Local Color 289 



variety of grapes and their peculiar flavor. It 

 is watered by streams that flow through beds 

 of fern and brake down the rocky slopes of the 

 island mountains, and the roads that lead to 

 the vineyards, down which the pickers pass, are 

 shaded by groves of eucalyptus trees, while the 

 hills bear pines from Italy, which seem to 

 have brought their climate with them. 



The wine of Santa Cruz is hauled down the 

 beautiful arroyo and shipped to Santa Barbara 

 and San Francisco; but the island should be 

 free, that the wanderer in his own land could 

 visit it and quaff its wine in what is one of 

 the most charming and romantic vineyards in 

 America. 



The outdoor activity that marks the great 

 California vineyards quickly subsides and is 

 transferred to the wineries at La Manda, Sunny 

 Slope, Mission San Jose, El Final, and many 

 more in the north and south. The boxes are 

 dumped, the grapes shovelled onto an endless- 

 chain lift by which they are carried to the 

 presses, the rejectamenta finally heaped in the 

 winery yard, a mountain of stems, seeds, and 

 skins that fills the air with an incense peculiarly 

 its own. 



The great wineries of California, where the 

 wine is stored and where the business of making 

 and bottling wine is carried on, have an interest 

 essentially their own, and to follow around the 



