18913 The Valley of Fragrance 



dition were two naturalists, Adelbert von Chamisso, 

 the poet-botanist, an exile from the French Revo- 

 lution, and the surgeon-zoologist, Johann Esch- 

 scholtz, professor at Dorpat. Returning from a 

 shore expedition with a sheaf of brilliant flowers, 

 the poet said to the surgeon: "I have found a 

 beautiful new plant and I shall name it for you." 



But it was not until the following spring — and mius 

 increasingly with succeeding seasons — that an es- "^J"'^" 

 pecial glory of the Santa Clara Valley was disclosed 

 to us. Usually at about the end of March the burst 

 buds of thousands upon thousands of fruit trees 

 seem from the hills above to blend into a gigantic 

 garden of fragrant bloom. On the valley floor and 

 looking through the long vistas which often extend 

 farther than the eye can reach, one gets a difl^erent 

 impression. It is then as if he found himself in an 

 ethereal forest where blossoms take the place of 

 leaves. Everywhere the sight is indescribably 

 beautiful. 



The hamlet of Saratoga, boasting a fine carbon- 

 ated spring, and the little city of Los Gatos sit 

 in beauty on a rich upland at the foot of Black 

 Mountain, where the fruit is at its best and the 

 outlook, both up and down, of the fairest. In this 

 favored region with a Riviera climate are many 

 charming homes, none more delightful than the 

 "Rancho Bella Vista" of our friends the Blaneys.^ 

 Their beautiful Italian villa, the combined triumph 

 of the owners and two California artists, Willis Polk 

 and Bruce Porter, fits perfectly into its encircling 

 landscape of vineyard, orchard, and foothills. 



At Saratoga the people celebrate each year a 



1 Mr. and Mrs. Charles Duchene Blaney. 



c 391 3 



