The record-union., 1897-07-01

DIS peHeuleo ny tO pIOp-
er locations in California as are the
people who come here to grow them.
From north and south alike, then, Cal
| itornia makes grand acquisitions. and
| includes within her area the adapta-
| tions of the whole country, with some
| which no other State possesses.
| But while this horticultural scope Is
claimed for the State as a whole, it is
necessary to add that local adaptations
] within the State must be very narrow
| ly drawn. Our greatest failures have
| followed i'll choice of location for the
| purpose intended. Whenever certain
| Californian fruits have been i'll spoken
of, they have been produced in the
wrong places, or by ill-advised meth
| DDS. 1t is possible, then, to produce
| both poor and perfect fruit of a given
| kind. 1t may be said this can be done
| anywhere by the extremes of culture
and neglect, but to this proposition it
must be added that in California equal
ly excellent methods and care will pro-
| duce perfection in one place and the
opposite in another. One who seeks to
| know California well must undertake
to master both it's horticultural great
ness and littleness; and so closely are
| these associated, and so narrow the
| belts of special adaptations, that there
are many counties which have a range
of products nearly as great as the State
| itself.
1t is hard for the stranger to realize
this. 1t is difficult for him to believe
| that the terms northern and south
ern" have almost no horticultural sig
nificance in California; that northern
fruits reach perfection, under proper
conditions, at the south, and vice
versa; that some regions of greatest
rainfall have to irrigate most fire.
| quently; that some of greatest heat
have sharpest valley frosts; that some
| fruits can be successfully grown
through a north and south distance of
800 miles, but cannot be successfully
carried a few hundred feet of either
less or greater elevation; that on the
same parallel of latitude within a hun
| dred miles Of distance from coast to
mountain side, one can continuously
| gather marketable Bartlett pears for
three months-nOt to mention the sec
ond crop, which is often of account on
the same trees in the same season.
through the multitude of local obser-
Vatlons, which seem perplexing and al
most contradictory, it is possible to
clearly discern certain general condi-
tlons of both nature and culture. which
may be briefly advanced as character
lstlcally and distinctively Californian
ot these, perhaps the most striking is
the length of the growing season.
rake, for instance, the peach in a good
peach region. The bloom appears in
FEBRUARY, followed by the grand foliage
expanding to a leaf-size, marvellous to
one unused to such peach leaves The
shoots of new growth rush out with Wig
or, promised by such leaf and yet the
frult below expands as though it would
burst its skin in rapid enlargement
and still it grows. The new shoot, appa-
rently weary of its several feet of ex-
| tension, stops for a rest, and then. re-
ViVlng, starts out its laterals-while still
| below the peach is growing The later
| ais push out a foot or mOre-all carry
ing large, fresh leaves. While these are
in full Vigor the fruit ripens. after hav-
ing full half-years joint work of root
| and foliage, if it is a late variety Is it
any wonder it weighs pound? But still
the tree is active 1t forms its terminal
buds, and then all along the new main
| shoots and their laterals are formed the
! leaf and blossom buds for the following
year. Still the foliage holds green and
active, if the moisture below be ade-
| quate, and the leaves seem loath to fall
in the ninth month from the time of
blooming. Is it any wonder Californian
| peaches are large and the trees require
pruning and trimming to enable them
| to carry the weight produced in such
season of growth? And what has been
said of the peach is true of other trees,
according to their nature and habits.
| The trees themselves are more eloquent
of California's conditions for growth
! than descriptions or statistical tables
can be made.
| But the quality of the light and heat.
| If the term is admissible, IS a factor as
we'll as their duration. The air, free,
not alone from clouds, but from the in
| sensible aqueous vapOr which weakenS
sunshine in its effort to serve vegetation
| in humid climate, has a clearness and
brilliance from its aridity which makes
each day of the long, growing season
| more than a day in other climates, and
| thus adds to the calendar length of the
growing season. The surplus light and
| heat also act directly in the chemistry
which proceeds in the tissues Of the
| plant, and we have not only size. but
quality, color aroma-everything which
makes the perfect fruit precious and
beautiful beyond words.
Ii is true that for commercial purposes
/ it is not possible to allow this process
to go too far, for its later effects are
| higher sweetness, accompanied by such
| juiciness that the fruit cannot endure
| transportation. But go to the tree to
apply the only test which can be fairly
put to a juicy fruit, and the demonstra-
ton of the service of clear, unobstruct-
| ed sunshine through an adequate period
is complete But if this cannot be done,
place the judgment upon the mature
peach carefully sun-dried and intelli-
! gently cooked or upon the ripe peach
skillfully canned, and the distinctive
adaptations of California for fruit pro-
| duction will display themselves.
| But there are other agencies involved
| in the perfection of fruit than intensity
and duration of heat and light. With
out adequate moisture in the soil, the air
which we have credited with such be-
nign power in carrying heat and light
for perfection of fruit would transmit
| the same as agencies for the destruction
| of the tree which bears it. If this moist
ure come from rainfall it descends at
the time of year when the tree is least
active. consequently is least retarded by
a clouded sky and moisture-laden air.
and least affected by atmospheric dis
turbances. Strong storm winds find the
tree with reefed sails. and able to endure
pressure which would tear it to pieces if
they came upon it's grand spread of foli-
| hr-oY7 oh haa " frIIif