ORANGE CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA. 131 



while the great diversity in form, aspect and material of the 

 lower ridges will afford satisfaction of every requirement for 

 warmth and shelter, needful drainage and abounding fertility. 



Careful observations at all seasons are necessary, of course, 

 to disclose the many portions wholly exempt from severe frosts 

 and blighting winds; but in a number of localities experience 

 has already demonstrated the beauty and grateful richness of 

 the semi-tropical fruits of Contra Costa. 



Alameda County H. P. Livermore, Oakland: 



First At my residence, Rock Ridge, in the foot-hills, three 

 miles north of Oakland, I have about fifty orange, lemon, lime 

 and citron trees. About a dozen are seedling trees five or six 

 years old ; the remainder, grafted trees two and three years old. 

 My self-registering thermometer shows the lowest night tem- 

 perature to have been, January i3th, twenty-eight degrees ; I4th, 

 twenty-nine and one-half degrees; I5th, thirty and one-half de- 

 grees; 1 6th, thirty degrees. 



Second No damage whatever was done to my trees by frost, 

 nor were heliotropes and other delicate flowers touched in their 

 immediate vicinity, while on flat lands half a mile away the 

 damage has been heavy. 



Third All of these trees are on a hillside from two hundred 

 and fifty to two hundred and ninety feet above sea level. 



Fourth No previous season, for the seven years of my resi- 

 dence here, has shown anything like such frosts. Even these 

 have shown no effect on trees of the citrus family or on the 

 India rubber tree, which is, perhaps, more tender. 



Chas. H. Shinn, Niles : 



First At the railroad station, where observations are taken 

 at seven A. M., at two P. M. and at nine P. M., the lowest readings 

 of the thermometer were twenty-nine, thirty and thirty-one de- 

 grees. This place is somewhat elevated, and sheltered on the 

 north by hills. At our nursery, one mile from Niles, the tem- 

 perature was not lower than twenty-six degrees. 



Second Three-year-old limes and lemons in open rows are 

 killed. The leaves are white, the bark yellowish, and no sap, 

 even in the roots. These trees were not irrigated later than 

 August. Most of them were in dormant bud. Limes under 



