CHAPTEE II 

 THE SOILS OF CALIFOKNIA 



THE soil of California was a puzzle to the pioneers. 

 Their first conclusions and comments on its charac- 

 ter and value varied according to the time of the year 

 at which they first viewed it, but their conclusions 

 were similar. If they came to California early in 

 the rainy season, they saw valleys and hillsides cov- 

 ered with grasses, clovers and flowering plants in 

 such areas that the whole country resembled a park. 

 If they arrived late in the rainy season, they saw 

 wild oats and other plants so tall that they could be 

 tied across the horns of their saddles. Early in the 

 dry season there was no verdure, except in the moist 

 river-bottoms, and the plains and hillsides were yel- 

 low or brown with plants dried to death as they 

 stood hay made without hands, curing where and 

 as it grew, nutritious because untouched by rain and 

 eagerly eaten by horses and the wild herbivora with 

 which the country abounded. If the pioneers came 

 late in the dry season or later (until the rains be- 

 gan) they beheld bare landscapes, hill and valley uni- 

 formly sere and yellow with vestiges of sun-parched 

 vegetation largely wind-swept into water-runs mile 

 after mile of bare soil seeming also to move with the 



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