BEGINNING OF THE CROP YEAR 29 



parts of the world enjoy. First there is the autumnal springtime 

 which follows the heat in the interior valleys, bringing a delicious 

 coolness to the early morning and crystal clearness to the atmos- 

 phere which reveals the distant mountain tops with a sharpness 

 which their outlines do not often reveal through the haze of sum- 

 mer. There is also the autumnal springtime in the coast regions, 

 which brings a little higher heat because the arrest of ocean winds 

 gives the declining sun opportunity to warm the earth as even the 

 vertical sun of midsummer could not do because of the screen of 

 summer fogs which the landward winds interposed. These two 

 manifestations, differing in effects upon the coast and in the inte- 

 rior, are simply phases of one seasonal change and mark the ap- 

 proach of the autumnal springtime in California, the beginning of a 

 new growing season, the advent of another crop-year reminding 

 the California ruralist of new duties and announcing new oppor- 

 tunities to one who understands the superlative advantage in 

 California of beginning early and keeping everlastingly at it to get 

 the most from the land and from his own labor. 



Of course California has also the delights of the true vernal 

 springtime, marked by the change from the short, dark days of 

 the rainy season, to the more abundant light and heat of the drier 

 months ; a season of blossoms and flowers and of activity of the 

 tenderer plants, when the "rare days of June" appear in the Cali- 

 fornia March and April. Of the two California springtimes 

 which attend the equinoxes, the one of September is the greater in 

 agricultural and horticultural significance because it is really the 

 beginning of the crop-year and because timely work then gives 

 success with plants which make their returns during the winter 

 and, besides that, it insures the best results with other plants which 

 yield their rewards in the dry season which lies beyond. The delicious 

 September weather with us is not, therefore, an outholding of 

 cheer to encourage one to endure an approaching winter but a fore- 

 taste of the delights of a rainy season which, except during actual 

 storms, is a time of plowing and sowing, planting and pruning and 

 of other fundamental operations which underlie the success of the 

 year. The March springtime, on the other hand, opens the way 

 to the haste of haying and harvest, the distress of late plantings in 

 high heat for which they have no proper rooting, unless the grower 

 comes to their relief with cultivation as their needs require. The 

 September springtime looks to a beginning and the March spring- 



