CHAPTER XXXV 



CALIFORNIA 



CALIFORNIA occupies a similar position on 

 the Pacific coast of the United States to 

 that of the territory lying between Charles- 

 ton and Boston on the Atlantic coast. There are 

 158,360 square miles or 101,350,400 acres within 

 its borders A large part of this is mountain or 

 desert, but the territory is so great that the total 

 acreage of the arable valleys would make a good- 

 sized eastern state. 



The great interior valley in which the Sacra- 

 mento and San Joaquin valleys lie is about 420 

 miles long and has an average width of forty-five 

 miles. 



California's greatest agricultural asset is its 

 climate. Throughout southern California and the 

 Great Central Valley the growing season is prac- 

 tically twelve months long. During the winter 

 there is some cold weather, but the thermometer 

 rarely registers lower than freezing. Pastures pro- 

 duce feed in the winter season, although less lux- 

 uriantly than in summer; oranges ripen, and all 

 kinds of vegetables make satisfactory growth. 



Potatoes will live over winter in the ground and 

 make a volunteer crop the next season. 



Even though fruit and vegetable growing, dai- 

 rying, and other lines of agriculture are highly 

 developed in some sections of the state, the re- 

 sources and possibilities for agricultural pursuit are 



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