CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



FOOT-HILL CLIMATE 



Foot-hill climate is usually considered as a modification of 

 valley climate. It has been shown that up to about two thousand 

 five hundred feet, on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, the 

 seasonal temperatures are quite like those of the valley, but the 

 rainfall increases about one inch for each hundred feet of elevation. 

 There are, however, in the foot-hills, places where early spring 

 heat and freedom from frost give very early ripening fruits, and 

 other places at the same elevation where winter temperature drops 

 below the valley minimum, and where late frosts also prevail. 

 This is governed by local topography. In many of the small 

 valleys among the foot-hills, both of the Sierra Nevada and the 

 Coast Ranges, frosts are more severe than on the hills adjacent 

 or in the broader valleys to which they are tributary. These small 

 "protected valleys" are apparently warm and cozy for early 

 blooming deciduous and citrus fruits, but are really very dan- 

 gerous. They frequently have such narrow and obstructed open- 

 ings that cold air is dammed up over their lower lands and frosts 

 are more severe and later than in valleys which have ample and 

 free outlets and seem less protected. 



Of course the disposition of cold air to settle in low places 

 and to flow down canyons and creek-beds while the warm air 

 rises and bathes the adjacent hillsides, has much to do with frost 

 in the hollow and the freedom from it on the hills. The constant 

 motion of the air on the slopes is also a preventive of frost, pro- 

 viding the general temperature is not too low. It is not un- 

 common to find in deeper valleys, protected against the western 

 wind, flecks of snow and a wintry chill, with dormant vegetation, 

 while one thousand feet higher up the foliage is fast developing. 



MOUNTAIN CLIMATE 



Above an elevation of two thousand five hundred to three 

 thousand feet, conditions gradually intrude which resemble those 

 of wintry climates. The tender fruits, the apricot, peach, etc., 

 become liable to winter injury and give irregular returns, or as 

 greater elevation is attained, become wholly untrustworthy. 

 Early blooming of these fruits during warm spells which are fol- 

 lowed by severe frosts, renders the trees unfruitful. At four 

 thousand to four thousand five hundred feet the hardy apple and 

 pear flourish, ripening late, and winter varieties possessing excel- 

 lent keeping qualities. Here, however, winter killing of trees 

 begins and locations even for hardy fruits have to be chosen with 

 circumspection. 



