CALIFORNIA 113 



This parallel is still further exemplified in the ' chaparral', 

 which is an exact replica of the European maquis, as 

 far as the growth and mode of life of the plants are 

 concerned, though the species may differ. The chaparral, 

 with its impenetrable thickets of evergreen shrubs with 

 leathery, prickly leaves, and thorny bushes, dwarf oaks, 

 and others, is a feature of California : it extends along 

 the sea-coast in a belt on the lower slopes of the ranges 

 on either side of the valley, and is characteristic of the 

 foot-hills of almost all the ranges in Arizona and New 

 Mexico. It is also a predominant and ever-present feature 

 in north-western Mexico and lower California, and much 

 of it is doubtless due to the destruction of forests. The 

 similarity between the two warm temperate regions of 

 Europe and America is continued in the forests of conifers, 

 the composition, habit, and undergrowth of which corre- 

 spond, point for point, with similar forests of the 

 Mediterranean. 



Quite naturally, California has borrowed its agriculture 

 from the Old World : olive- and vineyards, orchards of 

 peach-, orange-, and lemon-trees ; mulberry-trees for 

 silk- worms, &c, have been adopted and, by means of new 

 cultural methods, developed rapidly in the hope of 

 soon equalling the European produce. Those strenuous 

 efforts have been attended already with some measure 

 of success. The harder kinds of wheat are also grown 

 extensively, along with maize and lucerne or alfalfa, on 

 the tracts of dry grass, where ground water is available. 



The American Deserts. The Great Basin gradually 

 passes, on the south, to the Mohave desert which extends 

 beyond the Colorado, at the foot of the Arizona plateau, 

 under the name of the Gila desert : a complete drought, 

 a fierce heat, and an extremely dry and clear atmosphere 

 are the features of this region. Compared with the 



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