"So much are our opinions influenced by early impressions, the vicissitudes of the seasons with which we are familiar, love of country, home, and kindred, that we ought never to hazard a hasty opinion when we come in contact with circumstances entirely different from those to which we have all our lives been accustomed." These remarks explain the reason of the diversity of opinion expressed by persons who have visited California, in a very satisfactory manner. The Italian climate of Los Angeles has received the praises of nearly all who have visited that city or its neighborhood. The thermometrical observations detailed in the above account seem to prove that much of the unfavorable opinions expressed concerning the climate is the result of hasty judgment, and a dislike of that which is different from that to which we have been used. The soil of California has also been the subject of various and conflicting statements. Many of those who have spent some months in the country, and returned to publish their hastily gathered observations, either set down the soil as totally unfit for agricultural purposes, or, having been located in some garden spot the great portion of their time of residence there, pronounce it unsurpassed for richness and fertility. As Mr. King visited California with the sole object of making accurate observations upon the territory and its resources, the statements of the character of the soil which are given in his report will carry greater weight than any other. He says-- "The valleys which are situated parallel to the coast range, and those which extend eastwardly in all directions among the hills, towards the great plain of the Sacramento, are of unsurpassed fertility. "They have a deep black alluvial soil, which has the appearance of having been deposited when they were covered with water. This idea is strengthened by the fact that the rising grounds on the borders of these valleys, and many hills of moderate elevation, have a soil precisely like that of the adjoining plains. "This soil is so porous that it remains perfectly unbroken by gullies, notwithstanding the great quantity of water which falls in it annually during the wet season. The land in the northern part of the territory, on the Trinity and other rivers, and on the borders of Clear Lake, as far as it has been examined, is said to be remarkably fertile.