*** Source: Thompson, Robert A., Historical and descriptive sketch of Sonoma County, California. Philadelphia: L.H. Everts & Co., 1877, 122 pgs. Notice: This data is donated to the Public Domain by TAG, 2004, and may be copied freely by anyone to anywhere. *** ---page 22--- water; there was a fall of not less than 42 inches, estimating the average of one-fourth more rain here than in San Francisco, where a fall of 33.5 inches is reported. In 1853-54 the rainfall was 29 inches; in 1854-5, 30 inches; in 1855-6, 25 inches; in 1856-7, 25 inches; in 1857-8, 23 inches; in 1858-9, 23 inches; in 1859-60, 21 inches; in 1860-1, 17 inches; in 1861-2, 46 inches; in 1862-3, 17 inches; in 1863-4, 12 inches; in 1864-5, 26 inches; in 1866-7, 40 inches; in 1867-8, 50 inches; in 1868-9, 26 inches; in 1869-70, 25 inches; in 1870-71, 17 inches; in 1871-2, 40 inches; in 1872-3, 21.58 inches; in 1873-4, 29.54 inches; in 1874-5, 23.30 inches; in 1875-6, 32.10 inches. Mean annual rain- fall for twenty-six years, 27 inches. Our crops have been more often injured by too much, than by too little rain In the dry years of 1863-4 and 1864-5, enormous crops were raised in this county; while in the greater part of the State there was an absolute failure of crops and grass. Sonoma County is exempt from malarial disorders. There are no extremes of heat or cold, and nothing like winter. It is probable that more roses and flowers bloom in this valley, in December, than in all the hot-houses of New England. The climate is all that the most fastidious could ask. There are no troublesome insects that prey upon vegetation or humanity. As an evi- dence of the evenness of the temperature, we will state, in conclusion on this subject, that the same clothing may be worn here the year round, and is not too light for winter or too heavy for summer wear. THE THERMAL BELT. There is a warm strata of air in the hills, a few hundred feet above the val- leys. This semi-tropical belt varies; in some localities it is very marked, and in others it is much less so. At night during the frosty seasons the cold air settles in the valleys, and the warm air rises. At daylight a severe frost may be seen in the valleys, heaviest along the water-courses, while in the warm belt, a few hundred fee above,--in come cases not more than sixty,--the most delicate shrubs and flowers are untouched. This season the tomato vines were not killed in the warm belt by the frost. The soil on the hills has often great depth, and is admirably adapted to fruit culture. Like the valleys, these lands are covered only by scattered groves of trees, little of it too steep for easy culti- vation. It is exactly suited for semi-tropical fruit culture; here oranges, lemons, limes, English walnuts, almonds, and pomegranate trees grow well, and yield a certain crop. There are thousands of acres of this kind of land in Sonoma county, which can be bought at from fifteen to twenty dollars per acre. We know orchards where the fruits most sensitive to frost have never yet been injured; where the geranium, the fuchia and heliotrope will grow out of doors, and blossom in the winter months. Semi-tropical fruits are grown in the valleys, but, excepting the almond and English walnut, not with as much cer- tainty as in the warm belt. The value of the hill lands of Sonoma County is not yet appreciated,--least of all by those who have been longest here. *** end ***