Daily Los Angeles herald., 1882-06-07
ANOTHER TEXANS TESTIMONY.
He is Enamoured of Our City and
Discourses of It's Beauties.

Mr.. Frank CASTOR, the editor of the
Independent Blade, published at Meri
dian, Bosque county, Texas, who was 9
member of the Texas Press Association
which visited Los Angeles some weeks
ago, wrote letter to his paper from San
Francisco, from which we make the fol
lowing extracts:
The glorious climate of "Californy'
has been the theme of many tongues and
many splendid writer's have attempted to
describe it, but all fall short of the real
ity. 1t must be seen and felt to be ap-
preciated, and SO one must visit Los An
geles to fully appreciate its beauties. l
will not attempt to give the history of
the city, or of its progress. Those can
be found in guide books and l have none
handy. 1t has $4,000 inhabitants and is
the most pleasant place have ever seen.
1t is truly land of eternal spring. The
odor of the choicest flowers fills the air.
Enchanting landscapes, carpeted in per-
petual green, greet YOU everywhere. The
atmosphere is IS soft and sweet and
balmy as an infants breath. The ice
king never reigns here and a flake of
beautiful snow" is almost unknown.
The orange groves bend under a burden
of golden fruit. All vegetation flourish
es like a ''green bay tree" Yes, Los
Angeles seems, indeed, all that its name
implies "City of the Angels
On the following day we wect by in
vitation to visit some of the finest Or
ange orchards and vineyards in and
about the city The first place visited
was that of Col o. H. Bliss, one of the
most progressive and intelligent orchard
lists in the State. His place consists of
forty acres, planted mostly in oranges
and grapes, but he also has large col
lection of rare fruits, including olives
bananas, citrons, pears, etc. He pointed
with pride to one of his century plants,
which had put up a shoot about fifteen
feet long in eighteen days; also to his
sweet lemons, bitter oranges and the or
ange and lemon growing on the same
tree. Besides his rare collection of
tropical fruits and plants, Col Bliss and
his wife take great interest in flowers
and grow great many varieties; and
after we had been shown through all
that was to be seen about the place we
were treated to some excellent wine and
the Lone Star State cordially toasted by
Mr.. and Mrs. Bliss, after which we
drove to other parts of the city.
We next stopped at the celebrated
Wolfskill orchard, containing 100 acres
and under fine state of cultivation.
This orchard is between 80 and 40 years
old and in fine bearing condition. 1t
was great treat to us, who had never
before seen oranges growing, to drive
among thousands of trees laden with
luscious fruit and pluck it at our will.
Then we visited the packing depart
ment and conversed with Mr.. Wolf
skill, the proprietor, who is a Cali
fornian and was born upon the farm he
now owns. He informed us that
after the present season he expects to
ship his fruit to Texas and find much
better market than he has heretofore
had. After leaving this place, we visited
various other parts of the city and met
many of the citizens. Every home is
surrounded by all varieties of choice
flowers, the hedges made of abor vitae
and BEAUTIFULLY trimmed, while every
thing betokens thrift and industry. The
people are hospitable and take great in
terest in showing strangers the beau
ties of their town, showing spirit of So
ciabilty most refreshing to Southernera
But little more could be said of our
first visit, but as | was one of the num-
ber not satisfied with one visit, will
here insert some of my observations upon
my return trip. Our party, who were
now reduced to three or four, had only
been in the city short time when the
jovial and handsome Mayor of the city,
Col. Toberman, sent us word that he
would take us out in his carriage to see
the town, and the invitation was gladly
accepted. First we drove among the
hills north of the city, from which we
had a splendid view of the surrounding
country. AT our feet lay the beautiful
city, every house surrounded by frag
rant flowers, every yard carpeted with
living green and hedged with cypress,
cedar, arbor vitae, and some with gerrani-
ums-yes, beautiful scarlet geraniums.
What do you think of such surround
ing? There were the orchards, the vine
yards, the conservatOries and everything
to tempt the locker on; and after look
ing it all over, | was certainly prepared
to excuse Mother Eve for eating the
apple. Our drive was through the re j.
dent portion of the city and such evil
dences of pleasure and comfort were
never before seen. The only trouble is
that land is too high for poor man to
own a comfortable home. Land so stu
ated as to be irrigated from the Los An
geles river, costs about $500 per acre,
and when it is in cultivation. e.,
planted in grapes and oranges-it is
worth from $1,000 to 800 per acre.
From the above one will readily see that
this is not poor mans country. To
Mayor Toberman and his excellent wife
we are indebted for many courtesies,
and the latter for choice boquet of
rare flowers and some fine cuttings from
her beautiful garden.
On the following day, in company
with Capt. j. Brousseau, President of
the Board of School Directors, we WIS.,
tied the schools of the city and careful
ly investigated the free school system of
the State. The schools are taught ten
months in the year and the scholastic
age is from six to eighteen. All the
branches taught i'll the high schools of
our State are here taught in the public
school, thus supplanting the academy.
The best of teachers are employed in all
departments, and living salaries are
paid. The school system of this State
is a system in fact as well as in name,
and is carried out to the letter. My
space is too much limited to speak at
length on this subject and l will close
by making few extracts from the last
annual report of the Board of Education
of Los Angeles, and recommending the
State school law of California to the
Legislature of Texas. The highest an
nual salary paid q teacher is $500 and
the lowest 500. The total number OF
pupils attending public schools was 2O9S,
and the number attending private
schools, SIS; there were "a teachers en-
ployed in the public schools, and the
ayeraua cost of schOlars attendino is