AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 181 



quality of the fruit and prolific bearing of the tree, 

 the cherry is a great fruit in locations which meet 

 its requirements. The cherry requires a modification 

 of summer heat and of the dryness of summer air 

 and for these reasons does not thrive on the interior 

 plains, even when irrigation is employed to regulate 

 soil-moisture. In the central coast valleys and in 

 those tributary to the great Sacramento Valley and 

 on the river lands, where depth of soil prevails and 

 modification of air dryness is secured by abundance 

 of adjacent water, the cherry grows magnificently. 

 Elevation also secures conditions suitable to the 

 cherry in some cases, notably in southern California, 

 where the product of trees in mountain valleys at an 

 elevation of 2000 feet or more is satisfactory and 

 profitable although the trees on mesas below, where 

 citrus fruits thrive, are disappointing. The cher- 

 ries grown are of the sweet varieties. Sour cherries 

 grow and bear well but are not commercially desir- 

 able. 



The peach ranks second among deciduous fruits 

 and has a very wide range in California. It goes 

 beyond the apricot in the coast valleys north of San 

 Francisco; it grows beside the apricot wherever the 

 latter thrives in the interior, rises a thousand feet 

 above it on the foothills and goes lower on the plains 

 into the frosted areas with safety because of its later 

 blooming. The peach has a ripening season with 

 different varieties and locations from May to Decem- 

 ber, although, of course, the mid-season varieties con- 

 stitute the great commercial crop. The varieties most 



