California possesses the wealth of two zones. The ocean current gives it a temperate3 climate and the mountain ranges intercepting4 and reflecting the sun’s rays give California a climate distinctly her own.
Fine fruit farms surround San Francisco for fifty miles. Irrigation, combined with a genial5 climate, produces the delicious fruit for which California is justly famed. In the vineyards the vines are pruned6 low, from two to four feet high. The Leland Stanford vineyard is one of the finest on the coast, the low pruned vines with their dark green leaves and rich purple fruit making a fine contrast to the red brown soil.
California produces more wine to the acre than any other country in the world. The best[188] American wines come from Sonoma county, the Asti of America, where a thousand foothills are planted in choice wine grapes, and where nature supplies all the moisture necessary to perfectly7 ripen8 the fruit.
The vines are planted eight feet apart, intersected by wide avenues, down which the wagons9 pass in gathering10 up the boxes into which the pickers have tossed the ripe grapes—only well ripened11 grapes make good wine. Many of these roadways are lined on either side with olives, palms and other semi-tropical plants.
The pickers are mostly Swiss and Italian, men of practical experience in their own countries. They work in groups and keep up a running fire of jest and fun; ever and anon a happy heart breaks out in native song.
From San Diego to Dutch Harbor wine flows freely, but yet there is no drunkenness to speak of.
The interest in a vineyard centers in the winery and the wine cellars. The grapes are first picked from the stems, then thrown into the great crushers, the juice flowing away through flumes to the fermenting14 vats15. Asti[189] boasts the largest wine-tank in the world. It is dug out of the soft stone which abounds16 in this country and lined with a thick layer of cement.
No less interesting is the cool, fragrant17 wine cellar. Here immense casks made of red wood stand upright, holding some of them, thirty gallons of wine.
When California was wild, the entire state was one sweet bee garden. Wherever a bee might fly, within the confines of this virgin18 wilderness19, from forest to plain, from mountain to valley, from leafy glen to piny slope, chalices20 laden21 with golden nectar greeted him.
Those halcyon22 days of our humble23 brown friend are past. The plow24 and the sheep have played havoc25 with those once beautiful gardens. Now the lonely bee who would his trade pursue must fly far afield.
Traveling east and south from San Francisco, the fruit ranches26 are soon left behind and we enter the wheat district. Here we find no irrigation ditches. Every farm has a wind-mill, which pumps water for the stock and also for the orchard27 and garden. The yield of wheat is low, averaging only about twenty-five bushels to the acre.
This wheat is not used in the United States, being of a lower grade than Minnesota and Dakota wheat. It is shipped to the eastern markets, China, Japan and the Philippines.
We traveled one hundred and fifty miles through this district during the harvest. The combined harvester and thresher, drawn28 by forty mules29, cuts a wide swath, threshes the grain at once, sacks it and dumps it on the ground ready for shipment. The wheat ripens30 during the dry season and so thoroughly31 that it can be threshed immediately after cutting. As the farmer has no fear of rain at this time of the year, he lets the sacks lie in the field until he is ready to sell.
The islands of the San Joaquin river are wonderfully fertile and many of them are under cultivation32. The uncultivated islands produce every year a dense33 growth of bulrushes. Efforts have been made to utilize34 these in various ways.
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1 temperament | |
n.气质,性格,性情 | |
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2 delightful | |
adj.令人高兴的,使人快乐的 | |
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3 temperate | |
adj.温和的,温带的,自我克制的,不过分的 | |
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4 intercepting | |
截取(技术),截接 | |
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5 genial | |
adj.亲切的,和蔼的,愉快的,脾气好的 | |
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6 pruned | |
v.修剪(树木等)( prune的过去式和过去分词 );精简某事物,除去某事物多余的部分 | |
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7 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
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8 ripen | |
vt.使成熟;vi.成熟 | |
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9 wagons | |
n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 );铁路货车;小手推车 | |
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10 gathering | |
n.集会,聚会,聚集 | |
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11 ripened | |
v.成熟,使熟( ripen的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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12 pitchers | |
大水罐( pitcher的名词复数 ) | |
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13 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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14 fermenting | |
v.(使)发酵( ferment的现在分词 );(使)激动;骚动;骚扰 | |
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15 vats | |
varieties 变化,多样性,种类 | |
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16 abounds | |
v.大量存在,充满,富于( abound的第三人称单数 ) | |
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17 fragrant | |
adj.芬香的,馥郁的,愉快的 | |
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18 virgin | |
n.处女,未婚女子;adj.未经使用的;未经开发的 | |
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19 wilderness | |
n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等,荒漠 | |
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20 chalices | |
n.高脚酒杯( chalice的名词复数 );圣餐杯;金杯毒酒;看似诱人实则令人讨厌的事物 | |
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21 laden | |
adj.装满了的;充满了的;负了重担的;苦恼的 | |
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22 halcyon | |
n.平静的,愉快的 | |
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23 humble | |
adj.谦卑的,恭顺的;地位低下的;v.降低,贬低 | |
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24 plow | |
n.犁,耕地,犁过的地;v.犁,费力地前进[英]plough | |
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25 havoc | |
n.大破坏,浩劫,大混乱,大杂乱 | |
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26 ranches | |
大农场, (兼种果树,养鸡等的)大牧场( ranch的名词复数 ) | |
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27 orchard | |
n.果园,果园里的全部果树,(美俚)棒球场 | |
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28 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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29 mules | |
骡( mule的名词复数 ); 拖鞋; 顽固的人; 越境运毒者 | |
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30 ripens | |
v.成熟,使熟( ripen的第三人称单数 ) | |
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31 thoroughly | |
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
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32 cultivation | |
n.耕作,培养,栽培(法),养成 | |
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33 dense | |
a.密集的,稠密的,浓密的;密度大的 | |
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34 utilize | |
vt.使用,利用 | |
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