, 1876-04-01
a Winter I'm California.

Our fellow townsman, Philip Ritz, Esq.,
has returned home after Spending winter
ie California, aud kindly furnishes us with
the following notes, that will interest the
readers of the STATESMAN. He says that
during the winter season,
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
is in her glory; from my open window, on
my friends farm, near Santa Barbara, where
I am writing, the fragrance of the most del
icate roses, helistropes, pausies, carnations,
hyaciuths and lilies, growing in the open air.
fills tie whole ground and every apartment,
and the birds are singing from the branches
Of the Majestic live oaks and eucalyptus trees
surrounding the house. The sunshine and
weather is lust such as We would expect in
May in our latitude. California is certainly
lovely in the winter. l suppose the long dry
summers are drawback, yet most Of the set
tiers here say they don't object TO them, and
dou't know how they would get along II II
rained in the summer Is it does in some
places.
SANTA BARBARA
is perhaps one Of the most lovely and healthy
locations on the Pacific coast. Protected from
the north winds by loft! range Of noun
tains, it opens directly on the ocean beach,
yet is protected from the severe sea breeze
in the summer by high range of islands
some 30 miles in length, directly In front of
the town. and some 10 miles distant from the
shore. These natural surroundings tends to
produce uniformity of climate which makes
but little difference in the range Of the ther-
mometer the year around.
LOS ANGELES
is strange compound of American and Span
ish, of course the former predominating in
the more improved portions of the city and
country. 1t was very interesting to ms, as
suppose 10 most persons at first, wko have
been raised in the north to admire the beau.
tiful orange orchards with their dense dark
foliage and crops of golden fruit. and TO sit
down under the shade of the trees in very
hot day in February and pluck and eat the
delicious ripe oranges, but is surprising how
soon persons
TIRE OF ORANGES
compared with apples To illustrate in rather
familiar sly lie, I was told By Walla Walla
lady whose son went to school in the city,
that the little boys traded three oranges for
one apple, aud l found that older boys in
trade sold Oregon apples by the box for
nearly three times as much as oranges. l
think the orange business is being overdone
n L. L
planted large number of trees, think will
find considerable difficulty in disposing of
| the crop, when they come into bearing, and
being perishable product they will be forced
INTO market at once, and at heavy cost for
transportation, boxes, &c, which will very
greatly depreciate their value. Not SO with
WINE AND NUTS.
They can be kept for years if necessary, if the
market dos not suit, and marketed at Ieis-
ure even lemons and oiivss can be- expressed
into iuiee and oil, and disposed Of at leisure
After al l foard the vineyards, where they
had got properly regulated, and were making
| a good quality OF wine, paying better than
any other enterprise IN Southern California,
and about the only persons whose farms were
not covered with mortgages to nearly their
full value 1t is surprising indeed to SEQ the
number OF
FARMS THAT ARE MORTJAGED
for large sums at to l ) per cent. per month.
All over the state of California. those that
have no ineumberances On them are the ezcep-
| tiOn. This paying heavy interest and enormous
taxes ON large bodies of land that take one
year with another not paying mach IEors
~
sooner or later. think the easiest way TOR
| any person " no wants ii nice California farm,
is to 20 there with say $4,000 or 81, 900,
and quietly sit dow IL and loan his money,
and iu d short time h. can have his choice of
almost any place that is row held at from
| $50, 900 TO SO, ,000 for $l0,0 600 This condi-
ton of affairs applies 10 the whole state north
| of the bay as well as south. To give you all
| idea of the price Of some lands, and the
amount they will prodaee, I will snention
one extreme case that came under my notice.
| On a rented farm in the valley of Santa
/ RCsa, W which is held al about $50 per acre,
/ l asked the tenant, who was plowing, how
! much wheat he expected per acre. He told
me last season 1t averaged
| THIRTEEN BUSHELS PER ACRE,
and that he thought it would be fortunate If
it dOhe as we'll this ear and this is on land
that they call adobe, and it as about az
much as his poor span of horses could do TO
pull the small plow through the sticky stuff.
| This / admit is an extreme case, rs I have
seen number Of farms that would produce
from % to 80 bushels per acre, bat they are
held at from 500 to $50 pr acre. BY tie
way, speaking Of farmers teams, think I
never sag
MORE SORRY lot Or TEAMS
in nv life than ! have in California.
One might stand on the corner of soRe street
iu WaHa Walls. or any Oregon town, and
| could see ten times as many good teams
driven in from the country as be could in
any California town that | VISITED. The
| fact Ia there are very few decent teams in
California outside of San Francisco, or few
kept in the towns for driving purposes. The
farm horses are mostly such as would be
worth from $50 10 $50 With US, if i'll good
conditiun, which they we.e Rot.
THE CLIMATE,
| this winter everybody said was an exception
/ al one, which I shppose mast be 81, for
never saw worse and colder rains, nor more
wind during the twelve years that l lived in
the Willamette Valley, than | experienced
! during the time | spent IN San Francisco,
and in Sonoma county. !. may be that
other
WINTERS ARE VERY PLEASANT,
hut this one certainly has been very disagree
able. You must not infer that my trip to
| California was a failure On the contrary,
it wss very pleasant, but came back TO our
northern country with better appreciation
of II. than ever before California ia,
think, far preferable to many OF the Eastern
states to live in, considering the climate and
all other circumstances, but it Is certainly
pretty
HARD PLACE FOR FOOR MAN
10 get start in, with lsad at frora $50 TO