300 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



I have been asked many times " What do you 

 think of California ? " And I have to answer that 

 it is in many ways the most wonderful State in the 

 Union. The unending variety of soil, climate, 

 aspect and people, makes it difficult, indeed im- 

 possible, to give an adequate description of this 

 land which borders the sinuous shore of the Pacific 

 for nearly 2,000 miles. It contains more than 

 157,000 square miles and as to heat and cold, all 

 the climates of the habitable world. In a few 

 places for many successive days Honest Old 

 Fahrenheit may record from 100 to 125 degrees 

 but you don't have to stay there for you can motor, 

 if you like, a hundred miles or so, enjoying the 

 scenery, and land in a snowbank a century old. 

 On the way back from your joyride you may select 

 a ranch anywhere between these two extremes. 

 Yes, you may select your climate and your farm 

 anywhere from 10 to 10,000 acres whereon 

 to expend your enthusiasm, your brains, your 

 brawn and your ducats. 



You can choose land where you would be com- 

 pelled to grow the " Kids" by moral suasion for 

 there would be no beech or birch within a hundred 

 miles; or you may take to the timber country and 

 dwell comfortably in a hollow redwood tree. If 



