Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1879-09-04
WHOLE NO. 1899
ABOUT CENTURY PLANTS.
Some Amusing Experience In Southern Cat
irornia.


To the Editor of the San Francisco Bulletin
Will you or ANY one tell me h. y
many California wears go TO make q
century This is not = connndrum
though it may souac like one |
want Information. | will tell you
why. We have century plant
Now. when was little shaver
learned, slong with the shorter cate
chism and multiplication table, that
"the aloe was tropical plant, some.
time called centary, on account of
its blooming bit once in hurdred
years." So when my father bought
me one about two feet high from a
florist, who assured US with truth
beaming from every feature that he
had raised il from the seed fifty years
before, he must have been remarka-
bly, preserved. as he did not look
half that age. We pu: it in an elabo.
rate iron vase in the conservatory,
to be set on the terrace about the
middle of June, when over.sanguine
New Workers predict cessation of
fros,s anu east winds.
We chili watched it with ever
entail awe, aud cut down cur supply
of green apples and gooseberrias,
lest our days might oe incontinently
shortened thereby, AID we miss the
full glory of lis bursting fifty years
hence. | remember feeling 9 cret
pity for my grandparents, too, com
bined with sneakiDg satisiac ion
that they could never in the course
of human events see what | should
especially ss one was already dead
and the other stone blind and rs tt
that. But pride must have a fall,
and mine never recovered it's equili-
brum on finding one morning, the
lth of June notwithstanding, frost
had Dipped our cherished plant and
the one was consigned to the ash.
hole and the other TO painful death.
Twenty years later found me
grubbing N cactus patch in South
ern California. A friend Of mine y
forty miner, had said "a man could
live on that delightful climate so |
had entirely exhausted everything
more substantial 10 the East, and il
had not even a climate for one to
fall back on, | concluded to try my
friends advice, and, as it would not
cost anything after getting thers,
LOOK wife along. Now do not
think was fool enough to settle in
cactus patch from choice, bat the
fact is, though my friend forgot to
mention it at the time, there is as
much cactus as climate. Truth CON-
pels me to add, afler careful, OF to
mention painful study of the mat or,
one can live about as comfortably on
the one as on the other. After a
months hacking, chopping and drag
giLg, with the help of couple of
Celestisls. | got an acre clear, and,
Ill say this for Southern California
when you do get it clear it's the
clearest place this sideo the Sahara
The very fleas cast shadows as clear
as those of coming events | did not
care for over an acre, for if one is to
live on climate, why go to the trou.
BILE of raising vegetables2 For all |
know the two might not agree. But
my wife, with W oman's inconsistency
did not like The clear, bare ground,
with its cheUeur de frieSe OF cactus.
though she makes a fuss enough if
I'm untidy. So, after | had put up a
neat little house of half-inch planks
and unbIeached cotton, such as all
my neighbors have, size insist
ed on planting vines about it,
saying it seemed really providential
that all the nails and hooks driven in
to hold our wardrobe and culinary
articles should have stuck through
to the outside for her to tie her
s.rings TO and train the plants over.
| was wiling TO oblige her, as she
had been so sympathetic aud ready
wi poultices en- one or two occas
lone when bad Involuntary seat.
&c on lhs cactus. 81 | gave Der q
trowel with which to loosen the
earth. while l rode my broncho ten
miles to my next door neigh hors, to
see # hey could supply me with
seeds "r slips. They seemed dice
friendly peopla-Pike's Peakers.
The old lady took her pipe from her
mouth and kicked pig out the
front door as she saw me dismouut.
and | am ashamed to say she wore
but one garment as she elevat, d her
foot but that made up for all other
deficiencies in its l-Dgth OF calico
train. She express herself as terri.
bic glad to see me, and her ID man
would be tiarr,ble glad too" mhith
assertion be confirmed, on entering
with a drawl calculated to turn
Cockney green with envy. After
regaling me with pipe of negro.
head, which mode me dizzy, and
cup of pp-e chicory sweetened with
honey, 10 which two spirited
flies had already suicided, We went
out to search for plants. follow I'd by a
regiment of tough.io king Sbanghais
and littor Of black pigs. All we
could find wac vine of mock orang
and small aloe, only six years old.
which | gladly accepted, along with
the precautiop to "handle keerfullv
as them spikes did dagg terribIs"
also filled my pockets with the m *
orange seeds, the vine was 30 snowy
at the price, and though the fruit
was uneatable, it would keep my
wife in stocking darners for genera
tions.
Bidding my hospitabIe friends
adios, started for home, where
found my wife seated, the picture
of despair, a broken trowel in her
hand and perspirstion streaming
down her woeful face. No impress
sion had oeen made on the eartb.
She said she had been wrestling
with it ever since 1 left. Alas afra
gile woman" ] thought, but sad
no;hing-only set down my abe
with emphasis. 1 went for spade.
After working ten minutes was
thankful | had not said anything.
At the expiration of fifteen,I wished
my wife would go in, because felt
| must say something; and in FIVE
minutes more | did, and she only