90 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT STATION. 



CLIMATE. 



The climate of Santa Monica and its vicinity is justly famous for its 

 evenness, and a very great variety of native and exotic plant life is 

 found here, as at Ventura and Santa Barbara. Thorough cultivation is 

 absolutely necessary, however, with the light rainfall, and irrigation is 

 practiced wherever possible. The forest trees grown at the substation, 

 however, have received no irrigation excepting as noted in the following 

 pages. Small trees, when first set out from the nursery, often require a 

 little water. As a rule, this "irrigation" consists of a quart or two of 

 water given to each tree from a barrel on a sled. A hole is made beside 

 the tree and the water poured slowly in. When it settles, the hole is 

 filled up with dry earth. One such watering in April has enabled 

 eucalypts and acacias to take root and grow well thereafter; without it, 

 losses would probably amount to half the stock. 



Rainfall. Since the University took charge of the place, the annual 

 rainfall has been as follows: 



Year. Rainfall. Comment. 



1893-4. . . 7.83 in. An extremely trying year. 



1894-5 14.01 " Fairly good crops. 



1895-6 _... 8.40" North winds; crop poor. 



1896-7 16.13" An excellent year. 



1897-8 ._. 5.24 " Crops failed; some large trees died. 



1898-9 .- 7.11 " Crops scanty; some trees died. 



1899-1900... _ 8.48 " Crops scanty; some trees died. 



1900-1901 11.54 " Fairly good crops. 



1901-1902 11.65 " Good crops. 



The average rainfall for the above nine years has therefore been a 

 trifle over 10 inches. It would seem to persons unacquainted with 

 California conditions as if this low rainfall would make tree-growth 

 impossible, but the statistics elsewhere given show plainly that such is 

 not the case. In fact, one especial value of this substation is its trial, 

 for a long term of years, of a great number of species of trees under an 

 average rainfall of 10 inches. 



The monthly rainfall varies greatly from season to season, as shown 

 by the following table of the precipitation during the past four seasons: 



Month. 1898-99. 1899-1900. 1900-01. 1901-02. 



October 0.34 1.11 0.25 2.41 



November.. none 1.25 5.66 none 



December .10 1.59 none none 



January 4.56 2.45 none 1.75 



February .01 none 4.35 3.90 



March 1.69 .55 .20 3.27 



April _. .05 .17 .50 none 



May.. _ __.. none .36 .58 none 



June _ .36 none none none 



In practice, a rainfall of less than half an inch in any given month 

 is of little value. The desirable thing is to have "enough rain to start 

 plows" in November or December; then to have heavier rains in Janu- 

 ary or February, followed by spring showers. The favorable distribu- 

 tion of the rainfall doubles its usefulness. This year (1902, May 1st) 

 some barley on the upper mesa stands 3^ feet high and cuts 4 tons 

 of hay to the acre. Young eucalyptus trees, also on the upper mesa, 

 have made from 3 to 6 feet of growth this season. The above table, 



