HOW THE PEACH GROWS IN CALIFORNIA 



23 



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, re- 

 viving, starts out in 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 lat evariety. 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 enable 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, relatively free, not 

 alone from clouds, but from the insensible aqueous vapor which 

 weakens sunshine 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 beau- 

 tiful beyond words. 



It is true that for long-distance shipments of fresh fruits it is not 

 possible to allow this process to go too far, for its later efforts are 

 higher sweetness, accompanied by such juiciness that the fruit can 

 not endure transportation. But go to the tree to apply the only 

 test which can fairly be put to a juicy fruit, and the demonstration 

 of the service of clear, unobstructed sunshine through an adequate 

 period is complete. But if this can not be done, place the judgment 

 upon the mature peach carefully sun-dried and intelligently cooked, 

 or upon the ripe peach skillfully canned, and the distinctive adapta- 

 tions of California for fruit production will display themselves. 



But there are other agencies involved in the perfection of fruit 

 than intensity and duration of light and heat. Without adequate 

 moisture in the soil, the air which we have credited with such benign 

 power in carrying heat and light for perfection of fruit would trans- 

 mit the same as agencies for the destruction of the tree which bears 



