no OBSERVATIONS OF A RANCHWOMAN 



cold after another. There is an insidious, 

 lurking dampness in the climate which can 

 be easily proved, but to which the bare 

 brown hills of two-thirds of the year appar- 

 ently give the lie. The dripping, nightly 

 fogs or heavy dews, together with the 

 absence of tonic quality in the atmosphere, 

 are no doubt responsible for many of the 

 complaints one hears. The Los Angeles 

 fogs, which have at length become notorious, 

 are backed by a yearly record of twenty-seven 

 inches of rain. Compared with England or 

 the Middle West, no doubt the climate of 

 California does well enough, but not so well, 

 in spite of its flowers and oranges, when 

 compared with that of New Mexico, or even 

 of Virginia. It is as treacherous as a cat. 

 Added to all this is another trouble : comfort 

 is almost unknown. 



4 People don't know how to live in Cali- 

 fornia !' exclaimed a prominent medical man 

 at a Pacific coast health-resort. 



' The sin of unheated houses in winter,' 

 writes another, ' is one that will, as it ought 

 to do, haunt some Californians who think 

 they mean to be very good. Their mode of 



