WHY CALIFORNIA FRUIT IS LARGE AND FINE 23 



maturity, great growth, and abundant fruitage of our trees and 

 vines. Heat, sunshine, dry air, and a rainless summer also minister 

 directly to the curing of fruits in the open air. All things considered, 

 it is doubtful whether any area in the world excels California in 

 possession of natural adaptation to fruit production and preservation. 



A RECAPITULATION OF CALIFORNIA'S CLIMATIC 



ENDOWMENT 



Through the multitude of local observations, which seem per- 

 plexing and almost contradictory, it is possible to clearly discern 

 certain general conditions of both nature and culture, which may be 

 briefly advanced as haracteristically and distinctively Californian. 

 Of these, perhaps the most striking is the length of the growing 

 season. 



Take, for instance, the peach in a good peach region. The bloom 

 may appear in February, followed by the grand foliage expanding 

 to a leaf-size, marvelous to one unused to such peach leaves. The 

 shoots of new growth rush out with vigor promised by such leaf; 

 and yet the fruit below expands as though it would burst its skin 

 in rapid enlargement and still it grows. The new shoot, apparently 

 weary of its several feet of extension, stops for a rest, and then, 

 reviving, starts out its laterals while still below the peach is grow- 

 ing. The laterals push out a foot or more all carrying large, fresh 

 leaves. While these are in full vigor, the fruit ripens, after having 

 a full year's joint work of root and foliage, if it is a late variety. 

 Is it any wonder it weighs a pound? But still the tree is active. 

 It forms its terminal buds, and then all along the new main shoots 

 and their laterals are formed the leaf and blossom buds for the 

 following year. Still the foliage holds green and active, if the 

 moisture below be adequate, and the leaves seem loath to fall in the 

 ninth month from time of blooming. Is it any wonder California 

 peaches are large and the trees require pruning and thinning to en- 

 able them to carry the weight produced in such a season of growth? 

 And what has been said of the peach is true of other trees, according 

 to their nature and habits. The trees themselves are more eloquent 

 of California's conditions for growth than descriptions or statistical 

 tables can be made. 



But the quality of the light and heat, if the term is admissible, 

 is a factor as well as their duration. The air, free, not alone from 

 clouds, but from the insensible aqueous vapor which weakens sun- 

 shine in its effort to serve vegetation in a humid climate, has a 

 clearness and brilliance from its aridity which makes each day of 

 the long, growing season more than a day in other climates, and 

 thus adds to the calendar length of the growing season. The surplus 

 light and heat also act directly in the chemistry which proceeds in the 

 tissues of the plant, and we have not only size, but quality, color, aroma 

 everything which makes the perfect fruit precious and beautiful 

 beyond words. 



