INTERIOR IRRIGATED GARDENS 27 



advantages of vernal heat from its south latitude, which comes so 

 early that it practically banishes winter from the list of the seasons. 

 Such conditions have favored the development of a cantaloup in- 

 dustry which markets its product in all parts of the United States 

 before any other region can enter into competition with it. The 

 growth of winter cabbage is also largely undertaken and other early 

 vegetables and fruits are produced to the extent justified by the 

 market demand. As the season advances, however, its adaptability 

 to the growth of succulents becomes restricted to those which can 

 endure high heat and resist desiccation by desert winds which occa- 

 sionally prevail. 



Mountain Valleys. Among the mountain peaks and ridges 

 from three thousand feet upward are slopes and valleys which are 

 very productive of vegetables. As elevation increases wintry fea- 

 tures 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 season is very rapid and satis- 

 factory, moisture is abundant and irrigation facilities ample in the 

 abundant supplies of snow waters from above, which need, how- 

 ever, to be moderated in temperature before distribution. In this 

 region gardening seasons and practices are more comparable with 

 eastern policies and methods and are not characteristically Calif or- 

 nian as the term is usually understood. 



GENERAL CHARACTERS OF CALIFORNIA CLIMATE. 



The proper conclusion from the foregoing discussion is that 

 each California locality must be separately studied to determine its 

 climatic adaptations for vegetable growing and its season for the 

 best discharge of the various gardening duties. Although, as will 

 appear from time to time all through this treatise, very few general 

 prescriptions such as are popular as "gardening calendars," "work 

 for the month," etc., in regions of less climatic diversity, can be 

 given as a guide to work in this state, still there are some generaliza- 

 tions concerning leading climatic features as related to vegetable 

 growing which may be of assistance to distant readers or newcomers. 



Relative Occurrences of Cloudiness and Sunshine in California 

 Regions. Due proportion of sunlight, warmth and moisture is nec- 

 essary to produce quick and healthy vegetation. Cloudiness is also 

 an important element, since the presence of clouds screens the earth 

 and diminishes the heat received by vegetation from the direct rays 

 of the sun. So also, acting as a screen, it prevents in a measure the 

 radiation of heat from the earth into space, and this materially tends 

 to modify and reduce the daily range of temperature, so that grow- 

 ing vegetation is not subject to as great cold as would otherwise 

 obtain during the night, nor on the other hand, does it receive the 

 full amount of solar heat by day. 



