, 1864-10-10
OUR CALIFORNIA LETTER,
The Climate and Fruit OF
California.
GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF TEE a11nKETs
AID BUYERS.
[Frcm Our Special Correspondent

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 4, 1861
have been wandering about own to-day,
and have eeen number Of faces which years
ago I used to see along State street and
Michigan avenue, Of line summers eve.
Ding, md thofe faces have set me to thinking
of the contrasts between my old home and
my rev one. Nowhere is the contrast more
striking than In
TIE SEASONS AID THEIR FRUITS.
You haze four well defined SEASONS follow
Ing each other in regular succession. IN the
mountains Of California they have these 10
q modified form; In the interior valleys Of
the Sacramento and the Sun joaquin, and
their tributaries, they are less defined, win
ter being known only as the " wet eeason."
and In San Francisco We have only tao, the
"wet" and dry" eeason- Summer, warm,
mofst ard asuish !; Autumn with fts. dim blue
haze In the air, red round moon ut nlg1e,
cool, pleasant evenings, glorious shooting
on prairie and in the rice marshes Of the ca
lunct or the great Winnebago, brown WOODS
with falling leaves, and glorious drives over
smooth level roads; Winter, cold, sharp and
9st' and d1s1cso
cakes. oysters, fat turkies and other
lu1uries, and Spring, with its Warn
showers, mud, freehets, duck and
snipe shooting with Cna1ley Walker,
bloiled tel and tried ptskerell suppers at
Mrs. Ch,ttepdtn's, are all unknown here.
We hive Instead TWO. thres or tour months
Of rain, with Intervals of WARN, suony
weather, when The hills grow green as emsf-
I'D, and are reflected in the placid bosom OF
the Bay OF San Francisco, With outlines as
sharp and clear as If cut with the knife of
sumo skilliul carver and engrsyrr, for winter;
and, say eight long months Of drouth, dur
ipg which not drop OF rain falls, the wind
whiting. dust In clouds through the streets,
ard bearing the Buy INTO Nhite caps during
the first five and dead stiffness prevailing
dntfpg the other three, for summer
Duringt the wet months, the gardens bloom
With TO- ers such as never bloom in the At
laptic slope, or in the Valley Of the Mlssis.
sippf, without Irrigation, and during the dry
seascn We iErigate them, 80 that there is .
perpetual bloom tie year round You see
the ruGming bird during all the months of
the 5tar, and, SO far Us the heat Or cold ia
CONCERNED Y would Puzz1a sou to tell which
vas the winter and which the sumner. We
wear the same Woolen under-clo.hiug and
stout, thick cloth outer garments all the
year r.ula, only putting on . light overcoat
IN the wet months to keep ont the abound
ing moisture, and linen duster in the dry
season to keep of the whirling, aIlpenetra-
ting and al prevailing dust
Ladies 60 out to promenade or ride with
the tsme costly tur capcs and heavy shawls
all the 5ear around, and fire in Jour room
Is neVsr Oppressive and never necessary. In
the Office in which am artting there il
Erate. bnt there has been no are In 1t save
what wss contained in stnmps OF cigars
within the past year, and the thermometer
over ny desk bas never. within my kao vi.
edge, 1lstn or fallen more than SIX Or eight de-
grees from zoe. Perhaps three Or four simes
IN the wet season We wake up in the mora-
Ing and find white frost on the sidewalks
on The ehady slde of the st1eets, aud this Ia
a]1. vent do4n to the. city trout to day
with my little ones, aud showed them q
Rnssisn chip dIscbarging cargo Of ice from
sitka NJ eldest girl remembered to have
seen such ice in the Chicago river. but the
young est-a child of i've years onsy--doubt-
ed the story, aud insisted on Dy telling MIN
how it WAS made. Or SNOW he has no more
idea than Hottentot althcugt Mount
D,ap1o, far aWaYto the eastward Of us some- /
times shows white head on q January
morning.
6irce Ibaye been writing, ,thia letter have
killed hundred mosquitoes, or near It;