Los Angeles daily herald., 1874-06-17
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
A Few Facts by an Old Resident.

The editor Of the Duvett Clinton
county, Iowa. Observer having been
called upon by number of persons for
information concerning Southern CAL
ifornia, wrote to DR.. Shugart of River
side, San Bernardino county, asking a
series of questions in answer to which
he received and published the follow
ing letter:
S. H. SHOEMAKER, EsQ.-Dear Sir:
Yours of May 4th, 1874, is before me,
which 1 will try to answer, though
briefly. AS you are seeking +" light"
| will try to impart it.
Riverside is fifty-seven miles from
Los Angeles, fifty-two miles from the
coast or Anaheim Landing, twelve
miles from San Bernardino, our county
town, and near the center of one of
the most fertile valleys (Santa Ana
Valley in the State. The Santa Ana
Valley is about twenty miles wide by
forty IN length, surrounded by rugged
mountains and foothills, with the
Santa Ana river running through! it,
which supplies the valley with an
abundance of water for irrigating and
other purposes. We are just far
enough from the coast to escape the
dense fogs and heavy winds that the
coast localities are subject to; still,
close enough to get the eXhilerating
influence of the sea-breeze, which tones
down the otherwise intense heat of
the suns rays. Our altitude is 700 or
800 feet above the level of the sea, with
foothills intervening between us and
the coast, to lift and break up the fogs
and winds. You can imagine the
evenness of the climate better than |
can describe it. Suffice it to say, our
climate is semi-tropical-Italian.
TIE HEALTH OF OUR VALLEY IS
UNSURPASSED
And its productiveness scarcely
equaled on this continent. 1t is now
three years, two months and few
days since the first fruit trees were set
out in this (Riverside) settlement.
This will be our fourth Summer here,
and the third Summer that we have
had fruit of Ourown production. This
season we will have Judging from
present appearances,) figs, nectarines,
plums, apricots, peaches, grapes, APP
pies, pears, almonds, pomegranates,
olives, lemons and lines.
We had all the above named fruits
last year except the lemon and the
lime. We hat expected English wal
nuts and oranges this year; but our
expectations are deferred another
year. -.
- TT HAS BEEN DEMONSTRATED
Beyond the. possibility of doubt,
both in this and Los Angeles county,
that the orange and lime crop are both
very profitable-perhaps the most of
any crop in the United States. The
lemon, English walnut, olive, almond,
and rasin-grapes are also very prOfita-
BILE and they all do very well here. l
am informed that the fig, apricot and
prune are very profitable. The peach
and pear are also quite profitable
This is also an excellent stock-grow-
ing country. Hogs, cattle, sheep,
horses and goats all do well here. l
believe this soon will be, if it is not
already, the greatest wOol-growing
State in the Union, from The fact that
sheep yield two clips year. Bees do
splendidly. Soyou can see that honey
producing is profitable also.
AFTER READING THE ABOVE
You will naturally say, dwell! what
'front.' do we'll in Southern Californian
There are two things that, as general
thing, do not do well here, and they
are wheat and corn. Sometimes wheat
does first-rate. On the very low lands
corn does well. Wecan raise our veg
etables all of the year. We plant po-
tatoes two or three times year. Such
as cabbage, turnips, peas and onions
do the best planted in late Fall or early
Winter. When one has been here
long enough to have all kinds of fruits
in bearing that this climate will pro-
duce, they can have succession of
fruits all the year. We have not been
without some of the rarest of flowers
in our yard (in bloom) for more than
two years. 4....r. ...s
d GOOD LAND CAN BE BOUGHT HERE
All FROM $l2 TO SIS PER ACRE.
You ask me, How large an orchard
could one man start and care for ~ a
pretty hard question. Possibly twenty
acres. Ithink tenacres would be bet
ter, provided man calculated to do
all the work himself except the set
ting out. The orange, lemon and lime
are little more difficult of transplant
ing than the apple, peach, etc. But,
when / tell you that Mr.. l.. G. Waite
and myself have transplanted between
four and five hundred orange, lemon