existence long before reaching the farms. The delicious sweet atmos- 

 phere makes one feel that surely California is a land of fruits and flowers. 



With but few exceptions the cultivating of the seed-farms is done by 

 hand, and hundreds of men are employed. There is the work of hoeing to 

 keep back the weeds or grass, and in the early growth of the plants suf- 

 ficient irrigation is necessary to insure a proper and continuous growth, and 

 every detail is carefully watched that the seed may mature to perfection, 

 as all depends on the vitality of the seed and its perfection. The reputation 

 of the grower is at stake in this, and his sales and continued prosperity 

 depend upon it. 



The California mustard-seed is used by the large pickle firms, while 

 quantities must go for medicinal purposes, and it is found that the Cali- 

 fornia mustard is more pungent and finds ready sale on account of its 

 superiority. The vastness of this enterprise alone may be comprehended 

 when one considers the millions of bottles of table mustard in use. 



Another industry in California, while it is not strictly classed among 

 the seed-farms, is within that scope — ^the production of beans. The county 

 of Ventura has taken the lead in this production, and the consumer of 

 Boston baked beans little realizes that the bulk of Yankee beans are raised 

 in Ventura County. 



The dried butter-beans which one finds in the stores all over the country 

 have their home in this same county. In the Eastern States the butter- 

 beans are grown on poles, while in California, on account of the dryness 

 of the atrhosphere and the climatic conditions, the beans are permitted to 

 run on the ground without support, or gather in bunches, supported only 

 by the cluster of vines rising in a mass from the ground and held together 

 by the tendrils which bind the stems. 



WILD-FLOWER GARDENING 



MARY e:lizabe:th parsons 



Author of "The Wild Flowers of CallforBia'> 



FEW people realize the possibilities of our native flowers for garden- 

 making. We are all eager to obtain foreign plants, and willing to 

 spend any amount of time and expense in their culture, but we 

 neglect the magnificent things furnished us so lavishly by Nature within 

 our own borders — things which foreign countries appreciate far better 

 than we ourselves and which are in great demand among them. There 

 are in our midst people who make it their business to collect and grow our 

 native plants and bulbs to supply this demand of the foreign market. 



A very beautiful garden can be created by using nothing but our own 

 trees, shrubs, flowers, and ferns. I have in mind one such garden, through 

 which flows a little brook, now tumbling through a deep rocky gorge with 

 fern-lined banks, now widening into a placid sheet with pebbly bottom, 

 and again babbling along through grassy fields. In its upper reaches 

 the shady banks are covered with the exquisite fronds of the maidenhair 

 and five-finger ferns and the little golden-back fern and the alum-root 

 with its beautifully mottled leaves, among which clamber the half-woody 

 stems of the whipplea, while the long trailing stems of the fragrant yerba 

 buena hang gracefully over the bank. 



Where the little stream emerges from its rocky gorge and flows quietly 

 over the pebbles its banks are fringed on one side with the epipactis, or 

 false lady's-slipper, one of our native orchids, and on the other by the 

 Indian rhubarb (Peltiphyllum peltatum), whose large, fine leaves lean 

 gracefully over and are reflected in the pool below. At this point there is 

 a small islet in midstream, with several fine clumps of woodwardias Inter- 



