AGRICULTURE. 239 



green peas, string-beans, water-melons, cantaloupes, and nut- 

 meg-melons, from June to November ; tomatoes from May to 

 October ; garden-eggs, green okra, Lima-beans, and Californian 

 sweet potatoes, from July to September; asparagus from 

 March to June ; and rhubarb from April to July the months 

 being meant inclusively in every instance. These seasons for 

 the different species of vegetables are, on an average, twice as 

 long as the seasons on the Atlantic slope of the continent in 

 the same latitude. Our tables are thus supplied with a great 

 variety of fresh and wholesome vegetables throughout the 

 year. Another advantage of our climate is, that garden veg- 

 etables may be left in the ground all winter. Potatoes are 

 sometimes not dug until the first of January, and turnips and 

 beets are usually left in their beds until they are to be sent to 

 market ; there is never enough cold to freeze them. Potatoes 

 are never buried, but after they are dug are piled up in bags 

 under a shed, or are placed in a storehouse. 



The cabbage likes a moist air and soil, and thrives best along 

 the coast, from Bodega to Santa Cruz. The melons and toma- 

 toes like a warm climate, and thrive best in the Sacramento 

 Valley and Putah Valley, which is tributary to it where 

 many of the early vegetables for the San Francisco market are 

 grown 



171. Fruit. As a fruit-growing State, California takes a 

 high position. In this particular, as in so many others, her 

 climate gives her great advantages. In no part of the world 

 do fruit trees grow so rapidly, bear so early, so regularly, and 

 so abundantly, and produce fruit of such large size. Nor is 

 there any other country where so great a variety of fruit can 

 be produced in high excellence. In the matter of flavor, our 

 apples, peaches, and strawberries, or most of them, are infer- 

 ior to Eastern fruit ; in the flavor of other species we are at 

 least equal to other countries. The pear, the plum, the apri- 

 cot, the grape, and the olive, are peculiarly thrifty, healthy, 

 and productive, as compared with the same kinds of fruit else- 

 where. 



