196 CALIFORNIA FRUITS I HOW TO GROW THEM 



soil. There is a certain advantage in elevation in the coast region as 

 well as in the interior, but the advantage is not so marked nor is the 

 required elevation so great. Coast valleys in the central and upper 

 portion of the State, where the soil is suitable, produce most excellent 

 apples, but even here the lower hillsides, with deep, well-drained soils, 

 are, perhaps, preferable to the floors of the valley. Departing from 

 immediate coast influences and approaching the interior, with its 

 greater heat and aridity, the greater elevation becomes desirable. The 

 apple, excepting the very early varieties, does not relish the forcing 

 heat which brings such perfection to the peach, but to insure late ripen- 

 ing and long keeping, with accompanying crispness, juiciness, and 

 flavor, it must have atmospheric surroundings which favor slower de- 

 velopment. 



Localities for apple growing in southern California are to be chosen 

 with much the same rules as in the upper parts of the State. As has 

 already been said, valleys in which coast conditions largely predominate 

 produce good apples, on suitable soils, but away from the coast, propel 

 elevations must be sought, and they should be a*bove the so-called ther- 

 mal or frostless belts. Good apples are grown on low lands near the 

 coast in Los Angeles and Orange Counties. Sixty miles inland, in Sar 

 Bernardino County, winter apples fail in the valleys, but are mosl 

 excellent at a sufficient elevation upon the slopes of the surrounding 

 mountains or in elevated valleys like the Yucaipe Valley above Red- 

 lands, where a Rome Beauty of excellent quality was grown in 19CK: 

 to a weight of twenty-seven ounces and a circumference of fifteer 

 inches. In the elevated interior of San Diego County, as in the Juliar 

 and Smith Mountain districts, excellent apples are produced in larg< 

 quantities and profitably carried long distances. 



Second and Third-Crop Apples. There is a peculiar behavioi 

 of the apple tree, most noticeable when winter temperature is mildest 

 and that is blooming and fruiting out of season. In the case of earl} 

 apples the second bloom may appear about the time the first frui 

 ripens and the third bloom when the second crop is half grown. Ever 

 such behavior may be followed by regular blooming the following 

 spring. Second crops of apples are not of amount nor regularity 

 enough to be of much economic importance, as the second crop o: 

 pears and grapes sometimes are. The third crop occasionally ripens 

 An instance is on record at Chino, San Bernardino County, where it 

 1903 a tree ripened its first crop in June, and its last fruit was pickec 

 on Christmas day following. Such behavior, of course, indicates con 

 ditions ill suited to the apple. 



Exposures for the Apple. The choice of exposure for an appl< 

 orchard may almost be inferred from what has been said about locali 

 ties. In regions with high summer temperature the apple will do bes 

 on cool, northerly slopes, and this exposure becomes doubly desirablt 

 when the location has high temperature with only moderate annua 

 rainfall, or where the soil is not well adapted to the retention of mois 

 ture. With such prevailing conditions, the apple will be grateful foi 

 the cooler air and the greater moisture of the northerly slope. When 

 the temperature is moderately cool, and the rainfall adequate, the mat 



