FOOTHILLS AND MOUNTAINS. 33 



are the regions which were formerly most apt to be con- 

 demned as unfit for vegetable growing, and it is upon such 

 lands that most failures and disappointments occur. It is 

 true that local climatic conditions here need most radical 

 modification by art of man, but it is here also that prompt 

 and timely work and adequate irrigation, wind protection 

 and partial shade win their greatest victories. There is 

 really no reason why the energetic, enterprising man 

 should hesitate for a moment about undertaking prepara- 

 tion for his home supply of vegetables. Commercial un- 

 dertakings in vegetable growing may have to be confined 

 to fewer plants grown just at the right season and with 

 special methods, but even a small water supply with ample 

 will and work will give a full variety for the family table. 



At certain elevations on the mesas and foothills of the 

 Sierra Nevada and Coast ranges, sheltered by local topog- 

 rophy, there are practically frostless regions with ample 

 winter rains where winter growth is so fostered that the 

 earliest vegetables as well as the earliest fruits are pro- 

 duced. Some tender vegetables may be ready for the 

 table on the higher location before it is safe to plant the 

 seed on the lower level. And the two situations may be 

 in full sight of each other. It is a fact that in small val- 

 leys of the foothills late and early frosts, sharp and de- 

 structive, may be more prevalent than on the lowlands 

 of the broad valley below, while on the slopes above 

 them tender plants may be safe. 



Mountain Valleys. Among the mountain peaks and 

 ridges from three thousand feet upward are slopes and 

 valleys which are very productive of vegetables. As ele- 

 vation decreases, wintry features become intensified and 

 range of winter growth less and less until in the true 

 "mountain valleys," which lie among the summits of the 

 Sierra Nevada, the winter is a closed season of snow and 

 ice and the garden becomes a summer affair as in the 

 Eastern States. Growth, however, during the open sea 

 son is very rapid and satisfactory, moisture is abundant 



