310 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



C 



lUT 



IT would be ini- 

 jjossible to sum 



up the charm 

 of California in 

 one word, but its 

 contrasts explain 

 much of its fas- 

 cination for me. 

 They begin to 

 d a w n on the 

 tourist almost as soon as the train enters 

 the state, and by tlie time it is running 

 through level, fertile valleys with their 

 semi-tropical growth, their fruit trees, palms 

 and flowers, while, deceivingly close, tower 

 the great mountains, crowned with glisten- 

 ing snow, the contrasts almost take one 's 

 breath away. And it is largely due to the 

 mountains that California is so "con- 

 trasty. " (Our landlady took her dictionary 

 and sewing machine along with her when she 

 rented us this furnished house, but I have 

 heard my brother talk of "contrasty" pho 

 tographs, so I'll just call it a word. One 

 has to coin adjectives, and sometimes us > 

 them in the superlative degree, when try- 

 ing to describe the West, for the old eastern 

 ones are quite inadequate.) 



The mountains not only cause the climate 

 to be full of contrasts and are themselves 

 such a beautiful contrast to the valleys, but 

 their appearance from day to day varies 

 greatly. For instance at times they are seen 

 dimly through a blue haze and lock far 

 away from us here in Pasadena. At other 

 times they quite disappear behind clouds or 

 fogs, and later a cold rain falls in the val 

 ley. Then perhaps late in the day or the 

 next, or the next after that — for California 

 rains are not apt to be mere showers — the 

 clouds break, the sun comes out gloriously 

 and there are the great mountains with snow 

 half way down their slopes, the setting sun 

 tinting the snow to a glowing pink, malving 

 a picture no human artist could reproduce. 



When a large amount of snow falls on the 

 near-by mountains it creates a curious op 

 tical illusion. The mountains seem to be 

 crowding so close to the town that they look 

 fairly menacing, as if they were advancing 

 on us puny mortals to exterminate us. 



Ordinarily the San Gabriel range from 

 here looks like a long, unbroken but ser- 

 rated ridge in which certain peaks merely 

 stand up a little higher than the rest. But a 

 few weeks ago after a heavy snow storm in 

 the mountains, the nearer ranges stood out 

 from the higher ones so distinctly that T felt 

 T was seeing my favorite view through an 

 old-fashioned stereoscope. You who are ol:l 

 enough can remember how pictures gained 

 deptli and lost their flatness when viewel 

 through the stereoscope. It was just so with 

 the mountains. The nearer and lower peaks 

 moved toward us, revealing in the back- 

 ground great peak after peak in tlie blue 

 distance. 



A San Francisco man once said to me, 

 "Los Angeles County li;ts no natural l)eau 



THE LAND OF CONTRASTS 



1 



CONSTANCE ROOT BOYDEN 



(Slancy Puerden) 



%J 



May, 1922 



ty; that country 

 is all reclaimed 

 desert. ' ' I sus- 

 pect that is true 

 as far as tlie 

 beauty of the 

 valley is con- 

 cerned. But the 

 fact that all this 

 beauty was 

 brought into being by man using the magic 

 of the melting mountain snows makes it all 

 the more fascinating. When we drive about 

 tlie vicinity of Pasadena with its wealth of 

 shade trees, green lawns, roses and rainbow- 

 hued flowers I like to think of the contrast 

 between the desert it used to be and the 

 beautiful present. One does not have to 

 overwork his imagination to picture the des- 

 ert; for, in taking almost any cross-country 

 drive, unimproved desert country may be 

 found, and the contrast is emphasized by 

 tlie perfect, asphalt-like roads. 



WOULD you enjoy life in one of those 

 regions wher.e the sun is advertised 

 to shine some three or four hundred 

 days of every year? You would have to 

 take an occasional trip to a cloudy country 

 to bring out the beauty of the climate by 

 comparison. For my part I am thankful 

 that we have the, contrasting weather right 

 with us here in southern California, although 

 we do not have the sharp contrast between 

 summer and winter of the North ajid East. 

 We have days when the sun shines and the 

 air is so dazzingly clear that we can see not 

 only the near-by mountains with Baldy 

 peeping over their shoulders to the east, 

 but also snowy ranges 80 or more miles away, 

 the peaks floating above the horizon like a 

 mirage. And after a few days of that glori- 

 ous sunshine, when the weather begins to 

 grow uncomifortably warm, soft fogs drift 

 in from the ocean to temper the heat and 

 rest the eyes and nerves. 



Before I became a Californian I used to 

 be much interested and a trifle amused to 

 hear people tell of the wonderful variations 

 in climate within a few miles. But after 

 riding about the country immediately after 

 the great freeze and seeing orange groves 

 apparently quite unharmed, while a quarter 

 of a mile away the trees looked as though a 

 blight had descended upon them, those cli- 

 mate stories looked more probable. Indeed, 

 Ave even saw groves unharmed on one side 

 of the street, while they were badl.y frosted 

 on the other, due to currents of wind, we 

 were told. 



The various valleys between ranges af- 

 ford such variations of climate that it is 

 possible to raise fruits which thrive in cool 

 climates in the same latitude with oranges. 

 For instance, T have eaten delicious apples 

 which were grown only a short distance 

 from here; and, although apples are not 

 grown on a large scale in this vallev, it is 

 nothing uncommon to see them in n yard 

 close to an orange tree. 



