The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1880-06-19
LETTER FROM CALIFORNIA.

LETTER FROM SALlf OtNiA.
The following letter is from the pen of
Thomas T.. Van Bibber, EST, formerly
of Ayondale Carroll county, Nd, and a
descendant of the Van Bibbers of Bohe-
mia Manor, several highly interesting
sketches from whose pen have hereto
fore appeared in Tie Cecil Wig.
SANTA BARBARA. California,
June It'll, 1880.
Ny DEAR FEIEND:-In the latter part
of my last told you that we had pur-
chased farm OF rancho of 90 acres in 4
beautiful valley called Mantesito. 1t is
said to be four miles from Santa Barbara,
though it seems to me to be rather more.
We have given for it 81, 400. AS yet it is
a perfect Wilderness covered with bushes
and evergreen oaks, and riddled with
gopher holes. 1t will be the farm, the
highest up the mountain of any other in
said valley, and at present looks wild
enough. But there are others close be-
low it which are ornamentcd with lovely
flower gardens and enriched with the
choicest fruit. These, two or three years
ago, We're as rugged as Ivan Bibber's
Ranch is at present, and ours i'll the
same space of time may look as enchant-
ing as they do now, The difficulties We
have to contend with. iii clearing it, are
threefold: list. said gophers or land rats
which feed on the roots of plant and
flower, and are said to be hard to eXteI-
inmate: 2nd, the native shrubs or bushes
which cover the ground pretty thicklr,
and which have to be grubbed up by the
roots: and 3rdly, the evergreen oaks, Il
large and magnificent tree, which is Il
native to the soil. The first will have to
be caught in traps. poisoned by strych-
nine, or shot with gun. They will prove
our worst enemies, against which We will
have to declare unccasing battle. The
second will only require the skilltul use
of the grubbing-hoe. The third must
fall under the axe, and will help to pay
the expense of telling and uprooting them
by their sale for fuel. SO you see the Ia
bors that rise before us and which have
to be encountered. Some people who
talk to us about the purchase use encour-
aging language, others exactly the re-
verse But Bun has made up his mind
to press fright onward" doing all the
heavy work by hired labor, the lighter
with his own two hands. think it is
before him, and one which even to me at
my time of life is delightful. True, |
shall only be L spectator and adviser, but
expect much pleasure from seeing the
forests fall and the vineyards and olive
orchards arise.
How much there is about this wonder
full land which reminds me of what the
Holy Land Cor Palestine) must have been
in early vineyards. olive presses.
grain. i,omegranates, and honey. Read
Thomson $ ~ Land and the Book, and
you will be startled ut every page by the
similarity. The snow-clad Lebanon COZ
respond with the Sierra Nevada, the des-
erts of this one with the deserts on the
outskirts of the other.
In cnumerating the difficulties to be
encountered, | forgot to mention one of
the principal-viZ., the immense rocks
and powders which are every where seat
tered over the surface. Some of these
will have to be blasted and riven aSunder
by gun powder: some must have the soil
below and around them loosened by irri-
CATION, and then be hauled away on sleds,
or, as they call it here, stone-boats. These.
when not too large to handle, can serve
us stone fences on the back parts of the
place, and thus save the expense of other
and more costly Enclosures. Some few
here and there will permit to remain on
account of their picturesque forms. or
cause them to be over-canopied 10y grape
vines, which, strange to tell, grow more
luxurantly around and over rocks than
elsewhere Thus all that ot1ends and
acts as an impeachment may be removed |
and all that is left may be beautitied.
As to our style of living here. As
Elijah was aforctime fed by ravens who
brought him his food. SO punctual pur-
veyOrs bring us our grub from the cen
trail parts of the little city. First come
the butchers wagon and leaves his Gus
tomary pound of beef soon after fol-
lows the French baker with his tinkling
sleigh bells, announcing his approach:
then the American ditto with ditto jim
gle of bells: then the industrious Chinese
with his assortment of vegetables fresh
from the earth: the milkman comes after
and we could get milk and cream if We
cared for the samc-but we don't; so said
dairyman passes unchallenycd. Our but
ter (thc best | ever tastcd) is sent up to
us as we need it from the grocer down
town. The same messenger also often
brings us. by order, Boston crackers, We
having been told that certain bakers put
alua. in their bread, which might injure
the stomach. Crackers softencd and
buttered are good for food: SO we eat
them and are thankful, postponing for
the nonce visit to the alum springs OF
Virginia. Fresh eggs and good Java cof-
fee contribute their share to the break |
fast. After that meal we fool about for
an hour or So watching our ncighbors.
or smelling ut our own flowers. Bun
curries down the mustangs, and anon we
take ride to the post office, where, il
we get letter from the Fast or North,
great is the joy, if they happen to be good,
happy letters: if morbid ones Gas OCCASION
ally occur), we pocket the missives and
our pain and ride our paltreys into the
sea. How delightfully."- the creamy foam
washes off their fetlockS and lower legs. |
would be a hard thing to describe. Some !
times we ride deeper into the ocean, the
tide surges up: We turn their heads to
the open sea, and then rs the wave re-
cedcs. how we seem to be sliding back |
wards. bacEwards-we sean, | say-tor
it is all an optical dclusion: the horse
moves not from the spot only the surf
was receding. Yours ever
I. E. Y. b.