14 CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



and moisture favor, or irrigation is practised, extra early locations 

 have been found and are now being rapidly developed in the Im- 

 perial and adjacent valleys, for instance. 



Some of the horticultural effects of the conditions prevailing on 

 the coast may be described as follows : 



Late Ripening of Fruits. The late ripening of fruits west of the 

 mountains in Southern California has just been mentioned. Intru- 

 sion of coast influences has the same effect in more marked degree 

 at the north because the ocean winds are colder. Directly on the 

 coast, at Pescadero, San Mateo County, for example, fruits ripen 

 about a month later than in Santa Clara Valley, which is just across 

 the Coast Range. Napa Valley, though about forty miles inland 

 and sheltered by ranges of hills, still is sufficiently affected by the 

 coast influences to mature fruits considerably later than Vaca 

 Valley, ten or fifteen miles further east, beyond a higher range, 

 which completely bars out these influences. Similar local effects 

 are found in Southern California. For instance, in Ventura County, 

 in a canyon sixteen miles from the ocean, and at an elevation of six- 

 teen hundred feet, fruits ripen three weeks earlier than on the coast 

 or in the valleys opening thereon. 



Failure of Certain Fruits. Though killing frosts are few directly 

 on the coast, the deficiency in summer heat and sunshine renders 

 some fruits unsatisfactory. This is especially the case in the upper 

 coast region. Grapes and figs ripen imperfectly, while but a short 

 distance back from the coast, in situations sheltered by ridges 

 parallel to the coast, they do well. Elevation sometimes produces 

 corresponding effects. 



Pest and Diseases. Certain blights are more prevalent under 

 coast conditions. The scab blight of the apple, the curl-leaf of the 

 peach, and some other blights, are prevalent on the coast and in 

 coast valleys, on the river bottoms in the interior, and on the moun- 

 tains, and less serious, or wholly absent, in the hot interior valleys. 

 Some insects prefer the coast but thrive also in the interior, as hot 

 dry wind is excluded by dense growth of the tree and the included 

 air becomes moister above irrigated soil. A notable instance is the 

 black scale, which, with the black smut which attends it, has long" 

 been a grievous pest of growers of olives and citrus fruits, and has 

 recently became prevalent on deciduous fruit trees in some regions. 

 On the other hand, in the face of ocean winds the codlin moth seems 

 to have less chance to fill pears and apples with her destructive 

 offspring than she ejoys in interior valleys and mountain regions. 

 Directly under coast influences, moss and lichens gather quickly 

 and should be removed. Spraying with alkaline washes not only 

 kills insects but cleans the bark from parasitic vegetable growth. 

 Although fruit trees on the coast are not so subject to sunburn as 

 in the interior, there is especial value in low heading to withstand 

 winds; there should also be plenty of room given the trees, that 

 sunshine may have free access to warm the ground all around the 

 tree, which may be undesirable in the interior. 



