CALIFORNIA FRUITS. 
“PART FIRST: GENERAL, 
CEAP TERR: i. 
THE CLIMATE OF CALIFORNIA AND ITS LOCAL 
MODIFICATIONS. 
In climatic conditions affecting horticulture we have in Cali- 
fornia almost an epitome of the whole United States, with added 
climatic characters peculiarly our own. We have high moun- 
tain valleys with wintry temperature-conditions, where only 
hardy northern fruits can be grown; we have hot valleys where 
the date palm confidently lifts its head to the fiery sunshine, 
while its feet are deeply planted in moist substrata beneath the 
sandy surface; but we cannot claiin tropical conditions, because 
our dry air denies us many strictly tropical growths, although 
we have frostless sites for them. Intermediate between the cold 
and snow of the mountains and the heat and sand of the desert, 
we have every describable modification and gradation, and, 
naturally, it is between these extremes that our richest inherit- 
ance of horticultural adaptation lies. It is this infinite variety 
which gives us true title to the term semitropical. 
When this breadth and scope of our horticultural adapta- 
tions is realized, it becomes apparent that an enumeration of the 
fruits we can grow successfully would be, in fact, a catalogue 
of the known fruits of the world, except those which are strictly 
tropical. Wherever there is a northern or southern departure 
from the equator sufficient to bring energy to mankind, or where 
the same is accomplished by elevation upon tropical mountain- 
side or plateau, there also are fruits which find a welcoming 
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