18933 Our Garden 



berries tempts the golden-crowned sparrows to earlier 

 and earlier visits, so that of late they leave not a 

 i bite for the robins who come in January, and who 

 ■ formerly regarded the thorns as their sole preserve. 



Roses, of course, we have in abundance, with two rhe 

 beautiful climbers which cover the whole front of '"^'^^^"■^^ 

 the house; and around the garden extends a little 

 orchard with a variety of fruit trees, set off here and 

 there by several sturdy plants of the ''Barbary 

 Fig" ^ brought directly from Morocco, beside hybrids 

 from Luther Burbank's wonderful nurseries at Santa 

 Rosa. 



The garden we cheerfully share with certain other Our 

 folk who seem to think it theirs. A large covey of /"^"^-^ 

 quail surely have prior right, being "original settlers" quails 

 already long established when we arrived. Finding 

 us friendly, they decided to remain, roosting at 

 night in the big trees, wandering around at will by 

 day, a little shy to be sure, but confident neverthe- 

 less of our good intentions. And a beautiful sight 

 it is to see the whole unit, young and old, briskly 

 deploy across the open driveway and dart to shelter 

 in the other covert. If, however, the house is quiet, 

 they calmly take possession of the place. Of morn- 

 ings, the male with tossing plume perches on limb 

 or post, calling out (at least, so it comes to my ear) 

 "'Thirty-two^ thirty-two^ But, as a matter of fact, 

 the real count of the covey runs about forty. 



Other birds keep house with us — the fine sickle- 

 bill or Western thrasher, a relative of the mocking 



^ Opuntia ficus-indica, a cactus with agreeable fruit, although like every 

 other species of cactus a native of arid America, has long been cultivated about 

 the Mediterranean. The "Barbary Fig" forms the parent stock from which 

 Burbank has developed numbers of interesting and valuable variants with 

 red, white, green, and yellow fruit. 



I SI3 1 



