190 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA, 
The nectarine is affected by the cnrl, and is not much culti- 
vated. 
If the curculio should not be introduced, the plum will oc 
cupy a very prominent place in the horticulture of the state. 
The tree is healthy ; and the fruit is large, finely-flavored, and 
abundant. The climate is very favorable to drying fruit, and 
prunes might be made here with a profit. 
The cherry and the soft-shell almond thrive in all the valleys 
of the state. 
The fig-tree is cultivated from Shasta to San Diego, but 
does not produce abundantly north of latitude 35°. In the 
vicinity of Los Angeles it is a very thrifty and productive tree. 
It produces two crops of fruit annually. North of 37° the sec- 
ond crop is usually killed by the frost or stunted by the cold. 
The almond and the English walnut both grow well and 
produce abundantly about Los Angeles, but do not thrive so 
well north of Santa Barbara. The almond suffers, and loses 
its fruit, with a slight touch of frost. 
The pomegranate is a healthy and productive bush in Cali- 
fornia, but its fruit is not profitable. It is cultivated to a 
small extent in all the large fruit-gardens. 
§ 149. Olives—For the cultivation of the olive, California 
has great advantages. The tree is very healthy, and always 
bears abundantly; whereas in Italy and Greece, whence most 
pf our olive-oil comes, the crop is frequently destroyed by sum- 
mer rains, blight, and insects, all of which causes of trouble are 
unknown here. There it is expected that the crop will fail 
one year in three, whereas here no failure has ever been known. 
The number of our olive-trees is small, most of those in bear- 
ing having been planted half a century ago. Nor is it likely 
that there will be a rapid increase. The tree does not come - 
into bearing until ten years of age, at least not in Europe; and 
although it may live and continue in bearing for five or six 
centuries, the possibility of a steady income to our remote. 
posterity will not pay Californians for investing their money 
in a business that will yield no income for a decade of years. 
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