EXTRAORDINARY PRODUCTIVENESS. 193 



might be turned to a favorable account for grazing purposes. Only about 

 one fourth of this country is adapted to other uses than stock-raising. 



Further south from the head-waters of the Tulare and del Plumas, rang- 

 ing between the coast and the high rolling lands skirting the base of the 

 California Mountains to the boundary of the Lower Province, a section of 

 gently undulating prairie, now and then varied with high hills and some- 

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

 loam, between the hills and in the valleys ; the highlands present a super- 

 fice of clay and gravel, fertilized 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 the 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 in the raising of other than grain pro- 

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

 task to become comparatively an easy one ; and the profuseness of dews 

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

 tute for rain. 



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

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

 oats 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 valley in the whole country is that 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 

 width. 



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 w^hite-oak, live-oak, ash, cottonwood, cherry, 

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

 fir, pinion, and spruce. 



The soil as well as the climate is well adapted to the cultivation of all 

 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, grasses, and fruits indigenous to the country are 

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

 grapes, all of which are said to grow spontaneously. 



Wild oats frequen'Jy cover immense spreads of bottom and prairie land, 

 sometimes to an extent of several thousand acres, which resemble in ap- 

 pearance the species common to the United States. They usually grow to 

 a height of between two and thi'ee feet, though they often reach a height 

 of seven feet. 



