_Climate._--The nearness to the ocean modifies the climate much. The temperature is more even all the year round than anywhere else on the coast where raisins are grown. The extreme of heat is 105 degrees; in fact, July 27, 1889, it was 104 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade, while in the winter it seldom goes lower than 28 degrees Fahrenheit, and indeed very, very rarely as low as that. In many places there is no frost at all, except, perhaps, one in April, which, of course, cannot but prove damaging to the vines. This absence of heavy frost, which is beneficial to every other semi-tropical product, is not favorable to the vine. The grape requires heavy frost to become dormant. The farther south we go the less frost and the less grapes, at least of the Asiatic kind. There are, as we know, native grapes even in tropical countries, but they are adapted to their surroundings and cannot be considered here. The proximity to the coast modifies the air considerably. With 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade, which is an exception here, I felt as warm as I do in the San Joaquin valley with the mercury at 114;--the two extremes in both places affect us just the same. The air here is certainly much more moist, which again must have a marked effect upon the vine, and in no small degree promote fungoid growths, or parasites generally. In this respect, then, the coast vineyard must certainly be at a disadvantage. The fog is not an unusual visitor in the district between the coast and the foothills, which, in fact, covers the whole area ever planted in raisin grapes. For days in succession every morning is foggy, and the fog condenses on the leaves of the trees and falls under them in real showers, making the adjoining and underlying road wet. For a few days again the sun will rise bright, again to be followed by foggy mornings. By from nine to eleven o’clock the fog is again gone and the sun shines brightly. Every evening and morning there is a heavy dew, and every branch, leaf or grass is then dripping wet. Several mornings when the fog was in I found the thermometer at 62 degrees Fahrenheit, while at noon it rose to over 100.