Chap. IX. THE GRAPE. 563 
of civilization meet in a manner only possible in Cali- 
fornia. 
At the time of my presence, Los Angeles had, close to 
the town and in its environs, one hundred and twenty-five 
vineyards, yielding an average yearly produce of nine 
millions pounds of grapes. One half of this quantity was 
made into wine and brandy : about one hundred thousand 
gallons of wine were produced, of which the gallon w r as 
worth on the average two dollars. Fifty thousand dollars 
were paid that autumn to the proprietors for grapes shipped 
to San Francisco. 
The grape grown at Los Angeles is the Malaga- 
grape, of which either white or red wine is made ; but 
experience has shown that the climate of this region, as that 
of the State of California in general, is favourable to the 
growth of all the superior sorts of grape. There is a choice 
of situations answering every possible demand, from its 
northern to its southern frontier, as from the foot of the 
Sierra Nevada to the sea-coast. The unsuccessful attempts 
which have been made in the Atlantic States of the Union 
to cultivate the grape do not apply to California, since the 
climatic conditions on the coast of the Pacific are more 
analogous to those on the western side of the Old World. 
At all events, the sudden and extreme changes of the 
temperature, which render the climate of the Atlantic 
States so disagreeable and unfavourable for many branches 
of cultivation, are unknown in California. The country 
about Los Angeles will doubtless remain the chief place 
for the production of wine and fruit on the American 
coast of the Pacific. 
The manner in which the old Mexican inhabitants have 
carried on the culture and preparation of the wine is 
so imperfect, that a really good produce could not be 
2 o 2 
