The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1865-08-11
California.

AdtttVt blAs
A letter from San Francisco in the
Country Gentleman makes the follow
ing statcmeDts
Strange to write, Indian corn is not
and cannot be grown in this State
Stranger where the heat of summer is
extreme, and where there is no
early or late frost. Yet so it is
say it cannot be grown. BY
this l mean as crop. A little infe-
rior is grown in favored localities for
market purposes, and it does well as a
crop in Russian River Valley, and
some peculiarly favored spots Of linn
tied extcnt-aso in the southern part
Of the State, but as a State crop it
does not exist. The crops of grapes,
fruits, wheat, oats, and barley are
here superior Potatoes and onions
are superior; and crops do well, but
are no; superior to those Of the West
At the East l was again told, there
are no house flies in California. This
is mistake; they are as plenty as
they are elsewhere; and mosquitoes
are as thick in this city of hills, as on
the Jersey marshes
They viii tell you that a climate
must be healthy, where you can kill
beeyes at any season of the year, and
the meat viii not faint or decompose,
but dry up. This has always been
publicly and privately stated; but
reader, [ must disipate this delusion
A large ranchero Of the San joaquin
tells me that flies are oftentimes so
troublesome, that if horse breaks mis-
skin, or any animal, it almost proves
incurable, from the torment of flies
and the deposits Of eggs. That before
a beef can be skinned, it Will be COW
cred with flies, wasps, and bees, by
droves; but that by hanging high in
the air it will keep until portion and
only portion is eaten; also chat You
cannot corn beef here that will keep
longer than few days, and if then it
does not faint it will harden, and be
as UNBEATABLE as log of mahogany.
Are you aware, reader, that nowhere
in California can you pack and cure
mcats becf, on pork, or tsb!
Packing has been again and again
tried, but always failing of success.
Hence the tens of thousands of cattle
are useless, except for their hides and
tallow Their number will be reduced
by famine this year, two-thirds, and it
is looked upon by many as a public
blessing,
There is no one thing of which a
Californian boasts so much as of the
climate clear, cloudless days, and
some of the writers VIII almost go into
fits in their description of the fascinat-
ing atmosphere, tints of the landscape,
sunsets, etc, etc. 1t is peculiar, very:
but a popularity, not exactly agoniz-
ing TO a sensible man. Hills, rounded,
dry, barren, treeless, and the atmos-
phere filled with either fog and dust.
| speak now of San Francisco, the
bay, and the surroundings. | have
been here two months; there has not
been one clear sunrise and sunset, un-
obscdred by either dust or fog or
smoke. For three days in the Sono-
IA valley, ! did not see its hill sur
roundings, not three miles distant.
They say they do have days in San
Francisco when tho sun rises and sets
unobscured, but | very much doubt it
and if any, they are very, very sell
dom like angels visits. You cannot
have glorious sunsets without clouds
to reflect their softened and prismatic
hues, colored to enhancing beauty by
the great source of light and heat.
These, here, you have not; but all
along this coast for thousands OF
miles, a cold fog, driven by currents
from the arctic ocean, obscnres the
sun. Go you to Burlington, Vermont,
look out upon the blue waters Of the
lake, over and beyond, where the five
distinct ranges of the Adirondacs can
be clearly traced, peak upon peak,
cloud and snow capped, rejecting the
gorgeous sun-tints--gc there and look
upon beauty intensified agony piled
up, and after that you will pirate less
Of what is not iikened unto ii here,
y n. A IL 4. 4