 

 aries about the year 1770. So far as is known, only one vari- 

 ety — that now known as the Los Angeles grape — was brought 

 by them in the last century. It is the vine found in all the old 

 vineyards and in most of the new ones south of the bay of San 

 Francisco. It fills three-fourths of the vineyards in the state. 

 The berry is round, reddish-brown while ripening, and nearly 

 black when fully ripe, about five-eighths of an inch in diame- 

 tar at its largest size, covered by a strong skin, possessing an 

 abundance of thick and very sweet juice, with little meat, but 

 with no fruitiness of flavor. It has been asserted that this grape 

 is of the Malaga variety ; but if so, it has changed so much — 

 perhaps while under cultivation in Mexico, whence the first 

 cuttings that came to California were probably obtained — that 

 it no longer resembles its parent stock. 



About 1820, when the missions were established north of 

 the bay of San Francisco, a new variety, now called the So- 

 noma grape, and said by General Yallejo to be of the Madeira 

 stock, was introduced. It is now extensively cultivated in 

 Sonoma and Napa counties and in the Sacramento valley, and 

 is also found in a few vineyards south of the bay of San Fran- 

 cisco. The berry is bluish-black in color; is covered, when 



