368 Life in the Open 



trating, but if the dweller in the land goes out of doors 

 and takes normal exercise it is not noticed ; at least 

 the heliotropes, roses, stocks, violets, and countless 

 others are growing in the open air every day in the 

 Southern California winter. 



I should call the climate of Southern California 

 temperate, with a very small rainfall ; a region with two 

 summers : one cool, from December to April, another 

 warmer, from April to December. During the cool 

 summer it rains on the average fifteen inches, about 

 half the rainfall of Boston or New York. The rain 

 often falls at night. The remainder of the year it does 

 not rain, but the towns and cities are supplied with 

 water, in pipes, from the mountains. They turn this 

 on lawns, and irrigate their ranches from the same 

 source. 



A climatic glimpse of the year may be given. In 

 November the skies are clear, or perhaps in October, 

 and the weather is cool. Suddenly, long, slender masses 

 of cloud appear along the mountain-side, coming from 

 the south-east, and persist during the day. They dis- 

 appear, come again, and, after many trials, one night it 

 begins to rain for the first time since May, or earlier. 

 This initial rain may continue several days, mostly at 

 night, or it may clear after a few hours. If there has 

 been a fall of two inches, or even one, an almost imme- 

 diate change is noticed. The air is free of dust, the 

 trees are washed down, and all nature puts on a smiling 

 face, and where the atmosphere has been hazy and 



