San Andreas independent., 1858-03-27
Prom the San Francisco Timesl
California-Its characteristics and
Prospects.
[coNcLTDED.1

Of mining, on the natural surface of the
country, the author comes again to speak
Of the seasons and products of California.
With us the dry season is our winter
the suspension or hybernating time of
nature, when she puts on her sober garb,
and rests.
The growths of California are as pecu-
liar and various as their climate. To
make this subject Ineligible, let it be un-
derstood that where there is no irrigation,
natural or artificial, nothing grows peren-
nially in California except trees that have
a tap root, and shrubs and grasses that
have some peculiar kind of root which
enables them to get sufficient moisture,
where only little is given. There is a
coarse, perennial grass, for example, that
is found, when dug, to grow out of per-
pendicular rootlets, eight or ten feet long,
which themselves grow out of large hori-
zontal roots, that serve as water cisterns or
sponges for the uses overhead. None of
the common upland or hay grasses live
through the summer, and therefore none
make what can be called turf The grasses
of every season are started in November,
from the ripe seeds dropped into chinks
of the ground in the dry season previous.
1t results, accordingly, that no crop can
be raised in California which does not
ripen before the dry season commences, or
by about the first of June. The only ex-
ceptions possible to this are made by irri-
cation, either where water is artiicially
or where, as will sometimes be
the case, there is a supply from stores or
filterings underneath. 1t is only under
these conditions that a crop of Indian
corn, or potatoes, can be raised. Though
an early cropof potatoes, ripening in June
or in July, can be raised anywhere; and
where the ground is sufficiently moistened
from below, two crops year are frequently
grown upon the same soil. Potatoes Of
the late crop are grown, too, in some pla.
ces near the coast, where they get moist
ure enough from the atmosphere and the
fog to answer their purpose A summer
garden will commonly make but a poor
figure, unless it isrecruited by supplies Of
water not contained in the natural soil OF
the place. The dry season is, in fact, the
wintering season of vegetation, though it
is the summer Whatever lives by hyber-
mates, rests. The strawberry, for exam
pie, ripens its fruit in April, has its
growth, ceases, begins to look rusty, and
passes into the state of suspension, finally
to die. Let on a new flow of water, and
it wakes, blossoms again, bears another
crop, and passes into second suspension,
and then is ready to be awakened and
bear third crop. And so, by alternating
in times with different beds. IA succession
is kept up, and supply is obtained from
April to November.
The principal growths or products Of
California are accordingly the fruits anc
the cereals. Most of the fruits really
want irrigation, though there are many
tracts of soil in which they will flourish
without, and will not ripen prematurely
The fruits arc grapes, figs, olives, pome
grantees, almonds, apricots, pears, peache:
and apples. Finer grapes are grown no
where in the world. Theapples are large
and fair, and wonderfully precocious il
bearing but there is reason to suspect
from experiments made in the old mission
gardens, that they may be short lived
Peaches, plums and pears bear only toc
profusely. Indeed, there is a wondrou.
tendency to fructifcation in every kline
of growth, animal and vegetable.
The principal cereal crops of Californi;
are wheat, barley and oats. These may
be sown at any time between Novembe
and March, says the writer; though W.
have known excellent yields from seec
sown as late as the middle of April; th'
success of the late sown Spring crop de
pends on how long in the season the rains
may continue. The grain may be gath
cred at any time between the period 0
its ripening, usually in June, and tn,
falling of the first rains, about the middl,
of November. During all the intervenin.
time, nearly five months, they may be lef
standing on the field, or lying in tn,
swath or sheaf, without injury. This i
a great advantage to the farmer, since h,
is not hurried as elsewhere by the ripen
ing crops compelling him to employ
large extra force for harvesting them
With a few hands he accomplishes tn,
work by distributing it through severa
months instead of crowding it all into one
Our author we perceive has fallen int,
the error common to those who in esti
mating the productions of our soil take a
the basis of their calculations, certain iso
lated and extraordinary cases, or the highl,
colored reports of agricultural societies
From reading the pamphlet before us,
stranger would infer the average yield o
wheat in this State to be 40 bushels t,
the acre, whereas the official reports, ant
they are not apt to underrate, show th'
average for 1856 to have been % bushel
to the acre. That however, was season
of great drouth, and the yield can hardl.
be taken as fair test of the wheat grow
ing capacities of our soil, which will, un
der ordinary circumstances give about 81
bushels to the acre. The average yielc
OF 2. barley and oats is about the same or
little higher. The product of the volun
teer crop is also, as general thing, over
rated, as we'll as the tendency of the cere
ais 10 perpetuatc themselves by the process.
oi self-SOwlno Tho wild oats f,r,d :,