152 HISTORY OP CALIFORNIA. 



The dry season secures the fruit from those diseases 

 which are so fatal in the Atlantic States, and it attains 

 very great perfection. 



" The wine made from it is of excellent quality, very 

 palatable, and can be produced in any quantity. The 

 grapes are delicious, and produced with very little 

 labor. When taken from the vines in bunches, and 

 suspended in a dry room by the stems, they become 

 partially dry, retain their flavor, and remain several 

 weeks, perhaps months, without decay. 



" Apples, pears, and peaches are cultivated with 

 facility, and there is no reason to doubt that all the 

 fruits of the Atlantic States can be produced in great 

 plenty and perfection. 



" The grasses are very luxuriant and nutritious, 

 affording excellent pasture. The oats, which spring 

 up the whole length of the sea-coast, and from forty 

 to sixty miles inland, render the cultivation of that 

 crop entirely unnecessary, and yield a very great 

 quantity of nutritious food for horses, cattle, and 

 sheep. The dry season matures, and I may say 

 cures, these grasses and oats, so that they remain in 

 an excellent state of preservation during the summer 

 and autumn, and afford an ample supply of forage. 

 While the whole surface of the country appears 

 parched, and vegetation destroyed, the numerous flocks 

 and herds which roam over it continue in excellent 

 condition. 



" Although the mildness of the winter months, and 

 the fertility of the soil, secure to California very 

 decided agricultural advantages, it is admitted that 

 irrigation would be of very great importance, and 

 necessarily increase the products of the soil, in quan 

 tity and variety, during the greater part of the dry 



