Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/610

 604 CALIFORNIA are not so strong. The numerous sheltered val- leys near the coast are comparatively free from winds and fogs, and have a delicious and equa- ble climate. In the interior the extremes are much greater, the mercury in the Sacramento valley often rising in summer to 110 or 112, and along the Colorado as high as 140 ; but owing to the extreme dryness of the atmos- phere, this great heat is much less prostrating in its effect than even a considerably lower temperature on the Atlantic slope, and the nights are never so hot as to prevent sleep. In the Sacramento and San Joaquin basin the mean temperature of the winter is about 4 below that of the coast, and of the summer from 20 to 30 above. The greater heat of summer is supposed to result from the absence of the ocean breezes and fogs, and the cold of winter from the proximity to the snow-capped Sierra Nevada. Southern California is said to possess a better climate than Italy. S. of San Francisco and in the San Joaquin valley frost is rarely known. Eoses bloom throughout the winter, and many trees retain their foliage green the year round. The air, peculiarly warm and dry, is wonderfully healthful and highly favorable to consumptives and persons subject to diseases of the throat. For this rea- son, San Diego, Santa Barbara, San Bernardi- no, Stockton, and Visalia have become popu- lar winter resorts for invalids. At San Diego (lat. 32 44', Ion. 117 6') the prevailing wind during ten months of the year is west. The mean temperature for the year and for the seasons at various localities is shown in the following statement: for the seasons and the year at different lo- calities is: PLACES. Spring. Summer. Autumn. WfaUr. Year. San Franicsco. Sacramento. . . Humboldt Bay Fort Yuma. . . San Diego 6-64 7-01 18-51 0-2T 2-74 18 00 1-18 1-80 0-55 8-81 2-61 4-87 0-86 1-24 11-88 12-11 15-08 0-72 5-90 21-41 21-73 84-56 8-15 10-43 PLACES. Spring. Summer. Autumn. Winter. Year. San Francisco 56-5' 60' 59' 51 56-6 Sacramento. 56 69-5 61 46-5 68 Monterey. . . 54 59 ' 57 51 55-5 Santa Barbara 60-46 69-58 65-9 68-33 60-2 San Diego. . . 60 71 64-5 52-5 62 Fort Yuma.. 72 90 75-5 67 73-5 Humboldt Bay 52 57-5 53 43-5 51-5 California has a rainy and a dry season, the former nearly corresponding to the winter, and the latter to the summer of the Atlantic re- gion. The rains begin at the north early in autumn, but do not fall in the latitude of San Francisco, in any appreciable quantity, until about the middle of December, which is the month of greatest rain. The rainy season ter- minates toward the end of May. June, July, August, and September are dry, only 2 - 5 inch- es of rain having fallen in these months col- lectively in IT years. It has been estimated that there are on an average 220 perfectly clear days in a year; 85 days more or less cloudy ; and 60 rainy. Observations covering a period of 17 years show the mean fall of rain in San Francisco to be in January, 4'51 inches ; February, 3-08; March, 2'76; April, 1-74; May, -82 ; June, -05 ; July, -02 ; August, -01 ; September, -9 ; October, -57; November, 2'74; December, 5-37. The average fall, in inches, Snow is very rare on the coast and in the val- leys, and never remains for many days except in the Klamath valley, where there is some- times a month's sleighing during the winter. There are many mining towns high up in the mountains where the snow falls to a great depth, and lies till late in the spring. Hail rarely occurs. A marked phenomenon of the climate is the comparative absence of thunder and lightning. During autumn many of the rivers sink in the sand soon after leaving the mountains in which they rise ; the plains and hills are baked hard to the depth of many inches; the grass and herbage, except near springs and in swampy ground, are dried up and burned as brown as the earth they grow upon. Earthquake shocks are quite frequent in California, but rarely so severe as to do any damage. Sand storms, similar to the simooms of Africa, but less dangerous, sometimes occur in the Colorado desert. The climate is re- markably adverse to epidemic diseases. Ma- larious fevers, but not generally of a severe type, occur in many of the interior valleys. Of the 9,025 deaths reported by the census of 1870, 3,539 were from general' diseases, 1,104 from affections of the nervous, 436 of the circu- latory, 854 of the respiratory, 1,093 of the di- gestive, and 816 of the integumentary system. California is no less remarkable for its vege- table productions than for its mineral wealth. This is owing rather to the highly favorable climate than to superiority of soil. The soil of the valleys, both on the coast and in the inte- rior, is generally fertile, and consists of a grav- elly clay with a rich sandy loam. The greater part of the farming lands lies in the valley of the Sacramento and in southern California. The Sacramento valley contains about 5,000,- 000 acres, much of which is very fertile and never needs irrigation. Southern California, which includes the San Joaquin valley and its extensions, the Tulare and Kern valleys, togeth- er with the parallel counties on the coast, is the garden of the state. Its soil is rich, but needs irrigation. In 1871 90,344 acres were artificially irrigated. All the fruits and cere- als of the temperate zones are produced in abundance throughout the state ; while in the southern districts nearly all the most valuable products of the tropics are cultivated with suc- cess. In many of the southern counties two crops are taken annually from the same field. In 1870 the average yield per acre of the prin- cipal crops was: Indian corn, 35'6 bushels; wheat, 19; rye, 38; oats, 35-5; barley, 26'9; buckwheat, 32'5 ; potatoes, 148; hay, 1'48