30 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES 



time to a finish of the year so far as a finish can come to a year 

 which is action from end to end. 



Geographical Distribution of Production. According to the 

 United States census of 1910 the plants generally classified as 

 vegetables, and which are included in this treatise, yielded value 

 to the grower of half a million or more in ten California counties, 

 as follows: 



Alameda $ 841,885 San Joaquin $2,683,277* 



Contra Costa 1,230,155* San Luis Obispo 659,137 



Los Angeles 1,473,521 Santa Barbara 1,114,113 



Orange 1,194,627 Santa Clara 715,730 



Sacramento 914,374* Ventura 2,773,687 



Of the foregoing counties seven are in Coast valleys and three 

 (marked *) are interior valley lowlands, so far as their vegetable 

 products are involved. 



LOCAL VARIATIONS IN CLIMATE. 



Although it is possible to grow almost all vegetables every- 

 where in the state by intelligently selecting the proper time of the 

 year for each, which will be shown later, and although a few local- 

 ities have climates so uniform and equable that by providing proper 

 moisture conditions nearly all vegetables can be grown all the year, 

 it is still possible to define regions with somewhat distinctive cli- 

 matic characters bearing upon garden and field growth of edible 

 plants. 



Coast Valleys. The greatest volume of vegetable products of 

 California is at present grown in the coast valleys. This term 

 includes both well-defined valleys of greater or less breadth, and 

 stretches of rather flat or gently sloping land, open to ocean in- 

 fluences. It is a region extending the whole length of the state and 

 lying between the highest elevation of the Coast Range and the 

 ocean. In the upper half of the state it is composed chiefly of well- 

 defined valleys somewhat parallel to the coast, but protected by 

 low ranges which modify and mollify ocean influences, insuring 

 higher temperature and more gentle winds than are found directly 

 on the coast. In the southern part of the state the region chiefly 

 consists of broad areas quite open to the ocean but needing 110 

 barriers from it because, owing to the trend of the coast, the lower 

 latitude and the greater distance south from the source of the 

 prevailing air currents, the ocean influences are themselves modified 



