32 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES. 



ceive of coast influences. This gives the distant lowlands 

 a higher temperature and greater forcing power upon 

 vegetation. The nights are warm as well as the days. 

 Vegetables of prodigious size and acre-crops which tax 

 credulity, are the result of the favoring conditions. But 

 these lands are low and danger of frost makes it necessary 

 to select crops for hardiness during a part of the year. 



Interior Plains and Foothills. Above and away from the 

 lowlands of the rivers and their deltas the interior plains 

 stretch far as the eye can reach, and rise, both on the east 

 and west, into the foothills of the Sierra Nevada and the 

 coast ranges. In southern California somewhat similar 

 regions occur as the lands rise from the coast flats to the 

 mesas and foothills of the high, incurved mountain range 

 which encloses the splendid coast region of southern Cali- 

 fornia. The great interior plains of southern California 

 irrigated from the Colorado river and adjacent valleys 

 irrigated from wells constitute a vast vegetable growing 

 district which has recently attained notable development. 

 There are similar climatic conditions prevailing through 

 these vast interior regions both north and south except 

 that the extreme south has by its latitude and its escape 

 from ocean influence, a frost freedom and spring time 

 heat which enable it to produce the earliest vegetables in 

 the State. In the interior regions the rainfall is light as 

 compared with the coast until the mountain climate is 

 encountered at varying elevations, when it becomes even 

 greater than on the coast. The mean temperature is 

 higher and, except in certain localities, the frosts cover 

 a shorter period and are less severe. Winter growth of 

 vegetables is widely feasible and plants of less hardi- 

 hood than those of the lowlands are usually safe. But 

 the rains cease earlier in the spring and heat and drought 

 make irrigation essential long before it is required nearer 

 the coast. For summer growth of vegetables, except on 

 small areas moistened by underflow from mountain springs 

 or valley cienegas, irrigation must be provided. These 



