Mat, 1921 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



285 



zigzag path to the front of the house, and 

 there is another flight of steps to gain the 

 entrance porch at the living-room end of the 

 house. At the opposite end of the house 

 are some terraced beds where such plants 

 are raised as do not readily cling to the 

 steep hillside, and another flight of steps 

 alongside leads to the kitchen from the 

 front. 



Their nearest neighbors across the road 

 at the back of the house are so much far- 

 ther up the hill that the basement of one 

 house is about on a level with the top of 

 the other. Across the lower road in front 

 and high up on the opposite hillside showed 

 the gables of another attractive home, but 

 the trees were so thick that not until the 

 lights were on in the evening did wo realize 

 how many houses dot the hillsides all the 

 way up to the top. It is all so quiet and 

 peaceful that it seems like a home in the 

 woods. 



A fog drifting into the valley threatened 

 to cut short the daylight, so we went im- 

 mediately out to the steep yard to see the 

 flowers, of which I believe there were over 

 a dozen varieties in bloom, altho it was 

 early in March. It looked odd to see many 

 of my favorites metaphorically digging their 

 heels into the ground to keep from sliding 

 down hill, but blooming just as cheerfully 

 as if they were in my level Ohio garden. 

 Geraniums and calla lilies practically grow 

 wild in most parts of the State, ami, while 

 I do not care for the calla lily as a house 

 plant, it is beautiful growing in a hedge 

 which is a mass of bloom. There were 

 pansies, violets, marigolds, camelias, irises, 

 etc., and various shrubs and plenty of trees 

 including oranges and lemons. I couldn 't 

 name them all if I tried, because I after- 

 ward saw so many other flowers in bloom 

 in other places. 



■ When we finally went into the house it 

 was to wander from one window to iinotlier 

 to see the view from the vaiious points. 

 The dining room is especially ))leasant. I 

 don 't believe I could rememb(>r air ai'ticle 

 of furniture in it, altho I have an impres- 

 sion that it contains the conventional table 

 and sideboard in some dark wood. But al- 

 most all one wall is taken up by a wide 

 landscape window, so that from the table 

 one has a wonderful view of the deep val- 

 ley and high hills beyond. T^nfortunately it 

 was dark when we had our evening meal, 

 but even so it was interesting to watch 

 the lights flash out on the opposite hillside 

 as dwellings were lighted. A resident of 

 Mill Valley has the delights of country 

 life on a thickly wooded hillside with the 

 comforts of the city, for T noticed they have 

 electricity, city water, good roads, efficient 

 household workers by the hour, and prob- 

 ably many other conveniences which T did 

 not see. 



Among the few regretful memories of 

 our trip is that we could not accept our 

 hosts' invitation to stay over night and 

 see sunrise in the Valley. A taxi had been 



engaged to come and take us to the car, 

 but it had some accident, so we decided to 

 walk down to the station. Starting rather 

 late we made quick time and incidentally 

 found out the origin of the word "tender- 

 foot, ' ' at least, we believe we did. Hav- 

 ing been married to a rapid walker for over 

 a score of years, I pride myself on being 

 able to keep up with him fairly well; but 

 by the time we reached the car the muscles 

 from my knees down felt most peculiar, 

 so weak and painful in fact that I dreaded 

 the car step and felt sure I should not be 

 able to change ferries and walk thru the 

 long corridors in the large hotel to our 

 loom, and as for walking the two or three 

 blocks from the car terminal in Oakland to 

 the hotel I just knew I could not do it. But 

 on comparing notes I discovered that Mr. 

 Boyden was suffering very similar symp- 

 toms, and we decided that walking down 

 steep grades calls into action muscles which 

 are seldom used in a level country, and that 

 the ability to take the steep down grades 

 at a rapid pace is one advantage the west- 

 erner has over the tenderfoot. I might add 

 that we did regain our hotel room without 

 the aid of an ambulance, but our efforts 

 to walk with dignity and ease were about 

 as strenuous as those of a drunken man. 



IN our drives thru the various bay cities 

 we saw many other ideal residence sites, 

 in the Berkeley hills, in Piedmont, and 

 in small canyons in the hills. I imagine 

 the frequent fogs, which do so much to 

 keep this region cool the year around, are 

 very beneficial to vegetation, for the flow- 

 ers and shrubbery are wonderful, not only 

 around the homes but on the grounds of 

 the University of California, which has 

 such a picturesque location against the 

 Berkeley hills. The Scotch heather was es- 

 pecially fine, and I thought the wild lilac 

 even more beautiful than the cultivated va- 

 riety. Around many of the homes in Pied- 

 mont I saw charming color schemes of lav- 

 ender shrubs, purple and lavender cinerar- 

 ias (which are greenhouse jilants in the 

 East), pansies, and violets. 



Speaking of flowers, T never think of 

 San P''rancisc'f) without recalling the dis- 

 plays of floweis on stands at nearly every 

 corner, even in the downtown business and 

 wholesale districts and in the great feiTv 

 house. It is much the same in Los Ange 

 les; but in the cooler climate of San Fran- 

 cisco it seems a little more remarkable, and 

 ^rr. Boyden tells me that it is the same tlie 

 year around except that tlie varieties of 

 flowers vary with the season. 



As an instance of the fine roads, a friend 

 took us, together with his wife and two 

 little daughters, for an afternoon drive of 

 1.34 miles thru the Santa Clara Valley and 

 back for dinner at his home, and we were 

 not one bit tired. We went thru San Jose, 

 beautiful Los Gatos in the foothills and 

 Saratoga and called on friends who raise 

 prunes and apricots and have a gorgeous 

 (Continued on page 309.) 



