14 RURAL CALIFORNIA 



against northwest winds, which might otherwise, now 

 and again, bring a temperature too low for citrus 

 fruits, where now they are safe from injury. The 

 chief effect of these mountains is to protect the north- 

 ern interior valleys and foothills from the cooling 

 winds of early spring, and to allow the sun to expend 

 the increasing heat directly in promoting vernal 

 verdure. The result is quick growth in all lines, 

 early pasturage, early grain harvest and early fruit 

 ripening. The valleys of the coast side of southern 

 California have no high range between them and the 

 ocean. This is not so unfavorable as such an open- 

 ing would be at the north, because ocean winds are 

 gentler and warmer here. However, the absence of 

 high barriers against ocean influences retards the 

 springtime and causes a slow development of sum- 

 mer conditions and later ripening of fruits The high 

 barriers at the north so hasten spring and summer 

 heat that early summer fruits in California are 

 shipped from the north to the south, which does 

 not occur anywhere else in the northern hemi- 

 sphere. 



There is in southern California, east of the moun- 

 tains, a district consisting of the Imperial and con- 

 necting valleys, which has, during the last decade, 

 rapidly and extensively developed, where protection 

 from ocean influences tends to early ripening of fruits 

 and early growth of vegetables and field crops. The 

 same is true of some parts of Arizona adjacent and 

 early fruits and vegetables move westward and north- 

 ward. In that region the effects of local environment 



