ORANGE CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA. 213 



think about, and to the beginner it will be some guide by which 

 he can profit ; for if he follows the directions given, he will have 

 some assurance that this same mode has raised vineyards. We 

 have thousands of acres of land which will raise grapes in pay- 

 ing quantities without irrigation, and make pleasant and happy 

 homes, where are now wastes covered by chaparral, sagebrush, 

 cactus, etc ; and I believe that these very lands, that are now 

 supposed to be of no value, are especially adapted for the grape, 

 and that, too, without irrigation. I have cleared and planted 

 such a piece of land, and up to this date I have never seen a 

 vinfeyard that made such growth or produced so well, and with- 

 out irrigation while planting or since. Most of this vineyard is 

 only ojie and two years old, yet I have a small corner of such 

 land which is fifteen years old, and these vines have borne more, 

 are larger and of a thriftier growth than other vines adjoining 

 on apparently richer land land that grew good grass, while the 

 sandy, or almost sand, grew nothing but brush and elder bushes, 

 with now and then a sycamore tree. 



EXPOSURE OF A VINEYARD. 



In this land of perpetual sunshine a level piece of land is 

 preferable ; and if a hillside, a northern exposure is preferable 

 to a southern. A level piece of land will absorb nearly all the 

 water that falls as rain, while a slope will shed it. Where irri- 

 gation is practiced, water will wash all the finer particles of 

 soil the valuable portions away, whereas, the nearer a level, 

 the more easily it will be flooded. Nearly all beginners in 

 planting in this are almost sure to make a mistake, for they 

 have learned that the finest vineyards of Europe and the East 

 are grown on hillsides and southern exposures, but they do not 

 remember that in this country the conditions of rain and sun- 

 shine are entirely changed. Here we have a lack of water, but 

 an abundant supply of warmth. There a good season consists 

 in a dry and warm summer ; here in a wet season. A hillside 

 is a necessity there, for it sheds the rains and sooner drains its 

 water, which is taken up by the soil during the rain, and every 

 favorable condition to get all the warmth the sunshine can fur- 

 nish has to be taken advantage of; whilst here, if grapes are 

 not ripe in September they can hang on the vine until December. 



% 



WHAT KIND OF SOIL IS THE MOST SUITABLE. 



Life has as yet been too short to speak about this subject with 

 certainty, and in a century from now opinions will still have to 

 be modified. My experience is confined to my immediate neigh- 

 borhood, and even in this limited space there have been trials 

 only to a limited extent, for a soil that will suit one grape may 

 be entirely unfit for another. There are, however, some general 



