1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



975 



variety is Monarch of the West. The rain 

 of last week has made the ground too soft 

 to pick berries, and friend W. says that, for 

 the strawberries, he would almost rather 

 not have any rain. The water comes from 

 springs on the mountain-sides, and is stored 

 in large reservoirs, or circular cisterns, made 

 of clay. For the use t)f towns the reservoirs 

 are made of hewn stone and cement. He 

 also raises sweet corn, alfalfa, and barley, 

 by irrigation. The " hay " of California "is 

 barley cut just when it begins to head. 



While great sums are made here by care- 

 ful, thorough men, a slipshod farmer or gar- 

 dener would soon run out. A little neglect 

 in irrigation, and your strawberries, corn, 

 aye, and even orange - trees, are "gone 

 dead." The farmers who have to mow the 

 weeds before they can dig their potatoes, 

 should never come to California. While 

 friend W.'s mother has been absent this 

 summer, he has done all the housework and 

 cooking, besides caring for his 20 acres of 

 crops. iVs it took considerable time to 

 churn his butter, lie whittled out a little 

 windmill to do his churning, and it did not 

 cost, probably, a dollar, all told. The cream 

 is put into a square wooden box that can be 

 slipped on to the projecting end of the shaft, 

 and that is all there is to it. He wanted to 

 dig a well ; but as no one was near to empty 

 the bucket, and as he couldn't afford to hire, 

 on the principle that " necessity is the 

 mother of invention "' he rigged an appara- 

 tus that takes the pail, lifts it over to one 

 side, dumps it where none of the stones 

 could fall back into the well on his head. 

 All alone on his ranch, he blasted right 

 down into the rock for over 20 feet, when I 

 was there. 



From Los Angeles to San Diego we have 

 some beautiful mountain scenery. Mt. 

 Baldy, with its summit white with snow, 

 was visible from the car window, from it un- 

 til 12 o'clock, fast running. A great part of 

 the route is along the coast. with the ocean on 

 one side and cliffs on the other. The same 

 work of the elements, such as I have de- 

 scribed, presents a queer rocky formation 

 that 1 call "sponge rock." The rain has 

 cut the mountain cliff into a shape almost 

 like an immense sponge. All along- the 

 route we have constant evidences of the 

 speculation and craze in real estate. For 

 miles along the track, towns and villages 

 have been laid out with painted stakes, and 

 in some cases the streets are graded and 

 trees planted before a house is built. The 

 railroad company has built beautiful station 

 houses, but the architectiu-e is rather fanci- 

 ful and sliowy. In San Diego, as well as in 

 many other localities, the people have been 

 so wild with excitement that they can't 

 come down to any kind of work, but stand 

 about the streets and swap and trade all day 

 long, while the Chinese do pretty much all 

 the work that is done. In this wonderful 

 climate of perpetual siiminer, many have 

 really come to want— yes, when prices are 

 enornfiouslor crops that can be planted any 

 day in the year. For instance, eggs are 4-5 

 cts. per dozen, and yet a hen will hatch 

 chickens every month in the year, safely. 

 Strawberries are 25 cts. per quart, when, as 



I have told you, they are ripening now. and 

 may be set out now; yet the only person I saw 

 setting out strawberries was a woman, and 

 she was at the same time obliged to take 

 care of the baby, who was constantly by to 

 pull them \\y) as fast as planted. My yoinig- 

 er brother has just bought a very pretty lot 

 near the motor railway, but it cost him 

 .I^IOOO for one-flfth of an acre. The motor 

 makes him only 10 minutes from the heart 

 of the city of San Diego, and water for irri- 

 gating his one-fifth acre is free. As little 

 can be raised without water, in the summer 

 time, water is a part of the real-estate craze: 

 and to this end this is a country of wind- 

 mills. An orange-orchard loaded with Cali- 

 fornia oranges is one of the prettiest sights 

 I ever saw in my life; and as other folks 

 think as I do, orange-groves are a very es- 

 sential part of the estate craze, (iet you a 

 lot, plant the trees, put up a windmill, and 

 irrigate thoroughly, and when you get a crop 

 of oranges you can get a big price for your 

 improvements. If you don't sell your land 

 you can get $; 10.00 for the oranges on a sin- 

 gle good tree. (Jood oranges bring 50 cts. 

 jier dozen here, just as they do at home. So 

 you see you can do firstrate here, if you love 

 hard work, and especially if you have the 

 faculty of setting yourself at work; but you 

 can't do well otherwise. Great numbers 

 are out of employment; but, at the same 

 time, the Chinese do splendidly nuiking gar- 

 den, and doing general labor. Tliey irrigate 

 the orange-trees by making a ridge of dirt 

 around the tree a little further away than 

 the outer branches reach, and filling this 

 with water. This basin needs filling about 

 once a month, and a tree in full bearing 

 needs about 4 barrels of water at each wa- 

 tering. Yon need to figure for about 50 bar- 

 rels per year, foi- each tree, (iarden stuff is 

 also irrigated, setting the plants in the bot- 

 tom of a shallow furrow, closing the ends of 

 the furrow so it will hold water, then fill 

 each furrow with water, and let it soak into 

 the ground. I asked a Chinaman how often 

 he put on the water. "One water, one 

 week," he replied, meaning that, on the av- 

 erage, in summer time, they gave water 

 once a week. One man was gathering a 

 vegetable like our Swiss chard, only the 

 thick leaf-stalks were as white as celery. 

 When I questioned him about it he ex- 

 plained, '■ Chinaman much likee," meaning 

 that it W8S used principally by the Chinese. 

 He was quite curious, and expressed much 

 astonishment when I told him I made gar- 

 den over 2000 miles away. One reason wdiy 

 the Chinese keep right on with their garden- 

 ing is, that they are never att'eeted in the 

 least by the great craze and excitement in 

 real estate. They will at times pay .-^lOO an 

 acre rent for desirable ground near the city, 

 but they never own land. In National City, 

 almost every business house of any descrip- 

 tion reads, 'just below the sign, " .\Iso brok- 

 er in real estate." Lots that my eldest bro- 

 ther bought less than S years "ago for $375 

 are now worth .1;50,C00. When they got up 

 to $!.3500 he sold out. For a year past, how- 

 ever, most of the real estate has been going 

 down; and thousands of people who bought, 

 as they thought, wisely, paying half down 



