106 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES 



as well as when they had the ground all to themselves. Free use 

 of the culitivator has kept the ground loose and moist, after one 

 or two plowings. By irrigating in the fall, the ground can be 

 plowed so as to start the onions before the rains, though this is not 

 usually done. Onions planted any time between October and 

 February may be considered best, though much depends on the 

 season. It should be understood that, aside from the favoring 

 soil and artesian wells, this locality is in line with the summer 

 breezes that come in from the ocean through the Golden Gate, forty 

 miles away, adding moisture to temper the otherwise heated atmos- 

 phere of the valley. 



Such land will carry all growths that can find standing room 

 on it. Similar conditions are found on low, moist valley lands in 

 nearly all parts of the state, both in the coast and the interior val- 

 leys. The land has such wealth of plant food and moisture that 

 summer weed-killing, which is not common in California, is quite a 

 problem. Where weeds will grow in spite of ordinarily good sum- 

 mer cultivation, the land will stand almost covering with useful 

 plants and it costs little more to grow them than to keep down the 

 wonderful weeds. 



