130 ORANGE CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA. 



eral grafted varieties, and especially the Mediterranean Sweet, 

 which were carefully protected, have suffered considerably. 

 Two lime trees were killed to the ground. In the neighborhood 

 Mr. Hoffman has a square of grafted orange and lemon trees, 

 early covered, wholly unharmed. The location is exceptionally 

 good. Another neighbor, who delayed covering his yearling 

 trees, finds them crippled and blighted. Scattering trees on 

 warm sheltered slopes and in town gardens are doing well. 



Third My young orchard is finely situated rich, mellow 

 soil, on an inclined plane well sheltered, the last place on my 

 grounds where the vine gets frosted. 



Fourth Fifteen years ago ice formed one inch thick; this 

 season one-half of an inch was the most. Many of my nursery 

 trees were frozen to the ground that year, but after the decayed 

 tops were pruned off they again grew up vigorously. Young 

 orange trees require protection here, but not more than in 

 Spain, Italy or Florida. This protection can be extended at a 

 trifling expense for material, therefore my answer to your fourth 

 question will be a truthful yes and a consistent no. 



But labor omnia vincit, not by the fiat of a sand-lot orator, 

 but by the plodding and untiring care of the intelligent hus- 

 bandman. Encumbering the land with hundred-acre orange 

 plantations must inevitably prove a financial failure, in spite of 

 the most flattering mathematical calculations ; but groves of a 

 few hundred trees, planted on sites designated by nature and 

 faithfully cared for, will not only add to the means of subsistence 

 and bring much wealth to the toilers, but they will remain with 

 them as blessings in many forms, independent of dimes and 

 dollars. We are within fair reach of the metropolis ; the greater 

 resources at our command should make us more indefatigable 

 in enterprise, and, happily, our efforts are well seconded by na- 

 ture. All things considered, no other county in the State is so 

 favorably located for varied culture as Contra Costa. The floods 

 of Joaquin and Sacramento meet the Pacific's waves at her 

 feet, and their humid tidal breezes bear inland the freshest, 

 richest plant food, which, in the interior counties, is available 

 only from surface irrigation. The hills of the Coast and Diablo 

 ranges ward off from her sunny valleys all destructive storms^ 



