EXTRAORDEVARV FitODUCTIVENESS. 213 



alight be turned to a favorable account for grc^zJng purposes. Only about 

 one fourtli of tbid country is adapted to other uses tiian stock-raising. 



Furtlier south from tlio iiead-vvaters of tiie Tulare and del Plamas, rang 

 ing between the coast and tlie iiigh rollhig lands skirling the base ^f the 

 California Mountains to tiie boundary of the Lower Province, a sectiv^n of 

 gently uudulaiing prairie, now aiid then variexi with high hills and some- 

 times mountains, affords a rich soil, generally consisting of dark, sandy 

 loam, between ti;e hilis and in^he valleys ; the higliland.s present a super- 

 fice of clay and gravel, iertilized by decomposed vegetable matter, well 

 adapted to grazing, and about one half of it susceptible of cultivation. 



Timber is rather scarce, except at intervals along tlie watercourses and 

 occasional groves among the hills ; but along the coast dense forests are 

 frequently found claiming trees of an enormous size. 



But, one grand defect exists in its general aridity, which renders neces- 

 sary a resort to frequent irrigation ia the raising of other than grain pro- 

 ducts. In some parts, the abundance of small streams would cause this 

 task to become comparatively an ea.sy one ; and the profusoness of dews 

 in sections contiguous to the rivers in some measure answers as a substi- 

 tute for rain. 



The bottoms are broad and expensive, yielding not only the most extraor- 

 dinary crops of clover and other grasses, but incalculable quantities of wild 

 «ats and flax of spontaneous growth, with all the wild fruits natural to the 

 climate. 



In returning to the Sacramento and the rivers which find their dischar- 

 ges in the Bay of San Francisco, we have before us the most interesting 

 and lovely part of Upper California. 



The largest ^■alley m the whole country is tiiat skirting the Sacramento 

 and lateral streams. This beautiful expanse leads inland from the Bay of 

 San Francisco for nearly four hundred miles, almost to the base of the Cal- 

 ifornia Mountains, and averages between sixty and sixty-five miles in 

 wddth. 



The valleys of the del Plumas and American Fork are also very large, 

 and that of the Tulare gives an area of two hundred and fifty miles long 

 by thirty-five broad. 



These valleys are comparatively well timbered with several varieties of 

 wood, consisting principally of wliite-oak, live-oak, ash, cotton wood, cherrj^, 

 and willow, while the adjacent hills afford occasional forests of pine, cedar, 

 fir, pinion, and spruce. 



_ The soil as well a^ the climate is well adapted to the cultivation of al 

 kinds of grain and vegetables produced in the United States, and many of 

 the varied fruits of the torrid and temperate zones can be successfully rear- 

 ed in one and the same latitude. 



Among the grains, gi-asses, and fruits indigenous to the country are 

 wheat, rye, oats, flax, and clover, (wlhte and red,) with a great variety of 

 grapes, all of which are said to grow spontaneously. ' / ' 



Wild oats frequeni.ly cover immense spreads of bottom and prairie lanjUi" 

 sometimes to an extent of several thousand acres, which resemble in^dp. 

 pearance the species common to the United States. They usually gT6w tc 

 a height of between two and three feet, though they often reach/fl( height 

 of seven feet. 



