PREVALENCE OF CITRUS CONDITIONS 355 



is true of some parts of Arizona adjacent, and small quantities of 

 early fruits move westward and northward from that region. That 

 region is not in view in this discussion, for too little has been 

 accomplished in citrus lines to warrant conclusions which recent 

 planting in that part of the State may soon supply. 



Third : Still another feature of local topography must be men- 

 tioned as influencing citrus conditions north and south and explain- 

 ing why winter temperature has fallen no lower at the north than 

 at the south. At the north the snow fields of the high mountains 

 are farther from the valleys and mesas, where citrus fruits are 

 grown, than they are at the south. The benches and low foothills 

 of the Sacramento Valley, for instance, are forty to fifty miles from 

 the high range to the east of them and there intervene countless 

 ridges of high foothills and small valleys, and before the citrus 

 plantations can be reached by the descending air currents they are 

 considerably warmed by rustling over so much land which has been 

 warmed by the ampler winter sunshine. From many of the south- 

 ern citrus regions one looks almost directly upward and outward 

 upon the grand snow-clad mountains, whose crests are but fifteen 

 to twenty-five miles away. It is a splendid scenic effect ripening 

 oranges and dazzling snow fields in the same glance of the eye, but 

 it is sometimes not so grand as a pomological proposition. 



Fourth : Another protective influence for citrus fruit trees during 

 the frosty period of December and January, is the low canopy of 

 land fog which covers the interior valley of Central and Northern 

 California much of the time at that season of the year and checks 

 the radiation of ground heat which is apt to take place rapidly under 

 a clear sky. Though the nights are thus often protected from the 

 frosts, the day temperature is held low, which is also of account, 

 because the citrus trees are held dormant, which is desirable, as 

 there is no fruit to ripen. On the other hand, the higher day temper- 

 ature in Southern California is valuable in that district because the 

 later fruit is still maturing. The winter aspects of the trees in 

 Northern and Southern California are therefore quite different; in 

 the north, the dark green of dormancy ; in the south, the gold of the 

 fruit and the oft-protruding light green of the winter wood growth. 

 In both regions all growth conditions seem good ; each after its own 

 kind, and the two, in a sense, complementary. 



During the last few years there has been rapid extension of 

 orange planting, particularly in the suitable lands on the eastern 

 rim of the San Joaquin and on both sides of the Sacramento Valley. 

 The orange product of the northern district is normally about one- 

 eighth of the State product. Nearly five-sixths of all the trees north 

 of the Tehachapi mountains are in the citrus districts of eastern 

 Tulare County. 



THE GENERAL OUTLOOK FOR THE ORANGE 



At the present time orange growing has a very promising out- 

 look. The prospect for much larger consumption, at the East and 

 abroad, is very encouraging. The orange is passing from its old 



