1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



979 



Nov. S7.—Sa,n Diego is said to have the 

 tinest harbor in the world, and one large 

 enough to shelter safely the entire shipping 

 of the world. It is nature's work, and no 

 dredging or embankments have been need- 

 ed. From the city we look over across the 

 bay and see a narrow strip of land, like a thin 

 streak of sand, that entirely encircles and 

 cuts oft' the bay from the ocean. One 

 would think, to see it in the distance, that 

 it was scarcely out of the water enough for 

 a foot-path ; but the fact is, it is wide 

 enough and high enough so the motor cars 

 go clear around it. Jennie (brother's wife) 

 and I made the trip one day. The con- 

 ductor kindly pointed out a salt-works where 

 salt is made from sea-water. It has been 

 in operation for 16 years. In the summer, 

 when there is no rain, water is let into a 

 level field with raised sides, to the depth of 

 a few inches. After a week or two it is let 

 into a second smaller field, then to another 

 still smaller, just as we boil down syrup, 

 until it is strong enough to form crystals. 

 \t this stage it is soon covered with a 

 film of salt, not unlike ice on a pond, and, 

 when properly managed, the salt will be a 

 couple of inclies thick. Now, sea-water 

 contains other salts besides common salt ; 

 but the latter always crystallizes in regular 

 cubes; and by taking advantage of this 

 fact it is obtained from the ocean perfectly 

 pure. The crystals are raked off, and the 

 residue raked again for a cheaper grade for 

 stock and other purposes. Here on the Pa- 

 cific coast there is no dust and no rain (for 

 many months) to bother, or necessitate 

 coverings, such as must be used on the ^\t- 

 lantic coast, and yet the salt brings a much 

 higher price here, as does almost every 

 thing else. 



Just beyond the salt-works we came to 

 the city of South San Diego. It has the bay 

 on one side and the harbor on tlie other. 

 The streets are not only set with beautiful 

 trees, but they alternate with flowers in 

 bloom ; and all that it needs to make it one 

 of the loveliest towns on earth is houses and 

 people. The lots are handsomely staked out 

 Mdth larged painted stakes ; the streets are 

 wide and regular ; but I saw only one fairly 

 respectable house, with three or four others 

 which were simply wooden sheds. I asked 

 Mr. Harbison how long it would probably 

 take to get these beautiful new towns that 

 are staked out, inhabited. He said it would 

 take more than a generation, surely. I fear 

 some of the poor people here, the poor suf- 

 fering people, do not realize that they have 

 unconsciously acquired a taste for gam- 

 bling througli the real-estate business. 

 Those who succeed in deciding where a fu- 

 ture town will be, get lich ; but the thou- 

 sands who do not, lose their little all. But 

 when one buys for the purjiose of raising 

 fruits or other produce, and goes in at once, 

 working diligently, he is almost sure to suc- 

 ceed, and gets more real happiness than 

 the man who gets the occasional prize in 

 the real-estate lottery. " Wherefore do ye 

 spend money for that which is not bread V 

 and your labor for that which satisfieth 

 pot?" 



As we reach the maip land again, we come 



to the great hotel. To-day the sun shone, 

 and, besides, I had Jennie's sharp woman's 

 eye to point out many things I did not see 

 the other day when it rained. The brilliant 

 green of the lawns about the hotel is beyond 

 description, and the neatly swept walks of 

 artificial stone, for a contrast to the flow- 

 ers and shrubbery, bring exclamations of 

 surprise. Peter Henderson's floral green- 

 houses in New York have nothing to com- 

 pare with outdoor gardens right in the win- 

 ter time. The spacious court in the middle 

 of the hotel is a little paradise of wonderful 

 exotic flowers. The display of native (low- 

 ers from the desert, esi)ecially the cacti, 

 are very fine. A plant much used for a bor- 

 der along the walks seems half way i)etween 

 cactus and moss. It looks like moss on a 

 very large scale, for the leaves are almost as 

 large as a short lead-pencil, and the blossom 

 is much like a beautiful chrysanthemum. It 

 grows wild ; few greenhouse flowers are 

 handsomer. Trumpet honeysuckle, with 

 flowers of immense size, hang in beautiful 

 festoons. One thing that especially added 

 beauty to the place was, that careful gar- 

 deners were constantly removing every flow- 

 er orjiilant just as>oon as it became old or 

 unsightly. 



On our return from Mr. Harbison's ranch 

 we visited Old Mission Valley, and drove up 

 by the ruins of the old mission and fort. 

 The walls are sun-baked brick, so the rains 

 of over 100 years have crumbled them down ; 

 but even now some are over 4 feet through. 

 Some of the rude architecture is still quite 

 handsome. The iron bars across the dun- 

 geon windows still remain. Near by are 

 trees of the date palm, 115 years old, and 40 

 or .50 feet high, and U feet through. The 

 top IS ornamented by long swordhke spines, 

 or leaves. 



By a mistake in the time the train started 

 this morning, I am sent back to Los Angeles 

 by another route, which cost me $2.00 more ; 

 but it has given Icn dollars' worth of pleas- 

 ant surprises. One was gohig through the 

 valley of lliverside, Cal.; and another was 

 going through winter on thehills, with snow 

 in sight all around us, and finding summer 

 time with beautiful gardens in the valley an 

 hour later. I have just found out how 

 mountains produce clouds. Their tops are 

 so cold (snow-capped, some of tliem) that, 

 as the warm air from the valleys strikes 

 them, it is cooled oft and must let go its 

 moisture, and this is why the clouds are 

 hoveriuff over the mountain-peaks. San 

 Bernardino, wliere we are stopping now, 

 seems a little more brisk and lively than 

 some of the California towns. Irrigation is 

 the great business everywhere. Good-sized 

 mountain streams are captured and carried 

 miles in flumes, and the desert is deluged 

 until it blossoms as the rose. A field of al- 

 falfa, illumined by the rays of the setting 

 sun, is just now, after oiir recent rains, a 

 most beautiful sight. The people here have 

 a knack that I do not understand, of plant- 

 ing orange and other trees with such perfect 

 accuracy that they range just as straight 

 as a string, in a dozen or so dift'erent an- 

 gles. As the cars whirl ia])idly along, the 

 angle is constantly changing, but they are 



