34 CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



to the general approval of these alluvial lands for fruit purposes. 



Soil of similar character is found in some small valleys con 

 sisting of an alluvial wash from the bordering hills which in some 

 places reaches a depth of thirty feet or more without notable 

 change in character. Such soils have proved very fertile and 

 durable. 



The rich river bottom, adjacent to the beds of the main rivers 

 and sloughs of the valley, has usually a dark, rich, and miost soil, 

 easily tilled and not subject to ranking and cracking. It is largely 

 used for the growth of vegetables and alfalfa, but considerable 

 areas have been planted with fruit trees, especially with pears, 

 which do ndt suffer from submergence of their roots for consid- 

 erable time. 



In the coast valleys of the State there are also very extensive 

 areas of alluvial soils which are largely used in fruit production, 

 as well as upland loams formed in place by the disintegration of 

 local rock formations. The famous fruit region extending from 

 Oakland southward nearly one hundred miles, including the Ala- 

 meda and Santa Clara Valleys, has very large areas of alluvial soil, 

 ranging from deep, rich blackish loams used for vegetables and 

 small fruits, to lighter loams resulting from intermixture of sedi- 

 ment brought by streams from adjacent hillsides with the clay of 

 the valley bottom. It is to these deep, rich alluvial deposits that 

 the region owes its great reputation in fruit lines. 



CLAY LOAMS 



Or loams containing sufficient clay to render them somewhat 

 heavy and tenacious, there is also a great variety in California. 

 Their suitability for different fruits depends upon selection of roots 

 adapted to their character and upon the depth and degree of reten- 

 tiveness of the soils themselves. They are more difficult of tillage 

 than the free loams, but offer some compensation therefor in their 

 richness and durability. 



Clay Loams of the Foot-hills and Valley Border. The soils of 

 the foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada, throughout its course along the 

 great valley, vary from a moderately clayey loam to a heavy, though 

 not uncommonly gravelly, often orange-red clay. This character 

 seems to be sensibly the same, whether the soil be derived from 

 the decomposition of the ancient slate bed-rock or directly from 

 the dark-colored granites, thus creating a presumption that the two 

 rocks are closely related. The soils are highly charged with iron 

 to the extent of from seven to over twelve per cent, which being 

 finely divided, imparts to them the intense orange-red tint. The 

 soils of the foot-hills agree with the soils of the valley in having a 

 good percentage of lime, while the supply of potash and phos- 

 phates, as well as of organic matter, is smaller, and sometimes low, 



