194 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
deep, light, warm sand, which, to the inexperieneed eye, looks 
as though it were too poor to produce any valuable vegetable 
growth. In those places where water runs through it for a 
few days, all the mould is dissolved and carried off, leaving a 
white and almost pure sand. The soil is so dry, that cultiva- 
tion is possible only with the assistance of irrigation. In So- 
nora and Napa valleys the vineyards are planted in a red, 
gravelly clay near the foot of the mountains, or in a light, sandy 
loam in the centre of the valley. Of late, the vine-growers of 
these valleys have done without irrigation. In Santa Clara 
valley most of the vines have been placed in a rich, black 
loam, but their vineyards are unhealthy. The Sacramento 
vineyards are planted in sandy loam; those of the Sierra Ne- 
vada in sandy loam or in gravelly clay. 
The vine was brought to California by the Spanish mission- 
aries about the year 1770. So far as is known, only one vari- 
ety—that now known as the Los Angeles grape—was brought 
by them in the last century. It is the vine found in all the old 
vineyards and in most of the new ones south of the bay of San 
Francisco. It fills three-fourths of the vineyards in the state. 
The berry is round, reddish-brown while ripening, and nearly 
black when fully ripe, about five-eighths of an inch in diame- 
tar at its largest size, covered by a strong skin, possessing an 
abundance of thick and very sweet juice, with little meat, but 
with no fruitiness of favor. It has been asserted that this grape 
is of the Malaga variety; but if so, it has changed so much— 
perhaps while under cultivation in Mexico, whence the first 
cuttings that came to California were probably obtained—that 
it no longer resembles its parent stock. 
About 1820, when the missions were established north of 
the bay of San Francisco, a new variety, now called the So- 
noma grape, and said by General Vallejo to be of the Madeira 
stock, was introduced. It is now extensively cultivated in 
Sonoma and Napa counties and in the Sacramento valley, and 
is also found in a few vineyards south of the bay of San Fran- 
cisco. The berry is bluisb-black in color; is covered, when 
