372 



THEY SAY. 



high mountains above 6,000 feet, and there would 

 be exactly as great a depth of snow on the high moun- 

 tains of the south part of the state as north, if the rain- 

 fall south was the same. The extremes of winter cold 

 are nearly exactly the same at Riverside as they are in 

 the great interior valleys of the northern and central 

 portions of the state, and greater than they are here in 

 the valleys of the coast region ; yet the mean (average) 

 is a little lower here and north, because in the interior 

 and drier south they have more bright days when the 

 sun gets in his work. Everywhere in the foot-hills, 200 

 to 1,000 feet above the floors of the valleys, it is warmer 

 than in the low valleys, and the extremes and fluctua- 

 tions are not so great. Oji these hills, not in or between 

 them, in the narrow valleys, are the healthiest homes to 

 be found on this continent, for man, beast, or plant; yet 

 but very few homes are now seen on the hills, for the 

 reason that it is generally expensive to bring water to 

 such homes. Snow has not actually fallen here in Pe- 

 taluma this winter, though it has been colder than the 

 average. We did have snow, hail and rain mixed, enough 

 one day to whiten the ground for a short time, yet there 

 were many days when the snow reached down the moun- 

 tain sides within 600 feet of the valley floor. Sonoma 

 mountain, seven miles (its summit) to the east of us, is 

 2,400 feet high, while Mt. St. Helena, 35 miles away, 

 had her snow-white cape on nearly all winter, at times 

 robed in a bridal dress of spotless white. The old lady 

 is nearly 6,000 feet tall. But when we come to climb 

 the great Sierras, with a precipitation of 80 to 120 

 inches of water, such winters as this last one mostly in 

 the form of ' ' the beautiful, " there is at times rather too 

 much snow for comfort in traveling, especially railroad- 

 ing. One fellow reported the depth of the snow up 

 there as being 60 feet over the tops of the telegraph 

 poles, and snowing fast at the time ! It is a queer coun- 

 try; a man can grow as fine oranges as ever grew, and 

 from the center of his orange grove see great banks of 

 snow every day in the year, when the thermometer at his 

 side is showing 115° of heat! — D. B. Wier, Pctalunia, 

 California . 



The Harvard Summer School of Botany, a 



well known teacher's course, is to be conducted by Mr. 

 W. F. Ganong, and wijl open June 15. A summer class 

 in cryptogamic botany will be conducted by Mr. A. B. 

 Seymour, who will gwe. special attciilion to "agricultu- 

 ral botanists. " 



Horticultural Education. — The future of the coun- 

 try depends upon the proper education of the children, 

 and if this society can do anything to get the children 

 interested in the cultivation of fruits or flowers or vege- 

 tables, it should do so. We are soon to leave our places 

 here, and if the society is to prosper we must take action 

 to interest children in horticulture, so that they may 

 take our places when we are gone, and do better than 

 we have done. There are many difficulties in the way, 

 when we attempt to make our ideas practical, but still 

 we can do something. In Hingham, where the speaker 

 resides, the agricultural societies have a children's de- 



partment, which strengthens the society and improves 

 the children. Working on these lines, offering premiums 

 for the best fruits, flowers and vegetables grown by chil- 

 dren, will be a step in the right direction. Another step 

 suggested is that since this society is affiliated with the 

 State Board of agriculture, and whatever the board re- 

 quires societies to do they must do, there being seven 

 members of the board who are also members of the 

 society, can they not influence the board to do some- 

 thing in this direction ? The board might require the 

 societies to offer prizes for the best herbariums of ferns 

 and grasses collected by children, and thus educate them 

 to observe better than ever before. Another point is 

 that we now have a series of lectures every winter, 

 which are listened to mostly by gray-headed persons ; 

 might we not have one lecture especially adapted to the 

 older children in the high school ? In Hingham notice 

 is sent to the teachers of whatever is done by the agri- 

 cultural society which will be for the benefit of children, 

 and the result has been for the advantage of both the 

 society and the children The same course was pursued 

 at a recent farmers' institute at Topsfield, with promis- 

 ing results. The society should look into this matter 

 carefully, and wherever it sees an opportunity to elevate 

 the education of children it should improve it. It has 

 already done much in shaping opinion in regard to the 

 cultivation of flowers, especially in New England, per- 

 haps more than we realize. That flowers are cultivated 

 as much as they are from northern Maine to the southern 

 boundery of Connecticut is largely due to the influence 

 of this society. Whatever we can do to improve the 

 cultivation of fruits, flowers and vegetables, especially 

 among children, let us try to do it. — Ediiiiind Hersey 

 bffofc Massarhiist'/ts Hoyticultiwal Society. 



Plantswomen. — I have lately received a rose-list 

 from the " Fruitvale Rose Company of East Oakland.' 

 This "company" consists of the Misses Pratt, who 

 have bought a very fine tract and are devoting their 

 whole attention to roses, new and old, especially to 

 " roses grown on their own roots." Another plant cata- 

 logue comes to me from Mrs. Theodosia B. Shepherd, 

 of Ventura. This lady has a superb plant of Cereiis 

 triangulayis that has now reached the roof of the house> 

 thirty-five feet from the ground, and extends nearl 

 across the whole front. It is said to be the largest spec- 

 imen of the species in the United States. — Charles H' 

 Shinn. 



Thinning out the Sparrows. — It is already too late 

 to think of ever destroying the sparrow. We can only 

 palliate by thinning the flocks ; the legislature of 

 New York has repealed the law protecting them, but 

 this is not enough. Owing to their phenomenal 

 fecundity, the state should give a bounty of one cent a 

 head, and then our boys would attend to them. I once 

 drew and sent to Albany a bill that passed the house, 

 but failed in the senate, from fear that the cost would 

 be too great. The amount of bounty in the original 

 bill as I drew it, was one cent per head, but through 

 some influence the bounty was doubled, and the measure 



